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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Bottled water
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Pomona
Shipmate
# 17175
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Posted
Most universities in the UK have recycling bins on campus so properly disposing of water bottles isn't an issue.
If you live somewhere with very hard water, it may be safe to drink but it tastes disgusting. No issue with bottled water IMO.
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Consider the work of God: Who is able to straighten what he has bent? [Ecclesiastes 7:13]
Posts: 5319 | From: UK | Registered: Jun 2012
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The5thMary
Shipmate
# 12953
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Marvin the Martian:
quote:
Originally posted by The5thMary:
no prophet: It seems to me that if the university big shots are wanting to ban plastic bottles because of pollution, their hearts are in the right place but maybe they're not thinking this through.
I doubt it's the "big shots" - more likely it's a bunch of right-on student campaigners.
Yes, of course, it's more likely to be the student body. In a related topic, I know that Seattle has banned all plastic grocery bags. Well, at most stores. I went to a Target in downtown Seattle and was able to get a Target plastic bag. At first I thought to myself, "Oh, geez, there goes the wacky Left coast again, making people change or else!" but I'm not sure that would go over here in the Atlanta area... although now Atlanta does the curbside recycling thing--one bin for glass, one bin for paper, etc. Took 'em long enough.
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God gave me my face but She let me pick my nose.
Posts: 3451 | From: Tacoma, WA USA | Registered: Aug 2007
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Jane R
Shipmate
# 331
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Posted
In very hot weather (which may even be experienced in the UK, once or twice a year) it probably is a good idea to carry around a bottle of water. But why throw the bottle away after just one use? These 'disposable' drinks bottles are about the only type of bottle I've found that doesn't leak - I've tried all sorts of non-disposable bottles and they all leak, except for the Thermos which has been thoroughly contaminated by Husband's coffee and is now useless for transporting plain water...
So I do buy small drinks in bottles, but I reuse the bottles half-a-dozen times at least before recycling them.
Posts: 3958 | From: Jorvik | Registered: May 2001
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ExclamationMark
Shipmate
# 14715
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Posted
It might be better to work on banning cars and their emissions first before tackling plastic bottles. Seems the bigger hurdle to get across to me.
Posts: 3845 | From: A new Jerusalem | Registered: Apr 2009
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Horseman Bree
Shipmate
# 5290
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Posted
I see that, for instance, Jean Hill of Concord, Mass. agrees with me and you will find quite a lot of environmentally-concerned and of religious sites that will argue the case against bottled water.
OTOH, banning on one campus is only worthwhile for the attention it brings to the issue, not for any significant waste-control effect.
But the issue does highlight our totally-casual interest in things environmental.
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It's Not That Simple
Posts: 5372 | From: more herring choker than bluenose | Registered: Dec 2003
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The5thMary
Shipmate
# 12953
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Posted
Horseman Bree: Go taste the tap water in rural Pennsylvania and tell me about your experience. Go drink tap water in Atlanta, GA, where the majority of pipes are very old and the water often smells and looks weird. I agree with you that the beverage companies inundate the gullible public about how pure and fresh bottled water is--maybe some of it does come right from the tap but it doesn't TASTE that way. It would be wonderful if everyone in the world had a Brita or Pur water filter on their kitchen tap or in their water pitcher. I have a Brita pitcher now and we only use that for our drinking water. However, when we're out and about, I sometimes have to buy bottled water or a diet soda. That's just the way it is. The "authorities" can swear on a stack of bibles that the municipal water supply is delicious and sparkling clean but it's not and it certainly doesn't taste the way water does when run through a filter.
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God gave me my face but She let me pick my nose.
Posts: 3451 | From: Tacoma, WA USA | Registered: Aug 2007
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ken
Ship's Roundhead
# 2460
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Posted
If you are reusing the plastic bottle you are being reasonably pale green about it. If not, the environmental impact of the lactic vastly exceeds that of the water you are drinking from it. Though its not that high compared with, say, driving a car.
If you really can't drink the tap water in a rich-country city then you need a new city council who will bring you up to 19th century standards of hygiene.
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Ken
L’amor che move il sole e l’altre stelle.
