Bottled Water? What Was I Thinking?

Your right on the money by drinking water from your tap. I’ve used a countertop filter for years now and wouldn’t go back. It’s a lot cheaper than bottled water, tastes better and of course is environmentally more friendly.

I think just like cigarettes, advertising really can make people do things they might otherwise think twice about. I was floored when I started my blog to find so much info about dangers and costs, like you mentioned, and wonder why I didn’t know any of this before. I never bothered to take the time to find out.

Keep up the good work.

We’ll buy bottled water, mainly for storage purposes and for taking on trips and things like that. I’ll reuse the same bottle for about a month before I actually retire it. I may consider just buying one of those SIGG bottles though and curb our use further.

@ Matt:

Are you serious?! God’s master plan?! Okay, genius. Oil is organic but it is not renewable in the sense that we can tap into it tomorrow. It takes millions of years for the material to break down underground and be converted into pure carbon. However, man has partly broken this cycle. The petroleum that we are tapping into today was the result of undisturbed forests and jungles dying and being buried by years of soil accumulation and build-up. That is not happening today. Many forests and jungles are either being burned-down to be converted to farm land or harvested.

By the way. Oil underground is not polluting the earth. Only when it is tapped into and brought to the surface is it polluting…whether through spills or when burned and producing emissions. This isn’t a liberal / conservative issue. It is common sense. However, if the intellect that is just displayed by your moronic comment is indicative of all so-called “conservatives”, then God help us. Dumb, short-sighted, and selfish.

Kleen Kanteen is a rival to SIGG that doesn’t have a plastic/epoxy liner and also has a wider mouth so it is easier to clean and can fit regular sized ice cubes. Personally, I reuse glass containers. Nantucket Nectars juices bottles are perfect. I just clean ’em out, remove the label, fill with tap water, and stick in the fridge.

Agree, you could save more if you use filtered tap water. In our case, we even made money from it. We purchased a water purification system (3 huge containers each undergoing several purification process) and sold it to our neighbors using their own containers. It’s not yet attached to the ref but so far, we save earth and we earn cash too!

I use a stainless steel Kleen Kanteen, which I recently purchased. The water tastes better than from a reusable plastic bottle, and I think metal is better for the environment in the long run. Either way you go, reusable plastic or metal, it is surely better than buying a daily bottle of water. 🙂

@Dan: Here’s a quote from the CEO of SIGG:

“Very thorough migration testing in laboratories around the world is conducted regularly and has consistently shown SIGG aluminum bottles to have no presence of lead, phthalates, Perfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA), Bysphenol A (BPA), Bysphenol B (BPB) or any other chemicals which scientists have deemed as potentially harmful.”

The reason that they don’t disclose the contents of the liner is that it’s a trade secret.

Max says – I’ve had mine (iPod) for over 2 years now and I don’t plan on getting a new one anytime soon.

me — That’s just you. I have a fan that’s over 20 years old. Will your iPod still be around that long?

Max says – they (biz owner) would be foolish not to continue filling that demand and making a profit doing so.

me — Bingo! That’s why they keep doing it.

Max says – If we get over our obsession with having the best and newest to nurse our image and sense of self-confidence, then there would be less of a demand and companies would have to reduce production.

me — That’s the vicious guilt circle – I told you not to go there. The biz owner knows the human weakness better than we know ourselves – and it is ‘they’ who are taking advantage of our weaknesses. Just like people who are overweight – people need to eat – they eat what tastes good – fat/salt/sugar tastes good – so that’s what the biz owner sells. If the biz owner sells fruits, vegetables, meat and whole grains – that’s what we’ll buy and we’ll be healthier.

If you think ‘making the most money’ is what’s most acceptable – then you won’t understand what’s wrong with the opinions you hold.

If you think saving the planet from the burden of excessive waste is more important, then you’ll begin to see why biz owners are the ones who are really in control. I happen to be a retailer who sells the products that are available. I wish better products were available, I wish more earth friendly products were available – but they’re not. I have to buy what’s out there and you have to buy what I’m selling – like it or not. The only choice you have is where you buy your products. As soon as the biz owners who create the products we buy begin to have a conscious about what they’re selling, then the product will change.

The other problem biz owners have to deal with is the stock market. The biz owner is beholden to the shareholders – not the buyer. If they don’t produce a profit – then they have to change the way the product is made (make it cheaper) – or they have to design the newest, coolest gizmo or gadget (new iPod models) – so the buying process starts all over again.

