Sustenance or Status Symbol?

I find bottled water is a waste of money. My city's tapwater is fine, and I fill up my Nalgene bottle with it every day. Compared to buying bottles of water, I'm sure I've saved thousands of dollars.

Sent by Amanda | 3:12 PM | 7-23-2007

I work at a public utility district that supplies water to the community. We live in the mountains and the water tastes really good! I drink tap water at home and in the office, but others in my office only drink bottled water. I think this is ironic that we work for the water district and some employees still won???t drink it out of the tap.

Sent by Cory | 3:12 PM | 7-23-2007

The only time I buy bottled water is when I'm at an event (such as the outdoor festival I attended this weekend) where no other water source is available and you aren't allowed to bring in your own. The rest of the time, I carry my own bottle and fill it from the nearest available tap.

I'm lucky to live in a region with tasty, clean and abundant water, but even if I wasn't, buying water seems to me like conspicious consumption at its worst. What's next - buying air?

Sent by Pat Kight | 3:12 PM | 7-23-2007

I agree that bottled water is a waste of money, but in my town, Trenton, NJ, the tap water tastes AWFUL!! My wife drinks from the tap; I filter. As for carrying water, i use plastic bottles because I have not found a transportable bottle that I can keep clean regularly.

Sent by Brann Wry | 3:13 PM | 7-23-2007

When I was in middle school, I fanatically read bottles, containers, everything.

I read a bottled water at lunch one afternoon and noticed that this particular water was not spring, but purified. I asked my biology teacher about the difference and learned that with environmental laws in the US, I was just as well bringing water from home.

The problem is that most children will more readily drink water when it comes in a packaged bottle. Status starts early!

Sent by Janiko Watkins | 3:13 PM | 7-23-2007

I live in Denver, Colorado. Several years ago, The Denver Post ran a story in which water was compare: quality, taste, etc. Denver water rated substantially higher in quality and taste than most bottled waters; some of them premium bottled waters. For 15 years, I have used a Brita water filter system to filter out harmful constituents (lead, etc.) and items that affect taste (like chlorine). My Denver municipal (filtered) water tastes better and is substantially cheaper than bottled water. The only reason I buy bottled water is for convenience; which is not very often, because I have many plastic bottles that I recycle to take my superior water with me wherever I go.

Sent by Jimmy James | 3:14 PM | 7-23-2007

Here's my concern: I live in a very old house with rusty old pipes. The water in the city might be tasty and clean, but by the time it comes through my pipes, it could be full of iron and other toxins. Is there a solution to this problem?

Sent by Lucille Allen | 3:15 PM | 7-23-2007

I do buy bottled water some times. Here in Tulsa I have found out that when picking up a meal at a local fast food drive thru window, I can ask for a small ice water and usually get just that in a small(which means medium according to fast food terminology)drink cup. When dining out and the waiter asks what type of water I would like, I tell them Tap please. If they don't make a face and act rude then their tip goes up, otherwise the tip might go down. And lots of sports companies give away refillable water bottles.

Sent by Larry Gober | 3:16 PM | 7-23-2007

I've been drinking bottled water since I became an adult not because I think it tastes better than tap water but because I do not want to ingest Fluoride and Chlorine. Call me crazy, but regular consumption of a substance (Fluoride) that is harmful to my health isn't for me.

Sent by Chris Santucci | 3:16 PM | 7-23-2007

The water in my apartment comes through PVC pipe. I have read that PVC contaminates water. When I drink my tap water, my intestines do not feel good afterward. However, I am told it has passed safety standards. I don't like to buy bottled water, because it also comes in plastic. Often we don't see the dangers of introducing unnatural chemicals like plastics into the body until problems like cancer have developed decades later. We need to ensure our standards for tap water encompass all knowledge about what unnatural materials damage the body if we don't want people to buy bottled water elseewhere. People have been so much in favor of technological innovations and have held such scorn toward natural ways of living that our standards have been biased toward plastics that may be creating an environment in our bodies that eventually kills us.