Posts: 39579 | From: London | Registered: Mar 2002
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lilBuddha
Shipmate
# 14333
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Posted
Water taste is something one gets accustomed to. Seriously, we are pansies. "Ooh our clean, treated, purified and plentiful water tastes ever so slightly less than perfect."
Bottled water most often comes from the same source as your tap water. It might receive extra filtration, but it could as easily come from a less regulated source. Bottled water is generally less controlled than tap.
The real concerns with drinking water are how well the processes are controlled and maintained. And how the water gets from plant to your tap. The pipes in older homes/areas might leach contaminants.
If one must carry a water bottle, a good quality reusable bottle can last a decade or better. Add a carbon filtre to improve taste, if desired.
And yes, the 8 glasses of water thing is a myth. It is highly dependent on climate, activity and what you eat. What you eat contains water. Anything you drink contributes as well. Coffee, tea and fizzy drinks do not dehydrate you, they are just less efficient at hydration.
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I put on my rockin' shoes in the morning
Hallellou, hallellou
Posts: 17627 | From: the round earth's imagined corners | Registered: Dec 2008
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no prophet's flag is set so...
Proceed to see sea
# 15560
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Posted
It is indeed a student initiative. And it is about the bottles. They do now charge between 5 and 40¢ extra for all bottles, cans, and drink containers, which is refunded when you return to a recycling depot, and this has resulted in good recycling, but the volume of plastic being recycled is high. The water here is rated excellent in the taste and contaminant tests they conduct across country.
I personally make tea every morning and take a thermos with me, and I make it with tap water.
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Out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety.
\_(ツ)_/
Posts: 11498 | From: Treaty 6 territory in the nonexistant Province of Buffalo, Canada ↄ⃝' | Registered: Mar 2010
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Arethosemyfeet
Shipmate
# 17047
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Posted
To my mind, the bottles are only part of the problem. The bigger issue is the global shipping of water and the huge fuel usage involved. Shipping Evian from France to a global marketplace is utter insanity. I drink a fair amount of squash and reuse the bottles from that as water bottles (I drink about 3 litres at work due to talking a lot and cycling to and from work). Not perfect but better than buying bottled water.
Posts: 2933 | From: Hebrides | Registered: Apr 2012
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ken
Ship's Roundhead
# 2460
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Jade Constable:
If you live somewhere with very hard water, it may be safe to drink but it tastes disgusting.
You mean of course "tastes wonderful".
I've never experienced water that tasted as good as the ordinary tap water in Brighton when I was a child. And that was as hard as water could be. Literally, if you put some in a glass and left it for a while chalk precipitated out. Can't get more calcium in water than that.
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Ken
L’amor che move il sole e l’altre stelle.
Posts: 39579 | From: London | Registered: Mar 2002
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SvitlanaV2
Shipmate
# 16967
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Posted
I'm not keen on reusing plastic bottles, but I do keep some glass bottles for the purpose of carrying water or squash around with me when I'm out and about.
It's a shame that there aren't more water fountains in public spaces. But of course, there's no money in that. Retailers and local councils want us to buy bottled water and other expensive drinks if we need to be re-hydrated.
Posts: 6668 | From: UK | Registered: Feb 2012
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fletcher christian
Mutinous Seadog
# 13919
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Posted
There was a bit of a flap here a while ago (but not that long ago if memory serves) about an unusually high sodium content in the two biggest sellers of bottled water here. As a result of this flap, it emerged through the press that Europe only demands that spring sourced bottled only needs to be tested monthly for the presence of contaminants and bacteria*. That might sound ok, but the press were keen to point out that tap water here is tested every day; in some cases regularly throughout the day. They also talked about risks of cancer from water in plastic bottles, but I think that was debunked somewhat and the risk is only there in certain types of plastics that degrade over time from continuous use....or something.
*Not sure of this is in fact true, but the press said it at the time, so must be true ![[Biased]](wink.gif)
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'God is love insaturable, love impossible to describe'
Staretz Silouan
Posts: 5235 | From: a prefecture | Registered: Jul 2008
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Enoch
Shipmate
# 14322
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider:
Am I unusual in that I don't need a drink more often than once every few hours? I'm old enough to have grown up before bottled water existed and I can't every recall thinking "hey, I wish it was possible to carry water around all day so I don't have to keep on going to the water fountain".
