Not just environmentalists, subby, either. Bottled water gets folks acclimated to the idea of treating water as a private commodity instead of a public utility - a dangerous idea, especially with private companies quietly but actively establishing water rights claims throughout the country.

cryinoutloud: There is almost nothing that pisses me off more than bottled water. It embodies so many issues that drive me up a tree--mindless consumerism, wasting resources, a throw-away culture.

Well, I'm sure I could think of some things that piss me off more, but bottled water is a biggie. Worse than Hummers.

I don't see it as any worse than other things people are willing to pay for just for the sake of luxury, like automatic revolving doors or the push-button car ignition. Don't like it? Don't buy it.

Razorwolf: I don't see it as any worse than other things people are willing to pay for just for the sake of luxury, like automatic revolving doors or the push-button car ignition. Don't like it? Don't buy it.

Except there's numerous negative externalities associated with bottled watter as an industry. Increased consumption of petroleum products, energy usage, and waste management, just to name a few, which have impacts on the rest of society.

Bottled water has its place. If I'm not at home, work, or a restaurant/bar and become thirsty, I'll buy a bottle and drink it. Drinking the stuff at home, though, to the exclusion of tap water, seems needlessly expensive and silly.

FormlessOne: Not just environmentalists, subby, either. Bottled water gets folks acclimated to the idea of treating water as a private commodity instead of a public utility - a dangerous idea, especially with private companies quietly but actively establishing water rights claims throughout the country.

This is especially true for Canada; we have a very thirsty neighbour who is willing to pay quite a bit...

PacManDreaming: How is buying plain bottled water any worse than buying bottled water loaded with high fructose corn syrup and preservatives?

Because water is literally given away.

PacManDreaming: How is buying plain bottled water any worse than buying bottled water loaded with high fructose corn syrup and preservatives? Getting your panties in a wad over bottled water, but not having a problem with other bottled drinks is kinda...stupid.

I mean, if I'm out driving around and I'm thirsty, sometimes I'd rather have water instead of something that's full of sweeteners. Seriously, it's not like there's water fountains all over the place. And I don't really want to drink from the faucet in some convenience store restroom because, in most places, that's the only source of water available.

It could be argued that with water, if you want to drink some while you're out, you could easily buy a reuseable Nalgene bottle or something and fill it at home before you go. Whereas with soda/other beverages, it's a little more complicated (go out an buy 2-liter bottle vs. running a tap). With an inexpensive filter, you can get the exact same quality of water out of your tap as out of a bottle.

It's not really a question of bottled water vs. soda, it's more bottled water vs. tap water. Soda because of its nature requires the packaging it does, which is fine. But it seems useless to encounter the same problems for bottled water, when it comes out of our taps.

You want portable water? Refill the damned bottle.

I don't mean to be one of those eco-warrior tree hugging dipshiats, but seriously, the carbon footprint of bottled water is completely absurd, and totally unjustifiable.

Yes, I drink bottled water. I like to keep a bottle in my car. But when I buy it, I hang on to it and refill it from the filter. Only when the bottle becomes lost or squished or something, do I buy another.

I would use one of those stylish aluminum ones, but I keep losing them.

Cagey B: Except there's numerous negative externalities associated with bottled watter as an industry. Increased consumption of petroleum products, energy usage, and waste management, just to name a few, which have impacts on the rest of society.

As opposed to other things? Sounds like linear greenpeace jargon to me.

Every now and then I'll buy a bottle of water. It beats carrying one of those stupid aluminum thermos jiggos around waiting for a water fountain to come into view. For the price I pay, I'd say it's mostly the bottle, which I consider a convenience fee that I was willing to pay for them to provide me a ready container. In cases like Coca Cola or Pepsi selling me water, I'm pretty positive that it's just filtered run-off from making their other products, and hey, good on them for finding a way to sell it to us and turn that extra buck. I highly doubt it's costing that much more energy to do it either, except for making the extra bottles.

I tried to irritate some environmentalist by peeing on them, but they just seemed to like it.

cryinoutloud: There is almost nothing that pisses me off more than bottled water. It embodies so many issues that drive me up a tree--mindless consumerism, wasting resources, a throw-away culture.

Well, I'm sure I could think of some things that piss me off more, but bottled water is a biggie. Worse than Hummers.

Don't you have to be at the gym in a few min?

