In Praise Of Tap Water

[RestoreGore]

In Praise of Tap Water

Editorial
Published: August 1, 2007

On the streets of New York or Denver or San Mateo this summer, it seems the telltale cap of a water bottle is sticking out of every other satchel. Americans are increasingly thirsty for what is billed as the healthiest, and often most expensive, water on the grocery shelf. But this country has some of the best public water supplies in the world. Instead of consuming four billion gallons of water a year in individual-sized bottles, we need to start thinking about what all those bottles are doing to the planet’s health.

Here are the hard, dry facts: Yes, drinking water is a good thing, far better than buying soft drinks, or liquid candy, as nutritionists like to call it. And almost all municipal water in America is so good that nobody needs to import a single bottle from Italy or France or the Fiji Islands. Meanwhile, if you choose to get your recommended eight glasses a day from bottled water, you could spend up to $1,400 annually. The same amount of tap water would cost about 49 cents.

Next, there’s the environment. Water bottles, like other containers, are made from natural gas and petroleum. The Earth Policy Institute in Washington has estimated that it takes about 1.5 million barrels of oil to make the water bottles Americans use each year. That could fuel 100,000 cars a year instead. And, only about 23 percent of those bottles are recycled, in part because water bottles are often not included in local redemption plans that accept beer and soda cans. Add in the substantial amount of fuel used in transporting water, which is extremely heavy, and the impact on the environment is anything but refreshing.

Tap water may now be the equal of bottled water, but that could change. The more the wealthy opt out of drinking tap water, the less political support there will be for investing in maintaining America’s public water supply. That would be a serious loss. Access to cheap, clean water is basic to the nation’s health.

Some local governments have begun to fight back. Earlier this summer, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom prohibited his city’s departments and agencies from buying bottled water, noting that San Francisco water is “some of the most pristine on the planet.” Salt Lake City has issued a similar decree, and New York City recently began an advertising campaign that touted its water as “clean,” “zero sugar” and even “stain free.”

The real change, though, will come when millions of ordinary consumers realize that they can save money, and save the planet, by turning in their water bottles and turning on the tap.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Do you know what people in Africa and other parts of this world who do not have the luxury of turning on a tap and getting water would do if they had the chance to enjoy water as we do for even one day? How they would praise it, appreciate it, and look upon our wasteful consumption and greed as going against the spirits that provide that water for our spiritual and physical sustinence?

So yes, praise your tap water and thank whatever spirit you believe brings us miracles, because we are truly blessed among people to have it. Praise the fact that you do not need to walk six hours a day over rocky and dangerous terrain just to haul back a few jugs of water that well may be contaminated for your family's use that only lasts enough for them to drink and cook for one day, until you have to go out and do it again the next day, and the next, and the next... All the while fearing that you will not make it home with your water without it being stolen from you with worse happening to you. Praise that your daughters can attend school and get an education and not have to be slaves to traditions that make them haul water every day instead of learning. Praise that you don't have to live a day without the water that bathes your body and soothes your soul.

The saying goes that we do not appreciate water until the well runs dry. I then believe that people in this country will also not appreciate what they have until they are made to see the scam that the bottled water industry is and how it takes advantage of us for profit blinding us to the blessings we have. So praise your tap water, do away with the mass marketing deceptions that are causing you to be part of the problem rather than the solution, and see the light.

Water Is Life

[SmokingJacket]

1. this is very, very, very important.

Fill up your thermos at the tap, peoples.

[bonito]

11. And add a tad of silver n/t

[GliderGuider]

2. Water is so precious in other lands

The Otesha Project is a remarkable Canadian youth-driven environmental awareness project. They have written a http://www.otesha.ca/files/the_otesha_book.pdf">PDF book, and in it there is a chapter on water. After all the facts and figures comes this personal story from a young Ottawa woman:

A month later I arrived on my own in Uganda. All of a sudden there were no taps, no purified water. I was lost. What was I supposed to do? I asked the mucusu (hut ‘hotel’) owner where I could get water. She gave me a funny look, and told me that all the other mzungus (white people) she’d met brought their own bottled water, that the nearest pump was ten miles down the road, and that I might not have permission to use it. My face fell, thoughts running through my head about dehydration, my heart problems, my already low blood volume and the risks this posed—I knew that I couldn’t walk 20 miles in 40° heat for water that I might not even get. I was dizzy already. I’d already been eight hours without water. I felt like I was going to start to cry.

The mucusu owner’s daughter tugged on her arm, spoke to her in their dialect. Her mother then nodded at me, told me they’d been collecting rainwater and that I could have some if I truly needed it. I was relieved, ecstatic, and overwhelmed with the logistics of it all. Should I pay them for the water? How much should I take? Should I clean it? They would certainly see me if I did, and I’d been told this is rude.

I tried to calculate in my head what I would need. With drinking, cooking, and washing dishes it could easily be 6 litres. This was obviously too much. I settled on 2 l, and brought my water bottles over to the precious bucket. They were all standing around watching as I poured the water into the bottle. I was nervous and somehow I dropped my bottle—it hit the ground and I lost almost 300 ml. All the women made this “tsk” sound with their tongues, and shook their heads. I tried to apologize but felt my face turning red. How could I have been so careless?