Sent by Irene C | 3:19 PM | 7-23-2007

I use a TON of bottled water. Where I live in San Jose, the tap tastes absolutely terrible. Many times when I take a shower at my gym, the water smells like sulfur or cholrine and I would never dream of swallowing anything that comes out of that tap. On the other hand, my friends in Mountain View, (about 5 minutes north) have excellent tasting tap water which I drink all the time. Confusing I know.

Sent by Mike | 3:19 PM | 7-23-2007

A friend once told me, "There are two things in the world that a person should never have to pay for: sex and water." And I have to whole-heartedly agree!

I have 2 nalgene bottles and carry one everywhere with me. They come in so many sizes these days that anyone would be able to incorporate them into their lives.

Sent by Kristy | 3:20 PM | 7-23-2007

Seems to me that the water craze might have started from a misunderstanding...

Several years ago the US government announced new diet guidelines. When asked how much water one should consume with the diet, a scientist responded with an amount that ignored the water that is already contained in that food. Thus, many people were led to believe that they should drink much more water than they really need.

The bottled water industry as we know it today emerged at about that time.

Tom
WCPN Member

Sent by Tom Unkefer | 3:20 PM | 7-23-2007

My daughter and I were recently at our weekly playgroup....in a room full of designed, colorful, (over-marketed) toys, three of the little kids lined up to play with homemade rattles - used water bottles with lentils inside.

Apparently we have all been over-consumed and over-marketed in the arena of both bottled water and child toys!

One idea for a few of those used water bottles? Homemade rattles for your baby playgroup. :)

Sent by Laura Minzenberg | 3:21 PM | 7-23-2007

And bottled water does not contain florides, leading to higher rates of tooth decay.

Sent by Steve Schlink | 3:21 PM | 7-23-2007

It's not the water, it's the convenience!

Sent by Barbara Segal | 3:23 PM | 7-23-2007

I believe that a professor from UC Berkeley tested the isotopes found in a bottle of Fiji water. It seems that the isotopes were consistent to those found in Sierra water sheds, not from a Pacific island.

Sent by Barrett Davis | 3:24 PM | 7-23-2007

I'm all in favor of drinking free tap water, but the water in Roanoke City (Va.) tastes terrible--I think it has a high level of minerals. NYC and other cities have great-tasting water. Located here in the Blue Ridge Mountains, you'd think Roanoke water would be wonderful!

I stopped drinking it when the vet advised against giving it to my dog, who was elderly and sick at the time. If it's bad for the dog, why would I want to drink it?

I feel guilty buying plastic bottles. One thing I've done is to buy a 3-gallon dispenser for my refrigerator that I can refill at the local health food store at 39 cents/gallon.

I still buy bottles when traveling, but I make sure they go in the recycling.

Sent by Bobbi Hoffman | 3:25 PM | 7-23-2007

I am from San Francisco and believe whole heartedly that we need to reduce our use of bottled water. I pretty much only drink water, but I dont drink bottled water at home. However, I do use a Britta. I re-use bottles to take with me.

In class I heard a statistic that the amount we spend on bottled water in the U.S. could provide clean drinking water for the entire world. Not a bad thing to strive for.

Sent by Eric | 3:27 PM | 7-23-2007

I was in the Balkans and North Africa last year and their waterways are clogged with plastic bottles and plastic in general. You can't walk 10 feet on a beach in Calif without stepping on a plastic bottle. Furthermore, there is a growing pile of plastic trash gathering in the Pacific as a result of the converging currents and I would bet there are thousands of floating water bottles there. It was with great relief that I heard water bottles were getting criticized - they are an uncontrollable littler hazard for quality of life and a threat to other species' habitats. This movement needs to grow into a rejection of un-recycled plastic and plastic litter in general. If unchecked, archaeologists in the future will refer to us as a the "plastic century."
-LE

Sent by Lewis Eichele | 3:28 PM | 7-23-2007

It was easy to give up bottled water in my house, we replaced it with a few polycarbonate bottles that we wash and fill with filtered tap water after each use and then keep them in the fridge. After drinking from the polycarbonate bottles, bottled water tastes like plastic to me! We are very happy with the transition because it is better for the environment and is more economically efficent.

