I'm not a fan of bottled water. I don't understand why anyone buys it or drinks it considering we have some of the freshest drinking water on the planet here in Canada and it's a closely monitored and very public industry. Your tap water is checked and tested more stringently than what's being bottled and sold for more than the price of a litre of gas. "Many people buy bottled water, believing that it is safer than tap water. In fact, the major difference between bottled water and municipal tap water is that we know less about what is in bottled water."
In fact, "municipal water is subject to frequent and detailed testing, and the source of the water is public. In most provinces, test results for municipal water are easily accessible to the public. Edmonton, for example, publishes daily, monthly and annual water quality reports, including details on dozens of parameters from bacteria to lead: http://www.epcor.ca/en-ca/Customers/water-customers/water-quality-reports/Pages/default.aspx . Most provincial water quality standards, such as Ontario’s Drinking Water Quality Standards regulation[2] under the Safe Drinking Water Act, 2002 (SDWA), set maximum limits for microbiological, chemical and radiological parameters for all drinking water in the province. But these rules don’t apply to bottled water". - Source
I opt for tap water whenever possible or I refill containers with tap water but I don't give my money freely to the bottled water industry.
My hatred for bottled water is quite strong and the rage grows when those who are finished with their liquid gold decide to squish and squeeze the bottles with their hands making all kinds of annoying popping sounds while I'm trying to read or concentrate on my poker game.
God dammit. Will you stop? Last night on the bus this guy behind me pushed and crumpled his water bottle so many times that I stood up, looked over my seat and asked him if he'd like me to recycle it for him. He said no. Then in a lower voice I asked him to stop crushing it, commenting that it was annoying.
He apologized and said he didn't realize he'd been doing it.
It's worse than gum snapping. You are not ALONE on public transportation. You SHARE space. Be considerate!
Oh, and if you are one of those people who does shell out $1.25 or more for bottled water (you have every right to do so despite my feelings about it), please consider making a donation to an organization that is near and dear to my heart and visit drop4drop.org.
I buy bottled water because it tastes better than tap water. It must be all that lead. :)
ReplyDeleteIt's a personal choice. I see where you're coming free and you're entitled to your opinion which based on a lot of facts but I don't think I'll ever get used to drinking chlorine and fluoride and I don't taste these in Evian.
ME DRINK PERRIER. IT NO COUNT BECAUSE TAP WATER NO HAVE BUBBLES.
ReplyDelete@HULKGORIDER
ReplyDeleteI enjoy a nice cold Perrier myself once in a while when I crave carbonization without sugar or aspartame.
@FRED
I've heard many people say that. Where I live, my tap water tastes amazing. When I visit friends in Oshawa, all I can smell is fishy-ness. In Toronto, I can taste the chlorine here at the office. I do find tap water tastes much better when it's been refrigerated.
I know it comes down to preference and choice. I just want people to recognize how privileged we are to have these choices when there are places in the world where people don't have access to clean water or don't have a choice. Let's try to help others out. We're so lucky to live where we live.
But my point really was DRINK ALL YOU WANT AND PUT THE BOTTLE AWAY. Don't play with it. You're a donkey if you do.
Question for CJ
ReplyDeleteIf bottled water is do deadly, why are companies allowed to sell it?
Where did I say it was deadly?
ReplyDeleteAnonymous is probably the first to bicth about the price of gas when it hits anything above $1.30 but has no issues paying $3 for water at a Jays games. I know those people. I don't like them.
ReplyDeleteI dispise that bottled water costs as much as it does but I do like to drink it for teh same reasons as Fred.
Worse are the people who pop the lids of juice bottles. You know how you can snap those tin lids in and out. I want to snap the necks of people who do this.
ReplyDeletei dont buy bottled water btw. i'm just amused by these 1st world problems when they are much bigger issues.
ReplyDeleteYou mean like the issue I pointed out where there are people in the world who don't have access to any kind of fresh drinking water. That problem?
ReplyDeleteGet bent.
