

The story of bottled water (short film) - jhund
http://storyofstuff.org/bottledwater/

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dkersten
I disagree with most anti-bottled water comments. I drink bottled water. I
used to drink it a lot. I have spent significant time trying different brands
to find out which I liked best. I always shopped for taste (ie, I have never
looked into how "healthy" or clean or whatever it is compared to tap water,
nor do I care).

Dunno about where everybody else is, but this is at least true here, in
Ireland. Maybe bottled water in the US is different? I don't know.

Until recently, when I got a water filter, I always drank bottled water. I
love water and drink a LOT of it and always chose bottled water for taste. The
really cheap bottled water usually tastes like crap, but the midrange to
higher priced water tastes a lot better. Of the water sold locally, Volvic is
my favourite. Tap water here tastes TERRIBLE. Even the filtered water I drink
now doesn't taste as nice as bottled water and I'd still drink bottled water
if it wasn't so expensive compared to buying filter replacements every now and
then. There is a GIANT difference in taste between different brands of water.
I don't know if its the water itself or the plastic it is packaged in[1].

Some of my friends think I'm crazy and can't taste the difference. I
definitely can and I suspect the reason is that for the first fifteen or
sixteen years of my life, I HATED all bottled water because it taste terrible
compared to the tap water at home. I grew up in the country and the tap water
came from a stream from the mountain at the back of the house. It was
collected in a stone well and filtered through granite slabs. Thats it. No
bottled water has come close to the taste of that water and until I moved to
the city, I hated bottled water. I had friends who grew up in nearby towns and
I never liked their tap water very much. But when I moved to the city, the tap
water tastes extremely bad and I chose bottled water as the better of too bad
options. I've since got used to bottled water, though drink it less due to
getting a filter. So: mountain water > bottled water > filtered tap water >
tap water

(Sadly the well has since been decomissioned due to contaminants (the mountain
was used for farming and there are a lot of animals kept around where the well
was) and while the water it has been replaced with is still nicer than town
water and most bottled water, it is nowhere near as nice as the old water was)

[1] for example, recently I did a blind taste test with Milk, because I prefer
to buy two brands (most shops only sell two or three brands. All shops sell at
least one of the two brands I favor and often at least one other one. These
others generally depend on the shop and region, some shops do have other
brands I like, generally they are sold in tetrapak cartons, see below) of Milk
due to taste. I could not taste the difference between tetrapak milk between
the two brands that I buy, but I could between plastic cartons of the same two
brands. With plastic, I could also taste the difference between the brands I
buy and other brands. I am certain the taste difference is due to the plastic
used in the cartons, not the Milk itself. I bet its the same for bottled
water.

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jrockway
This is not something I get too outraged about. Yes, it's a waste of energy,
but this problem will solve itself when we run out of cheap energy. Pollution
is bad, but governments are beginning to see this and are penalizing the
polluters. These two factors will eventually make bottled water unprofitable,
and it will be on to the piece of low-hanging fruit.

The reason I don't get too outraged is two-fold. One, it's better that people
drink water instead of sugar water. Two, the landfilled bottles are annoying,
but it's a problem we can solve later when we need the space. Right now, there
is plenty of space on the planet for people, agriculture, and garbage. As we
begin to need more space for people and agriculture, we will clean up the
garbage.

I personally wouldn't buy bottled water, but this is not something I am losing
a lot of sleep over either. Let the market work this problem out.

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Urgo
Great video. While I do buy bottled water occasionally (i.e. I'm in a place
where I don't have convenient access to tap water) it's very very rare. I am
constantly amazed how many people actually pay for water.

In college (now about 10 years ago) I did a blind taste test study for a
statistics class project and my results agreed with what they said in the
video. Most people, including my roommate who was the biggest bottled water
drinker I knew preferred the tap water to bottled, and yet after he saw even
his own results it changed nothing. I just don't get it.

~~~
brg
The thing you are missing is convenience. Bottled water is easily kept at
temperature in diverse locations, is extremely portable, and immediately
accessible. There are no fountains in classrooms.

And that's the point. Bottled water isn't being brought to the dining room.
People are drinking it on the bus, during meetings, and walking down the
street.

~~~
Urgo
My college roommate used to buy them in bulk and keep them warm under his bed
and then drink them even in the room. I get being on the road forgetting to
bring water and getting a bottle for that, but you can prepare and bring a
reusable bottle of your own on the bus, to your meeting, walking on the
street, etc.

~~~
brg
Although you are right that it does not take much of an effort to carry and
maintain a reusable bottle; it does take more effort in comparison to
prefetching a carton of evian under your bed. There is no washing, if you
misplace 12oz of evian you are not out 10$, there is no 2 minute wait at the
fountain for a refill.

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spankythemonk
The only reason I drink bottled water, is because our tap water has sodium
fluoride in it (rat poison, which is apparently good for your teeth :P )

Besides, as first-post said: "let the market work this problem out". The girl
in the video, herself, admitted that there was a reversing trend in the
market. Problem...?

~~~
jakubmal
Market can't and won't solve some problems. Wasn't US debt crisis caused by
market?

We could let market solve the problem if all people were intelligent and aware
of biochemistry (at least when we're talking about food). This, however, is
very rare.

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r00fus
If you want the best of both worlds, go to a nearby filtered water store and
refill your 3 or 5 gallon jug(s) with municipal water that's been through a
10-stage filter (or distilled, but I prefer filtered).

Where I live (SFbay) it costs about 5 dollars (and a schlep down to the refill
location) per month (~20 gallons) for a family of 3... and no wasted plastic
or barrels of oil transporting the goods.

Best part is it tastes _better_ than bottled or tap water, significantly.

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angdis
There's nothing wrong with regular city tap water.

Many folks are hyper-sensitized to the taste of a very small amount of mineral
content that some water may or may not have. Bottled water manufacturers have
latched onto these childish preferences and cultivate them in order to (very
successfully) con people into paying for nothing and waste enormous energy and
resources in the process.

Turn on the spigot, drink up, and don't fuss about it so much.

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kaazih
Yet it's still considered OK to buy any other beverage in a bottle or can. Why
buy beer in bottles when you should be brewing your own at home!

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axiom
You're buying the bottle not the water. People buy bottled water for the same
reason they buy cans of pop rather than 4 gallon jugs of coke that they can
use to refill smaller containers. It's so cheap that the convenience is worth
it.

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bonch
Penn & Teller on bottled water:

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0A7v8PeFNk> (1/2)

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yw3px6o-6-w> (2/2)