Sent by Kaitlyn | 3:28 PM | 7-23-2007

where we live the municipal water generally tops 2.5gm/liter total dissolved solids. tho not always tested, many waters in the southwest have lithium compounds and with carbonate ions you get lithium carbonate for people who may not need it. since we moved to this small town our blood pressure had gone up. we switched to distilled water and it went down. now we have a distiller. it only takes about 3kw-hrs to distill a gallon. it helps being at high altitude it boils lower temp.

Sent by jacques | 3:34 PM | 7-23-2007

As I was on an exchange semester in Iowa this year, I bought a filtering system that worked pretty well filtering out the chlorine taste. It is quite easy to buy one in a grocery stores and really saves a lot of money. Tab water is proven to be healthier as far as I am informed. There is only one problem - old water pipes could contaminate the water.
In Germany, were I am from, the government implemented a recycling system with some policical problems a couple of years ago. However, people don't throw the plastic bottles away any more since there is a deposit of 25 cent on each one. Also, the demand shifted to tab water or glass bottles.

Sent by Manuel | 3:37 PM | 7-23-2007

When traveling by air, I would happily bring (actually prefer) my own nalgene bottle of tap water from home. However, as we all know, that is no longer permitted.

r

Sent by J.K. Frazier | 3:38 PM | 7-23-2007

Refilling plastic bottles with water is hazardous to people's heath. See: www.pureinsideout.com/about-toxins.html

Sent by Irene C | 3:39 PM | 7-23-2007

I live in Ontario, Canada so maybe I don't qualify here. All plastic bottles are eligible for the local recycling, which is in the blue box, picked up bi-weekly. Apart from that, our "tap water" is excellent here as there is a 10-year old water plant existing. I have not bought "bottled water" for years, as I simply re-fill used pop bottles (thoroughly cleaned) as needed. Perhaps "Becks" could do the same and add a label saying "tap water" to the container! After all, where do the very bottles come from? Petroleum!!!!!!

Sent by CJ McAuley | 3:42 PM | 7-23-2007

What about when the water enters old buildings? We live in a building that's more than a hundred years old, with pipes that are probably just as old. Beyond our pipes, the water is probably fine, our concern is what has leached from our old metal pipes into the water by the time it comes out of our faucet. We know that something is there, because when we come back from out of town, the water is visibly dirty when we first turn on the faucet. Before doing anything, we run the faucets for several minutes, but the fact that we've seen detritus swept out of the pipes and through the faucet keeps me from going back to it for drinking or cooking water.

Sent by whitney | 3:55 PM | 7-23-2007

I live in Tucson, AZ. We are in the middle of a severe drought, have very hard water, and are using up our aquifer, as well as depleting the Colorado River throught the Central AZ project. Many people soften the water, and use reverse osmosis systems, which wastes more water. Not a good situation.What I have done for drinking water is to fill up some gallon jugs, let the chlorine dissipate over a period of 24-48 hours, and then refrigerate it. Tastes better, and I am using less plastic.

Sent by Pat H. | 3:57 PM | 7-23-2007

Eight Glasses a Day is a myth. Please help publicize this study:

http://ajpregu.physiology.org/cgi/content/full/283/5/R993
... No scientific studies were found in support of 8 ?? 8. Rather, surveys of food and fluid intake on thousands of adults of both genders, analyses of which have been published in peer-reviewed journals, strongly suggest that such large amounts are not needed because the surveyed persons were presumably healthy and certainly not overtly ill. ...

Sent by Tom | 4:23 PM | 7-23-2007

I have carried a Nalgene like the guy suggested for about 5 years, and it has saved me money when on the road over and over again.

