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Liquid assets: how the business of bottled water went mad

theguardian.com

71–80 of 86 posts

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

#71
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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" :(

Is the US somehow unique in selling plastic bottles? Why don't those environmentally conscious countries ban plastic?

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

#72
post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This dual-system is one of the things that drives me crazy when in the UK. Oftentimes you get a sink with two separate taps, one hot one cold. So if you want to rinse your hands with warm water, you turn them both on and quickly move your hands between the two. If you're too slow, you get scalded!

Fun fact: mixer taps in the UK don't mix! There are two separate tubes, usually one inside the other, for carrying hot and cold water. So, what comes out of the tap is cold on the outside and hot on the inside, resulting in scalding your hands and freezing them at the same time! ...because you can't connect the hot water and cold water systems together (because of aforesaid risk of sucking contaminated water out of t…

Is it really that hard to add an anti siphon valve? All it is is a small one-way flap.

Or a backflow preventer - they are the law in many states. Put one on the hot and cold side.

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

#73
post #4

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.

The tap water in my new apartment tastes terrible. Bottled water tastes so much better. But bottled water is so inconvenient and wasteful. So I bought a pitcher with a filter, and the tap water tastes bearable after that.

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

#74

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...)

Time to point out what Evian spells when read backwards...

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

#75
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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" :(

Paper bottles failed to catch on. ;)

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

#76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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...)

Time to point out what Evian spells when read backwards...

Time to point out that Evian is a place in France where the company originated

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89vian-les-Bains

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

#77
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The softened water is for more than just comfort of use though. It keeps the hard water from depositing in the pipes and any of the devices that have water pass through them. It was interesting when we installed a better softening system that our water heater started putting out hotter water since the elements got cleared of the deposits. It also stopped making creepy sounds.

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

#78
post #23
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]

That's actually exactly what I came up with when designing how I'd do it some years ago. I didn't bother as our tap water is good out here. The only difference is I had a greywater (or whatever they call it) system in the design for reusing stuff for garden, toilet flushing, water guns used on non-household people with minimal filtering, whatever.

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

#79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.)

Interesting I'd not seen that map before.

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

#80
post #49

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?

Or, y'know, just wait, also like people used to do. One won't die without frequent sips of water.

I remember once seeing a women in a church service with her mandatory stylish bottle of water. Now, it's certainly possible that she had an actual medical issue requiring frequent hydration, and it's certainly possible that she was also of a social class such that the stylish water bottle was the reasonable way to address her medical issue — but Ockham's Razor suggests not.

Water's great. Honestly, I like the idea of a water sommelier: having the opportunity to taste different waters sounds cool. I love the idea of drinking water thousands of years old (although I wonder how trustworthy the supplier are: it'd be a lot cheaper just to distil tapwater than to net chunks of iceberg). But the social signalling aspect is just weird.

We pay millions of dollars for good, clean drinking water. And it is — outside of hellholes like Flint, MI — pretty damned good stuff. Why buy it as a matter of course?

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