I don't buy bottled water. I mean if people want to, then sure, banning it seems silly, but I also think there's a manufactured need here.
That gets three of these,
![[Overused]](graemlins/notworthy.gif)
If you're out for the day and need to take liquid with you, keep a clean bottle and fill it from the tap. The plastic ones you can buy milk in are quite useful because they are square designed to fit in the door-shelf in a refrigerator. They are also moulded with a handle.
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Brexit wrexit - Sir Graham Watson
Posts: 7610 | From: Bristol UK(was European Green Capital 2015, now Ljubljana) | Registered: Nov 2008
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Chorister
Completely Frocked
# 473
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Posted
I don't drink bottled still mineral water, but one of my favourite drinks is sparkling mineral water, which I much prefer to lemonade, or pretty much any drink except wine and cider. So I hope this continues to be available as an option in most places.
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Retired, sitting back and watching others for a change.
Posts: 34626 | From: Cream Tealand | Registered: Jun 2001
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
I buy it for the bubbles. We have quite nice tap water here, but somehow, when I'm thirsty, I want the bite of carbon dioxide. But I hate flavoured waters. I don't want a Twist of Lime or a Hint of Stawberry, I want water that tastes of water dammit. Just fizzy, that's all.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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Pomona
Shipmate
# 17175
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Chorister:
I don't drink bottled still mineral water, but one of my favourite drinks is sparkling mineral water, which I much prefer to lemonade, or pretty much any drink except wine and cider. So I hope this continues to be available as an option in most places.
Best place for sparkling mineral water is Aldi/Lidl. About 25p for 2l.
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Consider the work of God: Who is able to straighten what he has bent? [Ecclesiastes 7:13]
Posts: 5319 | From: UK | Registered: Jun 2012
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orfeo
Ship's Musical Counterpoint
# 13878
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by ExclamationMark:
It might be better to work on banning cars and their emissions first before tackling plastic bottles. Seems the bigger hurdle to get across to me.
Creating that kind of priority list is fallacious reasoning.
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Technology has brought us all closer together. Turns out a lot of the people you meet as a result are complete idiots.
Posts: 18173 | From: Under | Registered: Jul 2008
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Galloping Granny
Shipmate
# 13814
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Posted
One thing that would make me avoid bottled water at any cost: the fact that multi-national corporations are buying huge tracts of aquifers from governments in order to sell the water bottled, while the local people (eg farmers depending on it to feed their families) lose access to it.
I think it was Nestlé that tried to do such a deal in Canada but local outcry prevented it. People in India and Africa haven't been so successful.
Details of water-grabbing are found in the last paragraph on the theme of this Christmas's Christian World Service appeal. Drinking bottled water can mean drinking stolen water (though I'm comfortable with local suppliers).
I'm lucky in that there's an aquifer that can be accessed locally; you find people with all sorts of containers at the taps any day stocking up.
Did anyone see an episode of Myth Busters in which diners at a restaurant were offered a choice of bottled water from various made-up sources, and chose with as much care as if they were at a wine tasting – only to learn that all the water came from a tap behind the restaurant?
GG
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The Kingdom of Heaven is spread upon the earth, and men do not see it. Gospel of Thomas, 113
Posts: 2629 | From: Matarangi | Registered: Jun 2008
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Huia
Shipmate
# 3473
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Posted
The tap water here tastes far better than most of the bottled water that I have tasted as it comes from local acquifers. Before the quakes there were quite a few drinking fountains within the CBD which I hope will be fixed as part of the rebuilding of Christchurch.
My favourite cafe has chilled tap water available free and I have been known to stop off there just for a glass or to refill a bottle,especially when biking ona hot day.
As for how much liquid a person requires I think this varies - for example people like me on diuretics need more than most, and as a diabetic water is definitely my first choice.
Huia
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Charity gives food from the table, Justice gives a place at the table.
Posts: 10382 | From: Te Wai Pounamu | Registered: Oct 2002
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The5thMary
Shipmate
# 12953
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Firenze:
I buy it for the bubbles. We have quite nice tap water here, but somehow, when I'm thirsty, I want the bite of carbon dioxide. But I hate flavoured waters. I don't want a Twist of Lime or a Hint of Stawberry, I want water that tastes of water dammit. Just fizzy, that's all.
