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Bottled Water

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Re: Bottled Water

#31

Post by MichaelSalib »

MC27 wrote: post #30
MichaelSalib wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because most homes don't have a tap that dispenses soft drinks for basically nothing? Another reason is that soft drink bottlers in the US don't claim that they're using "natural" spring water when they're just using municipal water supplies. That lack of deception might explain some of the difference. Finally, some of the bottled water hatred is specifically focused on Fiji water. Soft drinks tend to be bottled loca…

I was more comparing it as a drink that you would consume away from home, going into a shop and choosing between a myriad of soft drinks and water products. Although I do see your point. Coca-cola tried that municipal/tap water scam in the UK, but ended up having their product pulled from the shelves because it was contaminated with bromate. After that happened, they completely pulled the brand from the UK. There's t…

I still think soft drinks are the worse of the two. They screw up peoples' health.

I think we totally agree.

Re: Bottled Water

#32

Post by MichaelSalib »

jsz0 wrote: post #29

I have a Brita at home but on the go I buy bottled water. I don't see it as any less harmful than other bottled beverages so I can only guess that the environmentalist fringe is opposed to consumption of all bottled beverages. I don't know why they can't target more realistic goals. Making people feel bad about satisfying the basic human need of hydration is really stupid. There are better things to focus on.

I can only guess that the environmentalist fringe is opposed to consumption of all bottled beverages

You need not guess; I propose some explanations later in the comments: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1593158

I don't know why they can't target more realistic goals.

Who is they? And do "they" matter?

Making people feel bad about satisfying the basic human need of hydration is really stupid.

How do you know the desired goal is making people feel bad rather than informing them? Actions have consequences. Surely you don't think that everyone should be shielded from learning about the consequences of their actions in general?

Re: Bottled Water

#33

Post by teilo »

evgen wrote: post #9
teilo wrote: post #2

What this infographic fails to mention is that almost all the bottled water starting its life as municipal water has been filtered via reverse osmosis, and processed via UV and ozone during the bottling. What does this gain you? The main advantage is that you remove the fluoride. America is insane for fluoridating her water supply. Intentionally adding poison to the water, using dental care as the excuse. Sorry, but…

Anything is poisonous/toxic given the right conditions and dosage. Under the right conditions I can kill you using pure O2. The only thing that is "stupid" is clinging to silly good chemical/bad chemical dichotomies without taking context and dosage into consideration. Low-dosage flouride in a water supply has been shown over and over again in epidemiological studies to reduce the incidence of oral cavities from 15-4…

Dosage is exactly my point. Dosage is cumulative. Those studies do not correlate the dosage of water to the fluoride people receive from other sources, such as their food. Nor do they measure the concentrating effect that the use of fluoridated water in the production of various food-stuffs has on the end product. This is a big "?" that no one wants to address.

Re: Bottled Water

#34

Post by jimbobimbo »

kscaldef wrote: post #5
jimbobimbo wrote: post #4

Here's another fact about bottled water: it tastes the way water should taste without having to drain a few gallons of tap water. There could be a million reasons why the water in my kitchen tap smells unless drained for a while, but I'll rather go and buy a bucket of Poland Springs to get my tea and coffee right.

Maybe you should consider a plumber. Or at least a Brita filter.

...Or I'll save myself a trouble and just buy a $4 4gal jug of water with _guaranteed_ taste I like.

Re: Bottled Water

#35

Post by jimbobimbo »

viraptor wrote: post #15

Another fact: You can choose one that tastes better than your local tap water. Brita or not. Boiled or not. I still prefer Highland Spring over both other bottled waters and tap water, just because of the taste. I can go through 1L of it a day in summer (or more if I go to the gym) and it would have to cost ~10 times more before I'd consider not buying it.

Amen. I'm buying only Poland Spring just because of this reason. Actually have to go to different grocery stores because of that.

Re: Bottled Water

#36

Post by electromagnetic »

wooster wrote: post #25
electromagnetic wrote: post #14

I work outside in 40C heat, in the sun for 8-10 hours a day; municipal water doesn't cut it for me. I've drank over 4 liters of water inside of an 8 hour period and have still needed to drink a minimum of a 1L gatorade to get hydrated enough to actually urinate. (Note: we're recommended to drink 1.2 liters in a day, and I can get through 5 liters in 1/3, it's advised to drink no more than 1 liter per hour* of heavy e…

I work outside in 40C heat, in the sun for 8-10 hours a day; The record high temperature in Hamilton is 38.8C, and the average high during the summer is 27.3C. I'm sorry, I'm not comfortable with the idea of drinking or even showering in leaded water. Despite lead absorption through skin being rare, I think when it's covering your entire body it's present at some rate. Then either filter your well water (the municipa…

Yes, the record dry heat is 38.8C congratulations, we're on a gigantic lake, which has been putting up the temperature by about 10C when calculated as the humidex. For the past 6 weeks we've been hitting an average of about 38C on the humidex. Obviously you're in some miracle location where humidity doesn't have any bearing on heat, we are.

The city of Hamilton has been doing a large campaign for the past few months (until everyone got distracted by where to put the tigercats stadium and no one cares about lead in the water anymore) on how to deal with lead in the supply lines to many houses, and have currently got no plan on what to do. They're considering changing the makeup of the water so that it doesn't leach lead out of the existing lines (note the levels of lead are upon entering the system are safe, not necessarily exiting the system). There's a big concern, because a lot of houses only have about 2ft of exposed lead piping, normally well concealed, for the homeowner to know they have a lead supply line or not.

They're currently offering a $2000 loan to cover the cost of replacing your private lines (on the inside of your house) which is woefully insufficient to say the city provided the original supply lines, and then they'll cover the work to replace the private line that connects to the municipal line (IE everything outside of your house, much of which is well below city property in the downtown areas this concerns).

Please don't try to pick apart my comment, this isn't reddit.

Re: Bottled Water

#37

Post by electromagnetic »

MichaelSalib wrote: post #21
electromagnetic wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To the latter; the water is independently tested by a government agency, and as I said the mineral contents (including heavy metals) is posted on the label. To the former, as you obviously read enough of my comment, I stated I fill the bottles on average 4 times a week (new bottles monday used until friday) with filtered water. Tap water here tastes disgusting and has huge amounts of chlorine, and in areas the munici…

the mineral contents (including heavy metals) is posted on the label. Interesting. I didn't know that the Canadian government is responsible for claims made on label packaging. Tap water here tastes disgusting and has huge amounts of chlorine, and in areas the municipal and house lines contain lead or are made of lead. Ah, thanks for explaining. Your comment was filled with so much unnecessary detail that I failed to…

Food standards agency is responsible for checking the claims made on packaging labels, whether they do or not is one of the many mysteries of our government.
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