I fill it with filtered tap water, and am VERY satisfied with BRITA water filters--they strip a lot of bad stuff and really do clean up the taste of almost all tap water I've come across.

I would suggest that everybody get a nice water bottle and filter their own water if they are really worried about bad water.

Sent by kudokatz | 6:06 PM | 7-23-2007

Although it has been mentioned often here and on the show, Nalgene is not the only brand of reusable water container. In fact, if you do choose to use Nalgene bottles, you should be aware that the company is one of the primary manufacturers of devices used in animal experimentation. If that's something you don't support, you might want to spend your money on another brand. Luckily, there are plenty of options. Sigg and Klean Kanteen are good bets, and the Sigg bottles come in some really fun designs. Sigg bottles are made from enamel-coated aluminum, and Kleen Kanteens from stainless steel, so both types are very light, strong, and easy to clean. You can also reuse glass bottles, if you're not concerned about breakage or extra weight.

Sent by Emily Vanneman | 7:52 PM | 7-23-2007

For those who use reverse osmosis filtration systems: they are not needed. Simply place a wide, shallow dish outside in the sun with a clean plastic or glass dome over it, and collect the condensation from the dome. The product, although not high volume, is probably purer than any bottled water you will ever find that wasn't combined from hydrogen and oxygen, bottled, and sealed-- all in a cleanroom.

Sent by The Nerd | 8:29 PM | 7-23-2007

I grew up with a well in the Rocky Mountains and the water was excellent. Now in L.A. I can't make tea with it. Plus I worry about the multitude of uncharacterized chlorinated organic byproducts. Nonetheless I don't buy water but have a filter, as I've always considered it a great waste to buy bottled (the worst example being water from Fiji -- think about it). Still, something smells rather rotten with water dept. officials telling us how good tap water is when it clearly often isn't!

Sent by Rich | 12:19 AM | 7-24-2007

My city (Irvine) bottles its water and sells it. It's fairly good quality, but it's not exactly worth it...

Sent by ellie cosmo | 12:31 AM | 7-24-2007

People know about the flouride conspiracy, and a normal filter won't work to remove the toxin. People don't want to injest chlorine or dead bacteria as well.

Sent by Robert Allison | 3:13 AM | 7-24-2007

Bottled water: more plastic contributes to the "zenoestrogenic effect"...more waste etc. Tap water? most has cholorine, which in the human body, mimics thyroid hormone, BUT does not translate into a healthy thyroid function as is noted as rampant in our country...low thyroid function. The CDC mandated the testing of waters/city and wells in five states w. of the Miss...my state, AZ. is one. Water...quantity..issue. Qualty, issue. Health in locals here has improved with installation of some kind of water purification device. These devices are becoming more affordable. Tap water.....chlorine. Bottled? outgassing/waste. Please NPR, get some people from the holistic health community on your next discussion...we have plenty here in Tucson. The gentleman who spoke for dinking city water does not understand the whole picture. Our govt.'s testing standards PPM on contaminants, would be found bracketed for the dead in other countries. As home systems become more affordable, as in under $100.00....as transportable units are coming out under $30.00, perhaps we might consider being less lazy, and carrying our own water..eliminating more fossil fuel use in making of plastics, less emmissions, less recycles, less garbage, etc..but drink "safe" tap water? Let's hope we don't step on any big business toes here.

Sent by MIriam Ellison | 1:51 PM | 7-24-2007

i know i'm coming in late on this discussion, but i've been thinking about this since july.

wasn't there a news story a while back (earlier this year) about nalgene bottles leaching harmful chemicals into the water they hold, especially if used and re-used for years?

so, what's better....tap water (filtered or not) in a chemical-leaching nalgene, or clean water in a bottle that can be easily recycled?

seriously, i'm asking. i don't know the answer.

Sent by evi | 10:48 PM | 10-3-2007