My fiance works for Big Oil so I'm getting a kick out of these plastic products

Well, they started it.

Convenience of bottled water is the only reason it sells so well. As a lazy American it is too much work to be bothered filling up bottles out of a filter when I can just buy a case and grab one on the fly. The best bottled water is desalinated baby seal tears but that'll set you back a piece.

It's rare to see a company that appreciates the art of the troll.



AnubisMan: Convenience of bottled water is the only reason it sells so well. As a lazy American it is too much work to be bothered filling up bottles out of a filter when I can just buy a case and grab one on the fly. The best bottled water is desalinated baby seal tears but that'll set you back a piece.


In these lean times I settle for cold-pressed spotted owl sweat.

I_Am_Weasel: You know, whatever kind of water floats your boat.

*chuckles*

AnubisMan: Convenience of bottled water is the only reason it sells so well. As a lazy American human, it is too much work to be bothered filling up bottles out of a filter when I can just buy a case and grab one on the fly. The best bottled water is desalinated baby seal tears but that'll set you back a piece.

Dear Nalgine bottle users:

Please look into the toxins you are taking in by using said bottles. Same goes with plastic 'zip-lock' containers, and pretty much any other type of plastic container.

You want to be a eco-hipster, but also keep your the contents clean? Glass is for the win. If you don't want to use glass, just keep away from Polycarbonate.

/Sweet sweet polycarbonate, aka. Estrogen

Talk about taking the bottle to the next level.

Water tastes better when it comes from a new plastic bottle. Sure I could reuse it but I just prefer not to. I like the sound of the little plastic seal breaking as I twist off a new cap right after a brisk run in the morning. As for the used bottles I just throw them away. I think my city may recycle them but I don't know. Never really thought about it.

I got kind of stabby the other day here at work. I only just started working here a few months ago but I hate that they went through the trouble of getting a recycling bin and they just use it as a regular trash can. It just taunts me when I look at it, brimming w/ garbage while the regular trashcans (there are two of them next to the recycling bin) are only 1/2 full. Then the other day I went into the conference room and despite the new cold water cooler they put in there, everyone had bottled water. I really want to say something, I really do but I'm the new kid and don't want to be "that" girl.

/I have a soda addiction so I'm not perfect
//but dammit, I use reusable flasks and thermoses and refill them when I'm out/at work/at the gym

I guess every rebel needs a cause, but geez, bottled water? What could be more pedestrian than bottled water? I mean I get indignant about some dumb stuff, but bottled water?

That's a hilarious example of an awful name for an event.

They should have named it "NO Bottled Water Day". That can't be misunderstood.

As it is, all their effort to publicize it ended up being free advertisement for the bottled water companies. They turned it into "free-bottled-water day".

Wow, you guys are pissed.

Is vitamin water ok?

ghare: Hey, if you want to pay $2 a bottle for $.01 worth of tap water, that's fine by me.


I just refill the same water bottles over and over. It's easier to carry bottles around and tap is just fine with me.

Angry Drunk Bureaucrat: PacManDreaming: How is buying plain bottled water any worse than buying bottled water loaded with high fructose corn syrup and preservatives?

Because water is literally given away.

Where?

Don't you get a water bill?

And I don't know about the tap water where you live, but here is tastes like ass and has all sorts of shiat in it.

Link

CitizenTed: At work, I was able to work in concert with my very conservative CFO to get bottled water banned from the building. We ganged up on the Operations Manager till he finally said "Uncle". Whether you're a hippie or an industrialist, bottled water is costly, pollutive and wasteful. We already had a chiller/heater/filter machine. Everyone keeps a Nalgene or metal flask on their desk. It isn't rocket surgery. And when important execs arrive for meetings, they get chilled water in a fancy pitcher served in real glasses - just like adults.

/bottled water is the disposable sippy cup of our time.

Ive heard of people like you but thankfully don't encounter any in my daily life.

jigger: Angry Drunk Bureaucrat: PacManDreaming: How is buying plain bottled water any worse than buying bottled water loaded with high fructose corn syrup and preservatives?

Because water is literally given away.

Where?

Don't you get a water bill?

And I don't know about the tap water where you live, but here is tastes like ass and has all sorts of shiat in it.

Link

It's also tricky to get the good stuff in many a country. And by good stuff I mean it's not laden w/ parasites and things that will kill you and all you love and hold dear.

