Florida bottled water

[FluffyMcDeath]

Bottled water is a rip off, as we should all know by now, but it's a double rip off it seems because the bottlers get the water cheaper than the average citizen can get it and then they jack the price through the roof. And plenty of idiots still buy the stuff, apparently because the stores are still full of bottled water.

Anyway, in Florida, because of falling tax revenues, they are starting to look at charging bottlers for the water they take.

 

[metalman]

Federation of Canadian Municipalities asks members to ban bottled water

 

[FluffyMcDeath]

Federation of Canadian Municipalities asks members to ban bottled water

Good. Bottled water is so wasteful.

 

[Speelgoedmannetje]

Eh? I always thought that bottled water was a ripoff until I went to other countries where water from the tap wasn't drinkable (because there they got the water from surface water, and add lots of chlorine to get rid of bacteria)

 

[Glaucus]

I can't drink tap water straight anymore - especially in the summer time when the water is murky and you see things floating around in it. I'm sure people who've been exposed to ecoli in the drinking water may not find it all that wasteful. And having a few bottles of water stashed away in case of some natural disaster isn't the dumbest thing you can do. At work we used to have bottled water but now we have filtered water. Of course, filters need maintenance as well, but it's probably a lot less effort then changing bottles constantly. I use a Brita at home, but I'm planning an in-line water filter system eventually - preferably one that's built into the next fridge I buy.

 

[cecilia]

fortunately, NY has good tap water (assuming your own plumbing is kept clean, of course)

 

[Speelgoedmannetje]

I'm sure people who've been exposed to ecoli in the drinking water may not find it all that wasteful.

From the link:

"It was like eating ... broken glass," said Baker, who was in the hospital for three days and lost 30 pounds.

There's an upside to everything!

 

[FluffyMcDeath]

I can't drink tap water straight anymore - especially in the summer time when the water is murky and you see things floating around in it.

Except that with a lot of bottled water you ARE drinking tap water, though it's someone else's tap water.

The e coli in the water is a major debacle and shows there is a problem with council. Clean water should always be a priority. The point about bottled water though is that outside of emergencies like the e coli outbreak, citizens can, through a collective such as a coporation like a city or town, provide their own clean, safe water at substantially less than $2.50 a liter. Saying, "oh, my tap water is crappy, I'll buy bottled" only solves the problem for you, for today, and at enormous price compared to the more efficient and cost effective solution of making the local water supply better.

 

[Glaucus]

Except that with a lot of bottled water you ARE drinking tap water, though it's someone else's tap water.

Yes, it is someone else's tap water, but that someone else typically has industrial strength filtering or distilling systems. There are home systems now, and I do plan to get one one day.

The e coli in the water is a major debacle and shows there is a problem with council. Clean water should always be a priority. The point about bottled water though is that outside of emergencies like the e coli outbreak, citizens can, through a collective such as a coporation like a city or town, provide their own clean, safe water at substantially less than $2.50 a liter. Saying, "oh, my tap water is crappy, I'll buy bottled" only solves the problem for you, for today, and at enormous price compared to the more efficient and cost effective solution of making the local water supply better.

That's all great, except the water we get from the city's tap isn't necessarily just for drinking. It's for washing, bathing, putting out fires and even watering the lawn (and if you're parents are Greek, watering the pavement too). The point is, filtering the city's water to the level of what you'd get from a high-end filter isn't going to be cost effective because the vast majority of the water that comes out of the tap is not drank by anyone. So far the standard is for the tap water to not make you very sick, but some people want their water to taste great too. If we had a separate line just for drinking water, I'd agree with you, but we don't so alternate forms of getting better quality drinking water are still required. I think installing high quality filters in the home/office are the way to go. So overall I don't think bottled water is stupid, but I do think that in the long run bottled water (of the water cooler variety at least) will eventually go the way of the dodo because in home/office filtering is just so much more convenient and possibly cheaper.

And then there's those who like carbonated water. Yuck!

 

[metalman]

Get two of these filter housings
Whole House Regular Water Filter
I prefer the models with the clear housing, you can see when the sediment filter needs replacing.

Put a sediment filterin the first unit, a charcoal filterin the second unit.
I plumbed them at the main water line entry in the garage, it made it easy to change filters, or any where its not a problem if water splashes when the filters are changed.

The filters require replacement about every 2-3 months (10-15k gallons filtered). You can tell by taste when to replace the charcoal filter.

Thats exactly the filter set-up every mineral water bottler uses.

 

[redrumloa]

Bottle water is typically far overpriced. That said, I usually buy bottled water, but I buy house brand gallons at about $0.70/gal. The point is make sure the bottled water you are buying is filtered and don't pay premium for a fancy label. I've had tap water come out so strong of chlorine that just bathing in it is difficult. Other times it has come out of the tap in bizzare technicolor.