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Liquid assets: how the business of bottled water went mad

theguardian.com

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

#41

Post by seanp2k2 »

50CNT wrote: post #23
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]

Yeah, I always wondered why there isn't simply one line running to the bathrooms + laundry room with softened water, and a separate line which goes through RO for everything else. Putting a RO + tank under the sink but the softener in the garage / basement seems backwards to me; I know nothing about plumbing but it would seem to make more sense to have a small softener under the bathroom sink just for the shower.

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

#42

Post by Symbiote »

samstave wrote: post #37

I stayed at a hotel that offered complimentary bottle of water in the room, I think this was in Dallas. I read the label and they stated that the water source was the municipal water supply - so it was the same as tap water...

Coca Cola's brand "Dasani" is bottled tap water.

I'm from Britain, where the product was withdrawn after terrible publicity, and following that it was never launched in the rest of Europe. I hadn't realised it still existed in the USA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dasani

("Can't live without spunk" is unbelievably bad advertising too. Spunk is slang for semen...)

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

#43

Post by Symbiote »

jeff_vader wrote: post #27
anexprogrammer wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I think it's just what you're used to -- I like London tap water, but dislike Manchester's water.

There's a water hardness map for England (PDF): http://www.dwi.gov.uk/consumers/advice-leaflets/hardness_map...

(But you should go to Manchester anyway.)

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

#44

Post by seanp2k2 »

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…

In the US, we switch water sources willy nilly because of capitalism and political maneuvering: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flint_water_crisis

I definitely don't trust the municipal water sources + local plumbing my landlords provide to be of the highest quality. I'd like to measure what actually comes out of my taps but I'm not aware of a lab which would affordable do contaminant level testing for just a few samples.

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

#45

Post by abrie »

50CNT wrote: post #23
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]

In Len Beadell's book "Blast the Bush", he describes a solution (pun?) developed while building the Woomera Rocket Range. Apparently the groundwater had a terrible taste; so they built a distillation facility. But the distilled water was unpalatable because it was too pure. So, they experimented by mixing distilled water with small amounts of groundwater, eventually arriving at a drinkable ratio.

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

#46

Post by seanp2k2 »

jacquesm wrote: post #5
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.

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…

Consider that most buildings built in the 1980s or earlier have at least some lead pipes in the building plumbing, not to mention the mains. In the Bay Area, how many of us live in buildings built in the 80s or earlier? With the way landlords act around here, I would be very much not surprised to see high lead levels coming out of faucets.

From 10 minutes of research it looks like SF is lead-free for water mains, but this talks about how fixtures even up until 2010 potentially contain unsafe levels of lead: http://www.bayarealeaddetectors.com/blog/

And this is just one contaminant: http://www.livescience.com/56210-what-is-chromium-6-in-tap-w...

https://www.epa.gov/ccl/types-drinking-water-contaminants // https://www.wqa.org/learn-about-water/common-contaminants

While I personally don't buy bottled water (lucky enough to have RO filtration at home and at work), I don't really blame those who do out of fear. Unless you get what's coming out of the actual taps you use tested regularly, you don't actually know what you're drinking.

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

#47

Post by seanp2k2 »

maxerickson wrote: post #24
gumby wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I think that the "paint factory" part is "amusing" due to lead. Oakland had lots of lead in the soil from previous industrial contamination: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead_contamination_in_Oaklan...

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

#48

Post by seanp2k2 »

collyw wrote: post #14
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.

Because they are an environmental disaster with no need for them. Get a refillable water bottle and take that to the gym.

Why does the US continue to let plastic bottles of water (or anything) be sold? I agree that it's terrible for the environment. I'm guessing that the reason is "lobbyists" :(

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

#49

Post by Sharlin »

draw_down wrote: post #35

What I don't get: why is a bottle of Coca-Cola better than a bottle of water? And, well... what else are you supposed to do if you aren't going to be near a faucet for a while?

Uh. You fill a purpose-made reusable container with water and take it with you. What do you think people did before bottled water became a thing?

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

#50

Post by the_economist »

dawnerd wrote: post #38
Aloha wrote: post #30

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 wat…

Pretty much same as you, although sadly a lot more of my fluid intake is in the form of coke zero which I'm trying to break. I only keep bottled water around in case of emergency. I've found that after I bought a large Nalgene bottle I drink a lot more water.

Try switching to green tea + l-theanine. I went from coke -> coffee -> tea without a problem. The main addiction is to the caffeine.
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