Liquid assets: how the business of bottled water went mad • Hacker News Board

Re: Liquid assets: how the business of bottled water went mad

#21

Post by Noseshine » Sun, Oct 09, 2016, 5:09 PM UTC

dom0 wrote: post #16

jacquesm wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The water peddlers have successfully convinced people in places where the water is perfectly safe to drink (and tasty too) that it isn't. There are plenty of places in the world where the water isn't safe to drink but a very large portion of those is so poor the people there could not afford bottled water anyway. But for places with old water lines and all kinds of junk in the water it can make good sense to use bott…

I'm from Germany and it's almost uncanny with _some_ people. Like in, you get a glass of water (from the tap, where else?) and (some) people act like "What the hell is he doing?! Is he insane? You can't drink that!" n.b. Germany has some of the strictest regulations and accordingly the tap water is of excellent quality - everywhere.

Besides, at least here in Germany you can always get the latest lab reports right from the website of your local "Wasserwerke".

Examples:

- Munich https://www.swm.de/privatkunden/m-wasser/qualitaet.html (the 1st PDF link)

- Nuremberg https://www.n-ergie.de/privatkunden/produkte/wasser/analysew... (click on the map, starts an interactive map, Flash unfortunately, from which the values for the four different areas they provide water for are available)

- Berlin http://www.bwb.de/content/language1/html/3255.php

I knew a woman who was a water engineer at the local waterworks. She drank nothing but tap water. You can trust a product when the engineers that made it use it.

.

On the other hand, I spent some time in Russia and in Ukraine. I don't remember all the places any more, but I think the worst was in Odessa, Ukraine - an incredibly beautiful city that I fervently recommend visiting (even for someone who used to live in the Presidio in San Francisco) - where I would not even brush my teeth with the water. I had tried to use it to prepare pasta, the result was disgusting. Those pasta went into the trash.

Re: Liquid assets: how the business of bottled water went mad

#22

Post by anexprogrammer » Sun, Oct 09, 2016, 5:19 PM UTC

hueving wrote: post #4

Theodores wrote: post #3

I think part of this is to do with the 'hydrate' word. Years ago, before water was advertised on television there was this word 'thirsty'. Sometimes, on a hot day or after some strenuous activity you might be 'thirsty' and need to have a drink of tea or maybe just plain water for instant refreshment. The water came from the tap, where else? But then times changed. Nowadays people don't listen to their bodies and drin…

Many people don't drink from the tap because they are convinced it's bad water (which is true in corner cases at least in the US). Everyone I know who drinks bottled does it because of this and it has nothing to do with this 'hydration' ritual you are theorizing.

Something that amuses me is at least two of the UK bottled water brands are selling untouched tap water. Not treated, filtered, or with additives as mentioned in the article. Just tap water put in plastic bottles. One of them was selling Manchester tap water, I think, and doing quite well with it.

I can understand wanting bottled water in London where tap tastes terrible, being 80% limestone, but for the rest of the UK bottled is a pointless waste of money.

Re: Liquid assets: how the business of bottled water went mad

#23

Post by 50CNT » Sun, Oct 09, 2016, 5:33 PM UTC

teslabox wrote: post #2

The World Health Organization has a report titled "Health risks from drinking demineralised water". The main problem is that water without minerals upsets the osmotic balance and leads to lysing (rupture) of the cells lining the stomach. The WHO has moved stuff on their site, but I think this document is one source: http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/nutrientschap... Coffee grounds are a good filter for r…

It just gets more and more complex, doesn't it. Now we have to worry about remineralizing RO water.

    [Tap Water] 
         |
         V
    [Water Softener]------------+ 
         |                      |
         V                      V
    [Reverse Osmosis System]  [Showering & Washing] 
         |
         V
    [Remineralizer] 
         |
         V
    [RO storage tank]
         |
         V
    [Drinking]

Re: Liquid assets: how the business of bottled water went mad

#24

Post by maxerickson » Sun, Oct 09, 2016, 5:40 PM UTC

gumby wrote: post #20

FT_intern wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After watching documentaries about America's crumbling infrastructure I've been paranoid about tap water. My thinking is that the less piping that the water travels through, the less risk of contamination. I've assumed that bottled water gets bottled right by the its source, minimizing the risk.

Beware, Poland Spring (owned by Pepsi) in New England famously bored a well in a property they bought -- that had previously been a paint factory. Because of the success of food regulation in the USA it took a TV station to find this out.

Poland Spring is owned by Nestle.

The previous use of the surface site doesn't necessarily make the aquifer unusable. It would be much more damning if their water was tested and found to have higher than normal levels of volatile organic compounds or whatever.

Re: Liquid assets: how the business of bottled water went mad

#25

Post by eveningcoffee » Sun, Oct 09, 2016, 5:44 PM UTC

Theodores wrote: post #3

I think part of this is to do with the 'hydrate' word. Years ago, before water was advertised on television there was this word 'thirsty'. Sometimes, on a hot day or after some strenuous activity you might be 'thirsty' and need to have a drink of tea or maybe just plain water for instant refreshment. The water came from the tap, where else? But then times changed. Nowadays people don't listen to their bodies and drin…

Where I live, the tap water is contaminated by herbicides (measured by the government to be multiple times over the norm) from nearby agricultural activities. I prefer to drink bottled water coming from known mountain sources.

