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Sunday, August 17, 2008

Bottled up Frustration about Water



A while ago Ginger from Ginger Won't Snap wrote about the bottled water debate. I have to say in my personal opinion, unless something is seriously wrong with the water in your community, its ridiculous to drink bottled water!

First of all I'm not sure about the plastic they are using. It's usually number one plastic. I used to use a Nalgene bottle for my water, every day for 3 years in fact, but recently found out it was leaching toxic chemicals into my daily water intake, lovely! It's said that when the bottles get warm they release this toxin. I know a ton of people who leave cases of water in their cars all the time. How safe is this?

Second of all I feel its a waste of money. There is nothing wrong with tap water. I live in BC where the water is delicious. Sometimes I keep water in the fridge in a jug but its only to get it extra cold the way I like and is definitely from the tap. If I happen to forget my bottle at home when working I cringe to pay a dollar (or more :( ) for a bottle of water. I feel like its such a waste!

Thirdly, I don't think mother earth likes all the plastic either. I've been to a lot of outdoor concerts and raves where the fields were littered with thousands of bottles in the morning. Sure, it can be recycled but think of all the processing it goes through to get back to you.

So I'm off on the search to find the new love of my life. Or rather the new water bottle for my life. I'll miss my pretty pink one. :(

So what do you think about bottled water?

3 comments:

Ginger said...

Hehehe, you know what I think about bottled water!

Tap water FTW!

You should check out some of those metal bottles, I've found they're really great; durable, keeps the water cool, and very fashionable right now! Loads of places are selling them, so they should be easy to find.

Thanks for the plug and good luck in your search!

Shevy said...

I'm exactly the opposite. I won't drink tap water unless I'm about to pass out from heatstroke and there's no possibility of bottled water (because I know I'll regret drinking it)!

Even Vancouver water, which is admittedly one of the best ones around is unbearable because of the chlorine. I'm allergic and get a sore throat and post-nasal drip from it.

And I think even you would drink bottled water at my house in the Okanagan. The water comes out of my kitchen tap anywhere from dark to pale yellow with sediment floating in it! There was a "boil water" advisory for about a week last summer, but this is the water every day. (Imagine what it must have been like for the advisory to have been issued....) I don't even brush my *teeth* with that water, though I do use tap water for toothbrushing in the city.

But for cooking and drinking I always use bottled (even for making hard boiled eggs). Yes, I do know that theoretically you can fill up pans with tap water, stick them in the fridge for at least 24 hours to allow the chlorine to dissipate (hmmm, chlorine gas, lovely) and then pour it back and forth so it doesn't taste flat, etc. etc.

You can bet if I had to do all that I'd never use water for anything at all! In fact, growing up I *never* drank water but I used to drink 2 litres of Coca-Cola per day. When I switched to bottled water I cut out the Coke. I think I'm *way* ahead even with the few small bottles of water I use and recycle. Most of my water comes in the 5 gallon bottles anyway, which are continually being recycled.

Dolly Iris said...

I have actually lived in both Vancouver and the Okanagan (Penticton) and still drank out of the tap. I guess I'm just a tap water girl.

However, I do not have any medical issues like allergies to anything in the water so I can respect why you wouldn't want to drink it if it makes you ill.