Amen to that! Just once, by mistake I got a Dasani brand bottled water out of a vending machine and didn't realize it said "flavored with raspberry" on the label. After I took a huge gulp of it and spit it out, I vowed never to drink flavored water again. However, I do enjoy flavored carbonated water. Lemon and lime help my digestion. Raspberry? Bleccch!
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God gave me my face but She let me pick my nose.
Posts: 3451 | From: Tacoma, WA USA | Registered: Aug 2007
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que sais-je
Shipmate
# 17185
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by SvitlanaV2:
It's a shame that there aren't more water fountains in public spaces. But of course, there's no money in that. Retailers and local councils want us to buy bottled water and other expensive drinks if we need to be re-hydrated.
When I was a school governor we reluctantly decided to get rid of the drinking fountain. Kids would put a thumb over the top and spray water everywhere which was messy, annoying to those who go sprayed and probably didn't leave the nozzle very hygienic. Plastic bottles did reduce those problems somewhat.
There is a saying in Bristol that our tap water must be safe - it's already been drunk by six people in Wales and before that by their sheep. Works for me.
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"controversies, disputes, and argumentations, both in philosophy and in divinity, if they meet with discreet and peaceable natures, do not infringe the laws of charity" (Thomas Browne)
Posts: 794 | From: here or there | Registered: Jun 2012
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L'organist
Shipmate
# 17338
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Posted
On very rare occasions I'll buy bottled water - if I'm out at meal time (for example) and water is the best option.
Keep the bottle, of course: take it home to rinse out, fill with tap water and then keep in the fridge for another time...
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Rara temporum felicitate ubi sentire quae velis et quae sentias dicere licet
Posts: 4950 | From: somewhere in England... | Registered: Sep 2012
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Marvin the Martian
Interplanetary
# 4360
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by que sais-je:
There is a saying in Bristol that our tap water must be safe - it's already been drunk by six people in Wales and before that by their sheep. Works for me.
As Terry Pratchett wrote about the River Ankh - any water that's been filtered through that many kidneys must be clean.
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Hail Gallaxhar
Posts: 30100 | From: Adrift on a sea of surreality | Registered: Apr 2003
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Lilac
Shipmate
# 17979
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Posted
I drink water while exercising, and tap water tastes bad to me under those circumstances. I tried putting fruit juice in, and found that made me feel sick. Fruit juice is acid so I went for alkaline, and tried it with some bicarb. That tastes slightly chemical if I use too much, but for hydration it works.
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Seeking...
Posts: 62 | From: Birmingham / Coventry Area, UK | Registered: Jan 2014
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Gwai
Shipmate
# 11076
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider:
I don't buy bottled water. I mean if people want to, then sure, banning it seems silly, but I also think there's a manufactured need here.
I would completely agree about manufactured need re most people who do not have medical reasons to drink tons of water. Though not always manufactured in the way you would think. For instance, I drink tons of water at work despite having a desk job. Why, because they keep the air VERY dry for some reason, so I discovered the hard way that if I don't keep a cup near and remember to use it, I suffer.
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A master of men was the Goodly Fere,
A mate of the wind and sea.
If they think they ha’ slain our Goodly Fere
They are fools eternally.
Posts: 11914 | From: Chicago | Registered: Feb 2006
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no prophet's flag is set so...
Proceed to see sea
# 15560
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Posted
I don't hydrate. I drink.
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Out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety.
\_(ツ)_/
Posts: 11498 | From: Treaty 6 territory in the nonexistant Province of Buffalo, Canada ↄ⃝' | Registered: Mar 2010
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by no prophet:
I don't hydrate. I drink.
But if you say of someone 'He drinks like a fish', you are implying does not drink water. Which is odd, given how few fish you find in gin.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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marzipan
Shipmate
# 9442
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Posted
about not wanting to carry around a big empty bottle, you can get folding ones which are pretty useful. I used to have one of these ones, and it was pretty useful ( though I have since lost it I know not where and I miss it).
Especially useful if you are flying somewhere and they make you get rid of all your liquids. I used to go to the pub after security, ask for a pint of tap water and hey presto a free bottle of water for my plane journey. (the wide neck meant it's easy to fill from a pint glass though makes it a bit awkward to drink from sometimes).