I drink tap water. If you are concerned about the chlorine taste let it sit for a bit it goes away. I fill a jug and keep in the fridge. I use to use the Brita filter but found it made no difference and was costly. Plan old tap water is fine. Where do all the bottles go? It is fine to put in the recycle bin, but not everything is actually recycled. You go CJ, I totally agree.
ReplyDeleteAfter the disaster that was Walkerton, does anyone drink tap water?
ReplyDeleteI buy it on occasion, usually by the case, not by the bottle at a corner store. I often find it more convenient than locating a portable thermos, I also prefer the taste. I think the both the municipal supply lines, as well as the plumbing in your house impact the taste of the water, and in some cases you can get tap water that tastes quite “sulphur-y”. I am a big fan of recycling, and I try to reuse the bottles whenever I can before ultimately recycling them.
ReplyDelete@Cara
ReplyDeleteWalkerton WAS A DISASTER which is why in 2002, the Ontario Government introduced the Safe Drinking Water Act.
Don't fool yourself into thinking that those of us who drink bottled water aren't consuming bad things. I'm sure we are. But it tastes so good!
I like my bottled water mixed with sugar and caffeine.
ReplyDeleteBottled water in many cases is tap water that has been bottled.
ReplyDeleteWalkerton is WHY tap water is tested so intensely now than previously. And where do you think bottled water comes from? You think they magically make water in a factory and put it in pretty little bottles? Just because it's in a bottle doesn't make it safer. It's just distilled tap water which means all the safer chemical properties from the water plant are no longer in the water. So you're drinking something worse than tap water in my opinion. If a baby is brought up on tap water alone, they will have issues with their teeth because of the lack of fluoride.
If I have to buy bottled, I do. But I prefer tap water. I'm also a little biased, I have family in the water industry but it's ridiculous what a bottle of water costs. It's like cigarettes, the government and everyone knows they kill people, but there's an industry for it for them to make money so they continue to sell them. Same with bottled water (minus the killing people).
I buy bottles, and refill them for 2 months.
ReplyDeleteIf you don't like the taste of your municipal tap water, get a water filter. The water where I live smells horribly of chorline, but putting it through the filter gets rid of that.
ReplyDelete(I like to keep drinking water in a jug in the fridge, so it's no extra effort).
I buy the case of H2O occasionally. But it is mostly for when workers or guests come to the house and they don't want to drink the tap water that I leave in a jug in the fridge. As long as it is cold, you don't taste anything. If I am out and need to buy, I only get Evian - no taste.
ReplyDeleteAt work we are lucky because there is an H2O filter on the cold H20.
But I agree, the crinkle is annoying. Almost as bad as the person yesterday morning with the "swipe" function of the BB on "nail clipper", or at least the same sound to my ears.
At home I use a Brita pitcher but at work I drink evian/naive because the supposedly-filtered water here tastes nasty.
ReplyDeleteThe worst bottled water IMO is the Nestle crap. All I taste is the plastic from the paper-thin (extra noisy) bottle. Yuck. Dasani and Aquafina are also gross (taste sweet).
Google the source water for Dasani - Calgary and Brampton. And for this you pay a premium? And, check out all the stuff they add to the "distilled" water. I'm with CJ - I drink tap water.
ReplyDeleteI feel (almost) ashamed to say I buy bottled water but more for convenience, I like to have something to drink on the go (the train, the car) and find it a better size than some of the refillable containers. BLECH, Dasani is the worst, it doesn't taste like water! I also like plastic bags!!!!! Hell awaits me.
ReplyDeleteI used to like Dasani but I got a headache every time I drank it so I stopped drinking it. :P I'm on the fence, really - I don't like drinking plain tap water so I get water from a filter or I drink bottled water! I don't really have a preference quite yet. :)
ReplyDeleteFolks, bottled water is just municipal tap water with some elements removed along with ozone. ABC news and ctv did a single blind experiment and found most people preferred tap water.
ReplyDeleteI am surprised we have lamented the fact that so much oil and other energy is consumed, and pollution created through the use of bottled water! From the plastic used to encase it, the fuel burned to truck it, and the power used to recycle or trash it when people are done. Bottled water is an environmental crime of massive proportions!
ReplyDeleteMy fridge filters my water . Voila!
ReplyDelete