U.S. activists call for consumers to ban the water bottle

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

Toronto water is very safe by any standards. The fact that the water came from lake Ontario is no big deal. In some crowds there is some sort of snob appeal to drinking water out of a plastic bottle. That bottle at some point was likely filled from a Toronto tap.

Don't really care where it came from. The water cooler water tastes infinatly better than tap water. The botlled water I buy at Sam's also tastes better than tap. If that's my choice, who cares?

I won't worry about a few petty environmental inefficiencies while I watch every 2nd vehicle on a road being an SUV.

 

[Curiosity]

First, I'm talking about water in Canada since I know nothing about water in California.

http://www.rainfresh.ca/productinfo/undersink.html

We have the UCS2 that includes a little tap on the kitchen counter. The cost was about $120.00 a couple years ago. It took me twenty five minutes to install it.

Juan - the OP was written about U.S. water activists - not Canadian - save your snips for my really big mistakes.....

I prefer bottled water because it is refrigerated - the water from the taps in most California houses comes out lukewarm and wastes more water running it to cold. Then there is opening the fridge, getting ice cubes, wasting cold air, when the water from tiny bottles or the big upside down one is already cold.

On a hot California summer day when the temperatures soar around 100F refrigerated cold water is lifesaving.

No doubt there are far more impurities in the air here than in the water....so it's a lose lose situation anyway.

 

[goat]

I would bet dollars to doughnuts that 99 percent of bottled water came out of a tap.

You would not be wrong.

R/O is the next best to distilled

 

[Tonington]

I'd like to point out there are things you can do to make your tap water taste better.

Fill glass or ceramic container. Leave in Fridge overnight, with top free. This allows the chlorine to dissipate. Other chemicals in the water(disinfection by-products) will also dissipate. Then in the morning you will have cool water which tastes much better, and will not smell as objectionable. On top of using reusable containers and the benefits to the environment, municipal water is much safer to drink.

 

[karrie]

I'm lucky enough to live in a city where the water tastes like bottled. It's incredibly good. I keep pitchers and reusable bottles full in the fridge for my kids, and send them to school with thermos bottles that keep their water cool all day for them. No need for bottled water here. I'm too cheap to pay for what I pay for with taxes in the first place.

 

[karrie]

One of my favorite comedy clips from lewis black.

 

[hermanntrude]

people who insist on bottled water are fooling themselves. Aside from the taste, it's just as likely to give you trouble as anything else. Tap water, like bottled water has to undergo some very vigorous tests before you're allowed to get it. As for the taste, seriously... it's water... I know some water has a slightly different tang, believe me I've lived in 13 different places in the last 12 years, I know. The only place I never drank the tap water was up on the rez, since it wasn't mains water and regularly gave people stomach upsets.

 

[mrmom2]

Don't a few citys in southern Cal have toilet to tap water systems where they treat sewage water so well they can reuse it .I'm sure i read that somewhere on the net 8O

 

[mrmom2]

Oops not yet but coming soon to Orange county
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=3936945

 

[karrie]

some areas use grey water for their irrigation lines. so the water that leads to their hoses and sprinkler systems is slightly treated sewage, OR, totally untreated water. But not the same with what comes out of the taps IN the house.

Don't a few citys in southern Cal have toilet to tap water systems where they treat sewage water so well they can reuse it .I'm sure i read that somewhere on the net 8O

 

[karrie]

wow, that must be a pricey system to run! But, I'd rather a city were paranoid of the water, and treating it with great care because of it, than drawing water off a seemingly safe source, and letting their guard down while things like e.coli slip through.

 

[Toro]

This is why environmentalists have a bad name amongst ordinary Americans.

 

[karrie]

Ha.. come talk about environmentalists here in Alberta. it brings to mind nutjobs like weibo ludwig.

environmentalists don't have a good name most places

 

[Tonington]

You know, that's something that bothers me immensely. I am an environmentalist, no question about that. I hope my name doesn't illicit images of a raving lunatic trying to force people to live like hobbits.

I would say most environmentalists aren't like that at all, only the more vocal and more idiotic will be noticed more so than a well tempered person. Rather unfortunate for the cause on a whole I think.

 

[karrie]

ya know T, it's like that with almost every cause. The nutjob extremists stand out and tarnish everyone else.

 

[#juan]

Juan - the OP was written about U.S. water activists - not Canadian - save your snips for my really big mistakes.....

I prefer bottled water because it is refrigerated - the water from the taps in most California houses comes out lukewarm and wastes more water running it to cold. Then there is opening the fridge, getting ice cubes, wasting cold air, when the water from tiny bottles or the big upside down one is already cold.

On a hot California summer day when the temperatures soar around 100F refrigerated cold water is lifesaving.

No doubt there are far more impurities in the air here than in the water....so it's a lose lose situation anyway.

It wasn't a "snip". I say again, "I know nothing about the water in California." Most cities or even small towns in Canada have a reasonable water supply. There is always the exception but most have reliable water. The filter system I talked about is kind of icing on the cake because Nanaimo has very good water.
We don't get your temperatures but we find if we refrigerate a few bottles of our own filtered water it tastes very good. The trick is to remember to keep a bottle or three in the fridge. We use our filtered water to make ice cubes so if we forget we have that back up.

 

[Kreskin]

I'm lobbying to stop all activists.

 

[Toro]

Ha.. come talk about environmentalists here in Alberta. it brings to mind nutjobs like weibo ludwig.

environmentalists don't have a good name most places

Yeah, but a "conservationist" is seen positively by the public.

Interesting, eh?

 

[triedit]

We're ignoring a key element here--the home tap. What comes INTO our building might be pure and wonderful, but once it gets to my eigth floor apartment it's yellow. Im not drinking that. If you leave the tap run for a few seconds it will eventually clear, but that's a waste. I use bottled for most of my cooking as well.

All the wonderful putblic purification systems in the world won't fix what's wrong in your house. Plus you have to clean your taps--have you unscrewed the cap and taken a look at what's in there? Gross. I clean mine with CLR at least once a month.

 

[goat]

I'm sure i read that somewhere on the net

Undoubtedly there is a conspiracy to be found.

The truth is out there