MorePeasPlease: Wow, you guys are pissed.

Seriously... it's just water in a bottle. I'm not saying I think it's a great idea, (and yes, I know this is fark) but damn. Relax...

I'm drinking bottled water right now, so I'm getting a kick out of these replies.

Joy25
I just refill the same water bottles over and over. It's easier to carry bottles around and tap is just fine with me.

Besides, you can fill the bottle with vodak. Water and vadak being clear and all.
However, if you're at work it kinda screws up your drive home and gives you a hangover at 9:00 p.m. unless you're a regular souse.

FormlessOne: Not just environmentalists, subby, either. Bottled water gets folks acclimated to the idea of treating water as a private commodity instead of a public utility - a dangerous idea, especially with private companies quietly but actively establishing water rights claims throughout the country.



Disagrees. With your historical perspective.

stevenboof: Joy25: I just refill the same water bottles over and over. It's easier to carry bottles around and tap is just fine with me.

I carry a really long hose that is connected to my tap at home. When I want a drink of water, I just call home and have one of the maids turn on the faucet.


A really long hose, intriguing.

ga362: Joy25
I just refill the same water bottles over and over. It's easier to carry bottles around and tap is just fine with me.

Besides, you can fill the bottle with vodak. Water and vadak being clear and all.
However, if you're at work it kinda screws up your drive home and gives you a hangover at 9:00 p.m. unless you're a regular souse.


Yeah, but by lunch time you're ready to screw the whole office.

NikolaiFarkoff: cryinoutloud: There is almost nothing that pisses me off more than bottled water. It embodies so many issues that drive me up a tree--mindless consumerism, wasting resources, a throw-away culture

Plus, the "enablers"--those little flavor packets that people put in their bottled water.

Guess what? If you're flavoring the water, then it doesn't matter as much what the water tastes like in the first place.

I'm not an over-the-top environmentalist, but I am against the mindless consumerism you mentioned. It's just stupid. I wonder how many bottled water drinkers actually say things like "How am I going to afford college?"

I'm drinking a bottle of water with a flavor packet in it, so I'm really getting a kick...

PJ-: Dear Nalgine bottle users:

Please look into the toxins you are taking in by using said bottles. Same goes with plastic 'zip-lock' containers, and pretty much any other type of plastic container.

You want to be a eco-hipster, but also keep your the contents clean? Glass is for the win. If you don't want to use glass, just keep away from Polycarbonate.

/Sweet sweet polycarbonate, aka. Estrogen

That explains my moobs.

Here is DC's tap water quality report for 2001.

http://www.nrdc.org/water/drinking/uscities/pdf/washington.pdf

I wish there were a more recent one.

"From 1998 to 2000, Washington's water had high levels
of total trihalomethanes (TTHMs) and haloacetic acids
(HAAs), contaminants that result when chlorine is used
to treat drinking water and then interacts with organic
matter in the water, which are linked with cancer and,
potentially, to miscarriages and birth defects....

In 2000, Washington's lead levels were just below
the national action level. Lead-which enters drinking
water supplies from the corrosion of pipes or faucets-
can adversely affect blood pressure, red blood cells,
and kidney and nervous system function and,
especially in infants and children, cause permanent
brain damage, decreased intelligence, and problems
with growth, development, and behavior. Although
tests in 2001 showed better results, lead levels in the
city's tap water may be a continuing cause for concern...

Washington, D.C., has a disturbing history of violations
of the coliform and turbidity rules, with a string
of serious violations from 1993 to 1996 that triggered
several boil-water alerts."

Ok, I'm not that much of a greenie hippy type. I try not to waste but I don't give a crap if I recycle or not and I don't feel bad about blasting my C/C in summer. However, bottled water has got to be the stupidest thing that people pay for. Unless you are in a Third World situation without access to water otherwise, why on earth with this even appeal to you?

How many countless man-years were devoted to letting us have good, clean water in our homes, instantly, at very low cost so that you didn't have to go out and bring it back in buckets and bottles?

I know people who can't go cross town here to another office without making sure they have a bottle of water like they were crossing the Sahara. It's the bottled water industry that invented the 8 Glasses Per Day nonsense.

I see someone with bottled water and I think to myself "what could I talk that gullible person into buying?"

Nothing worse than pretentious douchebags who want to force their style of living on everyone. Go fark yourself, water nazis.