…. as the world turns….

Oh, and @ osri, how are ipods obsolete the next year? I’ve had mine for over 2 years now and I don’t plan on getting a new one anytime soon. My mom’s is at least 6 years old, and it still works fine. I don’t get how you can put the responsibility on the business owner- if there is demand for a product, they would be foolish not to continue filling that demand and making a profit doing so. It is purely the consumer’s responsibility to eliminate the demand for irresponsible products. It is the consumers that must stop buying new ipods every year just because they look newer and shinier. If we get over our obsession with having the best and newest to nurse our image and sense of self-confidence, then there would be less of a demand and companies would have to reduce production. It is ignorant and irresponsible to blame companies for this- they are only producing things that will make them the most money. As soon as we, the consumers, turn our attention from convenience and image to responsibility and conservation, the climate of consumerism will begin to decline. Unfortunately, Americans are hopelessly obsessed with their ‘stuff’ and I feel the downfall of the country will precede this shift. Just my opinion though.

The reason one might ask the question ‘what was I thinking’ – is because

1. We let others do the thinking for us.
2. We believe everything ‘they’ tell us.
3. We’re afraid to act on our original thoughts.
4. We’re afraid to use common sense (may be different than original thoughts)
5. We accept blame for things that our not our fault.

The business owner who asks the factory to make the plastic bottles to sell convenience size portions of water so he can fill a need and make money at the same time is at fault.

The auto manufacturer who makes the gas guzzlers is at fault.

The consumer only buys what the business is selling. We have no control over what they make – only they do.

Ah, but we can stop buying…..don’t go there – that’s the vicious guilt circle.

You can certainly buy the better alternative – such as a filter for your home water tap (you’ll save money in the long run and you’ll be saving the planet from the burden of your waste) – but it’s only the awareness or the consciousness of the business owner who can make a change.

Look at the millions of iPods being sold – only to be obsolete next year or the year after. Steve Jobs needs to make a long lasting iPod. As they say ‘they don’t make’em like they used to’. Take the common cooling fan for instance – almost everybody has one – and it lasts for years and years – it fills a simple need and works for a long time.

Hopefully you get the picture.

Great article by the way.

I agree completely. So many people think drinking bottled water is more healthy or more pure, but really it’s not that much different than if you get a good filter. The amount of money you save and the harm to our environment and economy that you prevent makes it more than worth a small investment.

For a insightful and funny view of bottled water see this Penn and Teller’s movie http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfPAjUvvnIc enjoy! congrats on your conversion Smithee

A metal bottle like a SIGG is definitely a better idea but putting that aside to answer Bill: those bottles are not intended for reuse.

I’m happy to see someone else realizing just how ridiculous bottled water really is. I’m not sure how tap water has become so maligned over the years because in most cases it tastes just fine (municipal water that is). If you really think a filter is necessary something like the PUR filter that screws right on to the faucet works quite well.

Smithee: your water costs are not going to go up enough to make you notice. Municipal water is *cheap*. You’re paying cents per gallon vs dollars in those small bottles.

It would be nice if more people would realize that petroleum doesn’t just equal “gas in the tank”. Its used in so many products it’s kind of scary. When you factor in the petroleum required for fertilizers, etc. for agribusiness the whole thing becomes even scarier. These are the reasons why we need to find alternative sources of energy to power our homes, our vehicles, etc. It’s not just gas in the tank.

You’re a moron. You paid $16 for a bottle? Are you serious? Maybe you meant $1.60

Either way… why not use any of the bottles that you found perfectly fine when you drank out of them from the Kwik-E-Mart?

Dumb dumb dumb.

I have a bridge I’m selling if you’re interested.

The research on the plastic bottles has not been confirmed, and the harm is typically to fetuses. You can get plastic ones that are free from the chemical.

I don’t ever pay for bottled water, biggest waste of money I can think of. I use the water cooler at work, and at home I have a filter on the fridge and a filter on the tap. I drink about 100 oz. a day, so that would be about 5 bottles of water….so I’m saving a bit of money, and have been reusing the same plastic water bottle for over 6 months now.

This probably isn’t the place to encourage spending more money, but I’d invest in a metal bottle like SIGG instead of using the plastic bottle. Research is still being done, but harmful chemicals have been found to leach from polycarbonate plastic into the drinking water in the bottle (and onto other dishes if the bottles go through the dishwasher and are heated). Better safe than sorry – the SIGG bottles are pricey but worth it.