You could say it's kind of odd to worry about disposable water bottles when on a plane journey, but actually it saves money (as here tap water is free in pubs) and space in my bag (as I can concertina the bottle back when it's half empty).
I used to have a thermos mug to take my morning cup of tea to the bus with as well but I lost it. (ok I lose a lot of things)
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formerly cheesymarzipan.
Now containing 50% less cheese
Posts: 917 | From: nowhere in particular | Registered: May 2005
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Alicïa
Shipmate
# 7668
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by ken:
quote:
Originally posted by Jade Constable:
If you live somewhere with very hard water, it may be safe to drink but it tastes disgusting.
You mean of course "tastes wonderful".
I've never experienced water that tasted as good as the ordinary tap water in Brighton when I was a child. And that was as hard as water could be. Literally, if you put some in a glass and left it for a while chalk precipitated out. Can't get more calcium in water than that.
Southerners are strange. ^^ Here is actual proof.
Seriously though whenever I spend any time down south the water actually does make me ill, (and yes I do realise that it probably has the same effect in reverse when people from hard water areas drink softer water. )
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"The tendency to turn human judgments into divine commands makes religion one of the most dangerous forces in the world." Georgia Elma Harkness
Posts: 884 | From: Where the Art is. | Registered: Jun 2004
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que sais-je
Shipmate
# 17185
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Marvin the Martian:
quote:
Originally posted by que sais-je:
There is a saying in Bristol that our tap water must be safe - it's already been drunk by six people in Wales and before that by their sheep. Works for me.
As Terry Pratchett wrote about the River Ankh - any water that's been filtered through that many kidneys must be clean.
And Terry Pratchett used to work in Bristol. Did we give him the joke or did he give it to us?
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"controversies, disputes, and argumentations, both in philosophy and in divinity, if they meet with discreet and peaceable natures, do not infringe the laws of charity" (Thomas Browne)
Posts: 794 | From: here or there | Registered: Jun 2012
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Pomona
Shipmate
# 17175
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by ken:
quote:
Originally posted by Jade Constable:
If you live somewhere with very hard water, it may be safe to drink but it tastes disgusting.
You mean of course "tastes wonderful".
I've never experienced water that tasted as good as the ordinary tap water in Brighton when I was a child. And that was as hard as water could be. Literally, if you put some in a glass and left it for a while chalk precipitated out. Can't get more calcium in water than that.
Hard water actually upsets my stomach. I have IBS so it might be related. Forgive me for not enjoying water that makes me ill!
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Consider the work of God: Who is able to straighten what he has bent? [Ecclesiastes 7:13]
Posts: 5319 | From: UK | Registered: Jun 2012
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Antisocial Alto
Shipmate
# 13810
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by lilBuddha:
The real concerns with drinking water are how well the processes are controlled and maintained. And how the water gets from plant to your tap. The pipes in older homes/areas might leach contaminants.
Our water main is lead. ![[Ultra confused]](graemlins/confused2.gif) We have a Brita filter mounted to our drinking faucet and large filters on the showerheads also. I probably would never have thought about it before having kids, but apparently young children are especially sensitive to lead because of their developing brains...
Posts: 601 | From: United States | Registered: Jun 2008
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Kitten
Shipmate
# 1179
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Jade Constable:
Hard water actually upsets my stomach. I have IBS so it might be related. Forgive me for not enjoying water that makes me ill!
I drink a lot of water and am lucky enough to live in an area where the tap water quality is excellent, but I find if I travel to other areas the water affects my IBS so I tend to drink bottles water when away from home
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Maius intra qua extra
Never accept a ride from a stranger, unless they are in a big blue box
Posts: 2330 | From: Carmarthenshire | Registered: Aug 2001
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Soror Magna
Shipmate
# 9881
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Posted
Bottled water is, with rare exceptions, just someone else's stolen tap water. And here in the Western world, we have a habit of PEEING and SHITTING into large bowls of drinkable water. And what's all this about drinking fountains? Can't anybody operate a faucet?
Posts: 5430 | From: Caprica City | Registered: Jul 2005
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Anglican't
Shipmate
# 15292
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Soror Magna:
Bottled water is, with rare exceptions, just someone else's stolen tap water.
Can you unpack that thought for me?