The daughter filled up the rest of my water for me, and I tightened the lids quickly and went to my hut. I was so embarrassed. I felt ignorant and wasteful. I cooked quickly and pretended to be asleep. Night came, and when I woke up at 5 am, I left more than enough money on the floor and left before anyone could see me. I didn’t want to see their disappointed faces, I didn’t want them to see the shame in mine.

[RestoreGore]

6. Thank you for this

And yes, it is blue gold to many who do not have it. I will be reading the book.

[Kagemusha]

3. I filter my water. You want to know why?

Probably not.

But I'll say it anyway: because a lot of tap water may be the equal of bottled water in safety, but it certainly isn't in taste. If I didn't have filtration, or I had to get something quick on the move, I'd use bottled water, which, as the name implies, comes in a bottle, and so has a certain immediate convenience to it. I wouldn't want to use it for normal drinking at home, and I don't have to, but this idea that it is MASS MARKETING DECEPTION is really stupid. No, it's people having a choice between trusting posts like yours or their lyin' taste buds.

Trying to make people believe that their taste buds are liars and that they've simply been hypnotized into blind obedience to bottled water is, in and of itself, pathetic marketing.

[RestoreGore]

5. Well I disagree with you

The profits of the bottled water industry which now exceed those of the phartmaceutical industry tell me otherwise as well.

[DarkTirade]

16. A lot of the taste difference in tap water is usually because of just a touch of metals and chlorine

which is why you have to buy special additives to put in it if you need to use it to fill up a fish tank, or use it in an amphibian's water bowl. It's harmless to most of us mammals, but to the ones who depend on water a bit more than we do, it can kill them.
Which is why I was very happy when my roommate bought a filter for our kitchen sink. I know in my head that there isn't much extra there, but just knowing that it can kill a smaller creature kinda worries me a bit, despite what my head is telling me. :)

[RestoreGore]

17. Yes, I have a Brita on my faucet as well

Filtering the tap water is certainly a way to truly give the water a better taste and it does give peace of mind to many which is great. I actually make a lot of iced tea, so that is also a good way to enhance the taste if it isn't to your liking. And at least by filtering the water it is a way to conserve resources and mitigate environmental waste.

[DarkTirade]

18. Yeah, the filtered water certainly will help my mead brewing too. :)

The slight amounts of chlorine in tap water may be harmless to us, but I'm sure it would be hell on the yeast.

[kestrel91316]

21. Brita filters RAWK!! My tap water is pretty much undrinkable (to me)

because of taste - it's perfectly ok by the numbers - I almost never drink it right out of the tap. Brita really enhances the taste.

[phantom power]

4. I wonder if our tap water is safe in the same way our bridges are safe...

and our produce is e-coli free, etc.

Which isn't to disagree with your main point. I just think that Americans are going to get a lesson in what a Grover Norquist style government really means. And what it means is: we won't any longer have the luxury of trusting the infrastructure that we have considered trustworthy for the last 3 or 4 generations.

Just one more avoidable tragedy piled on top of many.

[RestoreGore]

7. Pour The Bottled Water Trend Down The Drain

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20095510/

Pour the bottled-water trend down the drain
Turn on the tap and quench your thirst with pure water, not wasted oil

COMMENTARY
By Arthur Caplan, Ph.D.
MSNBC contributor
Updated: 8:51 a.m. CT Aug 3, 2007

Arthur Caplan, Ph.D.

Why is anyone who cares about the environment drinking bottled water? Yesterday, I went out for lunch at a trendy Philadelphia spot. The city has a very hip and environmentally conscious restaurant scene.

Just as is true in New York, Chicago and San Francisco, the city’s menus boast that there are no genetically engineered grains or vegetables. Most things being served are grown relatively locally and the chickens that appear on plates have ranged freely and happily before being turned into dinner. One thing you quickly notice in fancy-pants establishments such as this is that despite all the attention to the political correctness of the food, everyone drinks bottled water. Philly bistros are awash in fizzy water from San Gimignano in Italy, still waters from French springs, mountain water from Norway and water that is supposedly captured from the waterfalls of Fiji.

So at this fashionable eatery, I asked for tap water. Eyeballs rolled, but I was right in my request. Why? Because it’s time for those of us who care about the environment and are concerned about global warming to stop buying and drinking bottled water.

Droplets of truth

Not too long ago, critics of Al Gore were prattling on about how his daughter had served Chilean sea bass — a rare fish — at her wedding reception and that Gore had eaten it. Well, protecting the fish may be a nice thing to do, but it does not make a difference to the problem of global warning and the even bigger problem of handling the enormous amount of waste humanity is dumping into leaky landfills. If you want to head out on hypocrisy patrol among the environmentally concerned, don’t worry about what they are eating or whether they fly, drive or walk from place to place. Just ask them, “What are you drinking?”

