Bottled vs. Tap: Things you didn't know

[Ashe]

I know that a good handful of us on here are environmentalists and have a great interest in conserving water. Well, I was Googling around (yes I google, horrible right?) to find some examples of the importance of water and why we need to do our part in conserving it, and I came across this flowchart. Now, I know that this chart is comparing bottled water and tap water for the most part, but the end is a shocker that caught my interest. I decided to share this with you guys cause you all will probably take this a bit more seriously that my classmates :P

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Photo not mine, all credit goes to onlineeducation.com

[Merman Dan]

and now, in video form:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Se12y9hSOM0

[SeaGlass Siren]

Google can be a useful research tool. Use advanced searching tab :) you can pull up scholarly articles, research, secondary and primary resources.... Add limiters to narrow your search... Etc..

[Merman Dan]

I first saw that clip in an article at Deep Sea News (http://deepseanews.com). Those folks hate bottled water with a passion. ;)

[Ashe]

Google can be a useful research tool. Use advanced searching tab :) you can pull up scholarly articles, research, secondary and primary resources.... Add limiters to narrow your search... Etc.. Haha :)

[AniaR]

I talk about bottled water as part of my mermaid presentations, for years I did social justice work through Development and Peace. They had a couple of years where the whole focus was "water, life before profit". The things I learned during those years blew my mind. I try as hard as I can not to buy bottled water, sometimes it can't be avoided, but it's not just the environment impact either, it's water privatization and all that entails. One of the big problems though that keeps bottled water happening it it being given out during disaster relief and aid.

[SeaGlass Siren]

We live in a place where potable water comes easy. I just use tap water and boil it to drink.even though it's already pretty clean.... In places where they don't have access to clean water.... Well unfortunately bottled is the only convenient way to provide water to those places. If there's another way, Correct me if in wrong.

[Winged Mermaid]

Water effects our lives so much, and we take such poor care of it. I could go on huge rants about bottled water, but same with tap water as well. I've had friends think I'm "weird" or "brave" for drinking tap water, and I try not to explode at them seeing new cases of bottled water in their house every week. I have my camelbak bottle (LOVE that thing) and I use either a filter on my tap or I just drink regular tap. The camelbaks even come with filters built into them now! Although, for many reasons (avoiding huge rant here haha) I want to invest in a reverse osmosis filtration system that also ionizes and has a cartridge to put minerals into the water.

At the same time what about those who need it? mermaidandrea has a point. For example, mountian top removal coal mining in my home state has devastated the landscape in parts of our state. Because of the run off from these sites, there are areas where the tap and open water is not only completely unsafe to drink, but very unsafe to even use for bathing, doing laundry, ect. They have to use bottled water instead. These people are very poor and spend most of their paychecks on buying bottled water just so they will not be poisoned. Obviously there is a different root issue at play here ("Friends of Coal" and the Coal Industry are very corrupt, so it's not just going to go away.), but you get the point I'm trying to make.

[SeaGlass Siren]

I feel your pain winged mermaid. :/ I get that all the time... "Andrea tap water is dangerous blah blah... Full of fluoride blah blah"

[Alveric]

When I was a kid, if we got thirsty we'd grab a water hose, fill up then go back to playing. If we needed to be out and about we'd carry a canteen. If any one told us that in the future people would voluntarily pay almost as much for water as they do for soda pop. We would have laughed at them.

[SeaGlass Siren]

No one seems to be laughing. Most of us are crying x') paying for water??

[Capt Nemo]

I hate bottled water cause it tastes like the plastic bottle! I only drink it if it's the only thing available.

My favorite when working outdoor gigs is fill/refill a gallon milk jug with water/crystal light peach tea. Reusing the jug keeps the amount of plasticizers leach to a minimum.

[MerEmma]

When they first came out with bottled water, nobody thought it would be any sort of success. They laughed and said nobody would buy it. Same with disposable diapers. Too bad it didn't prove to be true. We have a water purifier that takes both tap and rain water that's currently broken, had it for eight years. We're currently buying jugs of water for $1.50 at the store because we're spoilt on purified water. Can't wait until we get it up and running again. /)_-