Posts: 3613 | From: London, England | Registered: Nov 2009
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lilBuddha
Shipmate
# 14333
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Soror Magna:
And here in the Western world, we have a habit of PEEING and SHITTING into large bowls of drinkable water.
And we have fewer disease epidemics because of this.
However, using tap water is ridiculous, especially in dry areas. Water recycling should be more prevalent.
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I put on my rockin' shoes in the morning
Hallellou, hallellou
Posts: 17627 | From: the round earth's imagined corners | Registered: Dec 2008
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L'organist
Shipmate
# 17338
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Posted
I grew up in houses with lead plumbing, as did my older siblings; only the youngest got to live in a house without lead plumbing before the age of 21. When we weren't at home school plumbing was also lead. Dammit, not only were the pipes lead but most of the paintwork too - I have very clear memories of some gloss paint being attacked with a blow-torch in the late 1960s and seeing small droplets of something dark (I suspect lead) bubbling out of the hot paint.
So you'd expect us to show some sign of the lead having got to us ... well, the youngest jumped through the fewest (and only the lowest) paper hoops. And only the youngest has suffered from anaemia.
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Rara temporum felicitate ubi sentire quae velis et quae sentias dicere licet
Posts: 4950 | From: somewhere in England... | Registered: Sep 2012
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pydseybare
Shipmate
# 16184
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by lilBuddha:
quote:
Originally posted by Soror Magna:
And here in the Western world, we have a habit of PEEING and SHITTING into large bowls of drinkable water.
And we have fewer disease epidemics because of this.
However, using tap water is ridiculous, especially in dry areas. Water recycling should be more prevalent.
Well this is kinda true. Sewers and sewage works are a way to purify drinking water, although this is something of a happy coincidence given that the original designers of the Victorian systems knew nothing of the reality of sanitation.
The problem is several-fold. First, the infrastructure is very old and very expensive to maintain (in most industrialised cities with victorian sewers). Second the sewers are often not water-tight. Third, the systems for treatment are not foolproof, particularly in situations of abnormally high rainfall. Finally, the industrialised sewer mentality means that we find it very difficult to imagine any other system that could work at an appropriate level of sanitation treatment without that infrastructure. Hence many hundreds of expensive projects around the world which are not maintained and do not work.
The largest problem with industrialised and centralised systems is that when they fail, they fail spectacularly. If we ever get to a situation where the funding for such infrastructure is not in place, we're screwed.
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"If you act like an illiterate man, your learning will never stop... Being uneducated, you have no fear of the future."
Posts: 812 | Registered: Jan 2011
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la vie en rouge
Parisienne
# 10688
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Posted
People don’t just buy bottled water to drink when they’re out and about, in some places a lot of people also use it at home. It’s very common here. Paris tap water is *nasty* - very hard and full of chlorine. (Apparently there is some public health reason for this like we’d all die of cholera or something otherwise, but anyway our tap water tastes disgusting and wrecks my skin.*) Apparently there’s still quite a lot of lead pipes about as well. For that reason a lot of people here don’t drink water straight from the tap.
Nonetheless, if your response to tap water = nasty is to drink bottled water all the time, cue massive plastic waste. The bottles are recycled, but this still involves a vast amount of energy expenditure. I use a Brita-type filter, which is a much more ecologically sound solution (one plastic filter per month for the household rather than however many bottles to recycle). I have also been known to use a shower filter (filters chlorine which hurts your skin, not limescale, which doesn’t) but those things are kind of pricy so I don’t use them all the time.
*Seriously – if I don’t anoint myself at least once and sometimes twice a day with gargantuan amounts of moisturising goop, my skin gets so dry it cracks and bleeds. When I splash out on the shower filters, I don’t need any moisturisers at all. Paris tap water is vile.
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Rent my holiday home in the South of France
Posts: 3696 | Registered: Nov 2005
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An die Freude
Shipmate
# 14794
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Posted
Whereas I'm not certain of his sources, a Swedish journalist had a look at a similar situation in Sweden and did some maths on the carbon dioxide emissions of a bottle of water. Apparently, a sleeping person breathes out the equivalent amount of carbon dioxide of 167 bottles of 330 ml per minute. A regular jogger breathes out the equivalent of 2000 bottles per minute. Thus, holding your breath for 0.35 seconds means you've covered your bases for the carbon dioxide emissions of the water transports and the bottle.