Here are a few facts about bottled water:

end of excerpt.
~~~~~
You can also take the survey at this link and help solve the climate crisis by turning on your tap!

[RestoreGore]

8. The Bottled Water Industry: Threatening The Human Right To Water

http://www.stopcorporateabuse.org/cms/page1544.cfm

[losthills]

9. I wouldn't drink tap water

from San Francisco, Salt Lake City or any other city under any circumstances.

Don't, won't and never will.

I filter my water at home, yeah buy bottled water, fill up jugs from creeks, springs or wells, but never under any circumstances will I drink tap water.

If you want to do some real good, work to raise the deposits on beer and soda pop and, better yet, force manufacturers to collect and refill all drink containers , like they used to, and outlaw plastic bottles and aluminum cans.

I'll support you on that.

[RestoreGore]

10. I already am doing some real good

And think your suggestions have merit. Perhaps that is then something you can work on as well.

[losthills]

12. 1963

when I was around ten years old, pop bottles had a deposit of 4 cents, and then they went up to 5 cents. That was real money, because a Hershey bar was 10 cents. An empty pop bottle didn't last long, because kids took them right down to the store. The soda vendor took them back to the factory and they steamed them out and refilled them. That made sense. Then disposable aluminum cans came along and upset the equation. People would buy the cans because they were cheaper-- no deposit.

Now they have brought deposits back, but not back to the price of a hershey bar...
And now we take a perfectly good bottle and grind it up and make new bottles out of it--what kind of sense does that make?

Your post is a good one because it brings up the issue of petroleum based plastic bottles, which are a hundred times worse for the environment than any other type of container and also pose a human health risk.

I just think these big city mayors are trying to save money because they are required by law to provide workers with water.

Now that you've got me thinking about all this, I'm wondering if there is a healthful and and environmentally sound drink of water available to anyone who lives in a city.....

[Maat]

13. I agree - our tap water is terrible, and I won't drink it.

And, we've been extremely environmentally conscious in other respects. We drive a Prius, recycle, have reduced our consumption and heat our pool with solar power.

I buy bottled water in the huge, 5-gallon bottles, which are reused again and again.

[kestrel91316]

22. Here in Lost Angeles not a day goes by that I don't see at least half a dozen

water bottles (worth 5c each, BTW) carelessly tossed onto the sidewalk or street. People here are stupid pigs.

I'm constantly picking them up to redeem for those nickels if I can get to them. Oh, they throw away aluminum beverage cans on the street, too. Along with dirty diapers.

[LeftyMom]

24. San Francisco has some of the best water in the world

It comes from Hetch Hetchy, near Yosemite.

The bottled water companies here in Northern California use water from the Sierra Nevada, nevermind that in most of Northern California that's exactly what comes out of the tap (not where I live though, we get well water and aerospace chemicals. Lucky us. I buy mine because I'm pretty sure rocket fuel supplementation isn't good for me.)

[Turn CO Blue]

14. We are really lucky - Denver water is the BEST tasting water!

People who visit us from out of town or out of state RAVE about our tap water...

No need to buy bottled water. There is a small city just a few miles from here, and their tap water tastes soooo bad from the sink, but my in-laws filter it, and it tastes amazing now.

We have had terrible drought here for a few years, but the huge winter blizzard replenished the snowpack quite a bit...and we've had a lot of rain this spring and summer.

[kestrel91316]

23. The best water in the world actually came out of my family's

private well at our place up in Alma (near Fairplay). Ice cold year round, and so good we would just stand at the sink and drink a couple glasses of it for the pure joy of it.

[DarkTirade]

15. Only reason I EVER carry a water bottle

is so that I have something that I can refill and carry with me. I'll use the same bottle for weeks, months, however long it lasts. And I rarely buy my own, I'll usually get one from work or something like that, and then just keep using it.
So pretty much the only time I buy bottled water is when I buy it by the gallon during hurricane season.
And right now I'm re-using two of those gallon jugs to brew my first batches of mead. Nectar of the gods. :) Made my own airlocks for them out of some PVC I had lying around. I'm cheap, what can I say. I tend to recycle things myself rather than toss them on the curb for someone else to recycle.

[Yael]

19. Our water here is disgusting

My taste buds are not by any means sensitive either. Our water tastes like rust. That and the fluoride seals the deal for me as filters can't take that out. At this point in my life, I am much more concerned about osteoporosis than cavities.

I subscribe to a water service that brings me 5 gallon jugs every month. I use that water for ice, coffee, tea and for filling up the water jugs I carry with me.

[kestrel91316]

20. People who can't go anywhere without their bottle of water remind me of

babies and toddlers who can't survive without THEIR bottle within arm's reach.

Oh, dear, I'm THIRSTY! Must have INSTANT GRATIFICATION!

[mcg]

25. Scientists issue warning about chemical in plastic

...
Used to make hard plastic, BPA can seep from beverage containers and other materials. It is used in all polycarbonate plastic baby bottles, as well as other rigid plastic items, including large water cooler containers, sports bottles and microwave oven dishes, along with canned food liners and some dental sealants for children.
...
from this thread

Scientists issue warning about chemical in plastic
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x298531