Water coming from the tap is still tasty and I use it for other culinary purposes except for direct drinking.

Re: Liquid assets: how the business of bottled water went mad

#26

Post by kaybe » Sun, Oct 09, 2016, 5:55 PM UTC

dom0 wrote: post #16

jacquesm wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The water peddlers have successfully convinced people in places where the water is perfectly safe to drink (and tasty too) that it isn't. There are plenty of places in the world where the water isn't safe to drink but a very large portion of those is so poor the people there could not afford bottled water anyway. But for places with old water lines and all kinds of junk in the water it can make good sense to use bott…

I'm from Germany and it's almost uncanny with _some_ people. Like in, you get a glass of water (from the tap, where else?) and (some) people act like "What the hell is he doing?! Is he insane? You can't drink that!" n.b. Germany has some of the strictest regulations and accordingly the tap water is of excellent quality - everywhere.

The US army camp in Heidelberg actually had their perfectly fine tap water chlorinated.

From a German point of view (chlorine tastes and smells horrible) this is just ridiculous.

Re: Liquid assets: how the business of bottled water went mad

#27

Post by jeff_vader » Sun, Oct 09, 2016, 6:12 PM UTC

anexprogrammer wrote: post #22

hueving wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many people don't drink from the tap because they are convinced it's bad water (which is true in corner cases at least in the US). Everyone I know who drinks bottled does it because of this and it has nothing to do with this 'hydration' ritual you are theorizing.

Something that amuses me is at least two of the UK bottled water brands are selling untouched tap water. Not treated, filtered, or with additives as mentioned in the article. Just tap water put in plastic bottles. One of them was selling Manchester tap water, I think, and doing quite well with it. I can understand wanting bottled water in London where tap tastes terrible, being 80% limestone, but for the rest of the…

Now I want to visit Manchester and try the tap water there. I live in London and for some reason have absolutely no complaints about tap water here, I drink it all the time.

Re: Liquid assets: how the business of bottled water went mad

#28

Post by EliRivers » Sun, Oct 09, 2016, 6:16 PM UTC

tomjen3 wrote: post #9

Tap water is awesome when you are home and it doesn't taste like crap. Bottled water is awesome when I am at the gym, or out and about. I really don't get why the left hate water bottles so fucking much, it has become quite tiresome.

I really don't get why the left hate water bottles so fucking much, it has become quite tiresome.

What I don't get is this lazy, ridiculous partisan politics bullshit. That has become extraordinarily tiresome. "The left hate water bottles". WTF are you talking about? A water bottle is a device for putting water in. WTF does left-leaning politics have to say about that? Did the British labour party have elimination of water bottles as one of their manifesto pledges? Did the Weather Underground declare war on water bottles? Maybe I missed the bit where Al Gore [1] invoked a committee examining how to remove the scourge of water bottles. When Baader-Meinhof assassinated a banker, did they have a parallel plot to take out a bottle factory? Did the Comintern have a working party identifying water bottle plants to eliminate after the revolutions?

[1] Who actually represents a right-wing political party, but WTF, I'm already flowing [2].

[2] Pun intended.

Re: Liquid assets: how the business of bottled water went mad

#29

Post by wlievens » Sun, Oct 09, 2016, 6:17 PM UTC

david-given wrote: post #18

hueving wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many people don't drink from the tap because they are convinced it's bad water (which is true in corner cases at least in the US). Everyone I know who drinks bottled does it because of this and it has nothing to do with this 'hydration' ritual you are theorizing.

I live in Zürich. The water company here says that it's unfair to compare the tap water with bottled mineral water; the tap water is substantially better. (I had a tour of the plant. They are a serious group of overachievers. The source of the water is mostly the local lake, and is purified by, two grades of sand filter, activated charcoal, ozone purification, and a bacterial bed. They actively manage the biofilms in…

Well it's just plain unfair to compare German efficiency and thoroughness with... anywhere else in the world.

Re: Liquid assets: how the business of bottled water went mad

#30

Post by Aloha » Sun, Oct 09, 2016, 6:33 PM UTC

I on average drink 120-150 oz of water a day (sometimes a portion of this is unsweet iced tea, or diet soda), since I started doing this, I've lost weight and generally feel healthier. So several years ago, I got in the habit of lugging around a large beverage container (http://www.whirleydrinkworks.com/productinfo.php?prod-code=X...) 9 times out of 10 its just tap water I put in the thing. I only drink bottled water when I'm in a position where I can't get access to fill my beverage container from the tap - or when due to security or other factors I'm unable to bring my large beverage cup, but bottled water is allowed.

Bottled water (usually purchased in a 1.5l, 2l or 1gal container) is something I purchase only for convenience when I simply don't have access to any tap water at all.