So I somehow think there are better things to cut down on. With that said, of course it's one way of saving money and the world, but mind you, the time and energy we spent talking about it probably evened it out and put us at a negative. Hold your breath, everyone!
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"I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable."
Walt Whitman
Formerly JFH
Posts: 851 | From: Proud Socialist Monarchy of Sweden | Registered: May 2009
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An die Freude
Shipmate
# 14794
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Posted
Ok, I returned to do the maths myself because it seemed unreasonable.
In 2006, the bottles for water in America emitted about 2,5 billion kg of carbon dioxide in production - not assuming any recycling. Divided by the 300 million citizens of the US (more or less), this means each citizen emitted 8,33 kg of carbon dioxide.
Supposedly, a human being exhales about 525 kg carbon dioxide/year. Thus, each citizen increases his or her carbon footprint by about 1,5 % compared to just breathing. However, with the same amount of carbon dioxide, we could sustain 5 more million citizens (breathwise) in the US.
I have not included water transports because transporting water by pipe, by human or by truck shouldn't make that much of a difference, it's still relatively inefficient but necessary systems.
I'm not sure whether or not this means it's a battle worth fighting or not, but I'm leaning towards the latter. It seems to be an issue of easing conscience rather than maximizing effect, especially given that a university could easily cut down paperwork to a tenth or so if there was a slightly higher tax on printing ink and paper. Still, I maintain that the best way to save bottles at universities would be to install beer pipelines straight from local breweries.
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"I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable."
Walt Whitman
Formerly JFH
Posts: 851 | From: Proud Socialist Monarchy of Sweden | Registered: May 2009
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lilBuddha
Shipmate
# 14333
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Posted
Bottles are made from petroleum. Recycling is better than not recycling, but not making bottles in the first is better still.
Water filtration wastes water. Reverese osmosis itself uses water to flush contaminate from the filtres and send it along out to disposal. Said contaminate, now concentrated, needs to be disposed of. Not a further burden if tap water is simply bottled. But if it is filtred again, more water wasted, more waste generated.
Much bottled water is demineralised. Whilst the jury have not completely reached a verdict, the balance of evidence indicates is this is not good.
Water filtration waste.
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I put on my rockin' shoes in the morning
Hallellou, hallellou
Posts: 17627 | From: the round earth's imagined corners | Registered: Dec 2008
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Enoch
Shipmate
# 14322
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by JFH:
Whereas I'm not certain of his sources, a Swedish journalist had a look at a similar situation in Sweden and did some maths on the carbon dioxide emissions of a bottle of water. Apparently, a sleeping person breathes out the equivalent amount of carbon dioxide of 167 bottles of 330 ml per minute. A regular jogger breathes out the equivalent of 2000 bottles per minute. Thus, holding your breath for 0.35 seconds means you've covered your bases for the carbon dioxide emissions of the water transports and the bottle....
If you hold your breath, doesn't the same amount of breath come out when you stop holding it as would have done anyway? Isn't the only difference that it comes out in a great rush?
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Brexit wrexit - Sir Graham Watson
Posts: 7610 | From: Bristol UK(was European Green Capital 2015, now Ljubljana) | Registered: Nov 2008
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mousethief
Ship's Thieving Rodent
# 953
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by JFH:
I'm not sure whether or not this means it's a battle worth fighting or not, but I'm leaning towards the latter.
If carbon were the only issue, this might or might not be true; but another issue is what plastic pollution is doing to the oceans and ocean wildlife, which, even if you don't care for other species for their own sake, feeds a lot of people.
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This is the last sig I'll ever write for you...
Posts: 63536 | From: Washington | Registered: Jul 2001
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Mama Thomas
Shipmate
# 10170
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Posted
Also, I wish I could link to some studies I read years ago about the fuel it takes and the wear and tear on the roads the transport of bottled water takes. Being out of the US for many years, I've noticed upon coming back how everyone seems to carry liquid around. In my youth, it would have been inconceivable that people would bring bottled water or pricy vacuum flasks to church.
People carry around 128 oz. kegs of insulated sugar water with them all the time. Some people carry around "coffee." It's just weird.
But bottled water IS a problem for people in areas that have clean water. I understand that in places where environmental protection is sketchy, like West Virginia, people need imported bottled water.
I shudder at the cost it takes to transport water from Fiji to convenience stores in the US heart land, from the plastic bottles made in China and transported to Fiji and then to the US, the fuel and labour of ship and container and other transport workers to get something most people in the developed world can get by turning on a tap and draining what comes out through a carbon filled bit of plastic from China/Germany/Sweden.
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All hearts are open, all desires known
Posts: 3742 | From: Somewhere far away | Registered: Aug 2005
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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Posted
I'm with ken, here. I can't really be doing with water that isn't out of the Chalk.* It has a flinty taste that I miss when in soft areas, and some of the soft stuff has an almost slimy mouthfeel. And I think I have read somewhere that the harder waters are better for the heart. At Dover, the water barely needed any treatment before piping out to the taps, it was so pure. Definitely not the Ankh. I suspect that Folkestone was similar - there's no sign of a treatment works at the source.
As Kipling said of Sussex clay, we yearn for the stuff we are wrought from. It's what we are used to.
*Or, failing that, limestone**. There's a spring along the road from my sister's house in the Cotswolds which is nice. And I found someone filling bottles from a pipe in the Kent marshes near Sheppey. When I asked, she confirmed it was drinkable - "it comes from Essex". I really need to confirm how it gets there and why. It tasted as if it was from the chalk aquifer.
**When I was in summer school at Nottingham, the Sherwood Sandstone stuff wasn't bad. I've never been ill from water. Even the peaty stuff, which I don't like.
There is an exception with regard to the limestone - the spring at the foot of Malham Cove has a distinct metallic tang - being downstream of the old lead mines. Bit of a mistake, drinking that.
[ 04. February 2014, 20:07: Message edited by: Penny S ]
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
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no prophet's flag is set so...
Proceed to see sea
# 15560
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Posted
I get the argument about bad water and therefore bottles of water are required, but never the single serving size. We have a cabin where the well water is not okay, iron sulphide, and the lake water is probably questionable due to the 300 cabins around the lake. So we have refillable 60 litre carboys. A carboy is a bottle, typically like the ones you see on water coolers. In fact, we have a stand and take water out of it like with a water cooler, but we don't cool it.
It costs $2 per 60L fill with the reuseable bottles. The get a blast of ozone-containing water to clean them before refilling. So we're getting only reverse osmosis water and not buying the disposable bottles. And not using wee little 500 ml or 1L bottles. Shouldn't places with bad water do things like this and avoid single use bottles?
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Out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety.
\_(ツ)_/
Posts: 11498 | From: Treaty 6 territory in the nonexistant Province of Buffalo, Canada ↄ⃝' | Registered: Mar 2010
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Pomona
Shipmate
# 17175
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Penny S:
I'm with ken, here. I can't really be doing with water that isn't out of the Chalk.* It has a flinty taste that I miss when in soft areas, and some of the soft stuff has an almost slimy mouthfeel. And I think I have read somewhere that the harder waters are better for the heart. At Dover, the water barely needed any treatment before piping out to the taps, it was so pure. Definitely not the Ankh. I suspect that Folkestone was similar - there's no sign of a treatment works at the source.
As Kipling said of Sussex clay, we yearn for the stuff we are wrought from. It's what we are used to.
*Or, failing that, limestone**. There's a spring along the road from my sister's house in the Cotswolds which is nice. And I found someone filling bottles from a pipe in the Kent marshes near Sheppey. When I asked, she confirmed it was drinkable - "it comes from Essex". I really need to confirm how it gets there and why. It tasted as if it was from the chalk aquifer.
**When I was in summer school at Nottingham, the Sherwood Sandstone stuff wasn't bad. I've never been ill from water. Even the peaty stuff, which I don't like.
There is an exception with regard to the limestone - the spring at the foot of Malham Cove has a distinct metallic tang - being downstream of the old lead mines. Bit of a mistake, drinking that.
Hmm I don't really remember what the water is like in Coventry. However, I would prefer to drink tap water, even harder stuff that I get here - but my IBS just cannot tolerate it I'm afraid.
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Consider the work of God: Who is able to straighten what he has bent? [Ecclesiastes 7:13]
Posts: 5319 | From: UK | Registered: Jun 2012
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