Bottled Water - Designer Handbag & Purse Chat.. The Bag Forum

boysRsmelly · February 9th, 2009, 06:23 PM

Okay, here's a thread about bottled water. I have been researching it for school and it appears that you guys may be interested, so here we go.

Many people have switched to bottle water under the assumption that it is better than tap water. In reality, bottled water is actually only required to be "as good as" tap water (and maybe not even then since bottled water is regulated by the FDA which is much less strict than the EPA standards for tap water). In fact, many companies that bottle water take it directly from a municipally treated water supply... this includes Pepsi and Coca-Cola. And now even distilled and reverse osmosis waters are thought to not be as healthy for us as we originally thought because these processes alter the pH of water. As the water tries to return to its normal pH, it can actually pull minerals from your body. The best way to treat water is through selective filtration, which can be achieved for pennies a day using a facet filtration system. Not only is bottled water not any better than tap water, it is horribly wasteful as well. The bottled water industry causes 60 million plastic bottles to be produced every day, with many of them simply ending up in our landfills and the ocean. And, with fresh water being so precious, it is shameful to think that it takes three times as much water to produce one of these plastic bottles than it does to fill it. And this isn't saying anything about the chemicals in the plastic that could potentially be transferred into the water it contains. Such scary stuff here!

boysRsmelly · February 9th, 2009, 06:23 PM

If anyone else has any facts, please feel free to add to this!

boysRsmelly · February 9th, 2009, 06:32 PM

Here's a link to some test results. They took bottles of different brands right off the store shelf and tested them. Some of them even had poopie in them, the FDA doesn't have an enforced standard for bacteria. The EPA (those who control tap water) have a zero tolerance policy.

NRDC: Bottled Water - Appendix A

juicyholicmum · February 9th, 2009, 06:33 PM

Woe thanks for the info bRs!!!

Zombiegirl · February 9th, 2009, 06:35 PM

Well and think of all the plastic bottles in our landfills. Some of the bottles are also made with harmful petrol chemicals that are carcinogens.
We switched to the corn based bottles for on the go and the stainless steel ones to re use.

I think Coca Cola or Pepsi use tap water from Detroit for their bottled water. I read that somewhere so don't quote me on that.

Thanks so much for posting this bRs!!

Jess · February 9th, 2009, 06:35 PM

OMG, I had no idea...

Arianne12 · February 9th, 2009, 07:31 PM

Also, tap water contains flouride which is good for our teeth. Bottled water doesn't contain flouride. My dentist said that kids nowadays are not getting the benefits of flouride for teeth strengthening as they tend to drink bottled water compared to the us when we were kids.

Graffitifanatic · February 9th, 2009, 07:37 PM

I remember reading that plastic bottles are full of estrogen so I don't buy anymore!

lrc123 · February 9th, 2009, 07:59 PM

Thanks for the info BRS, good post. I always though bottled water was a ridiculous waste of money, bad for the environment, and little more then glorified tap water, and i was right!

Maeveyblue · February 9th, 2009, 08:48 PM

I would be interested and will now research distilled water. We buy the big bottles from Ozarka every couple of weeks. The idea behind distilled is that it is 100% clean of everything. We originally starting buying it for my cat when he went into kidney failure and have used it for everyone ever since. Spring water has always scared me because of everything in the atmosphere that comes down when it rains and mixes with the springs.

KANMP · February 9th, 2009, 09:03 PM

I had heard something like this before. We never used to buy bottled water until my husband woke up one day and found the cat drinking out of his glass of water next to the bed!!! I can't drink regular water...I drink club soda out of glass bottles. I need carbonation. It is probably just as bad.....

THE-GUY · February 9th, 2009, 09:03 PM

What about spring water? Cuase that's all I drink. I dont like to drink tap water beacsue it taste funny to me.

Zombiegirl · February 9th, 2009, 09:08 PM

You can buy distilled water by reverse osmosis! It is supposed to be the best. There are several companies that make it. You could get a stainless water bottle and re use it!

boysRsmelly · February 9th, 2009, 09:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by THE-GUY

What about spring water? Cuase that's all I drink. I dont like to drink tap water beacsue it taste funny to me.

I believe something can be labeled spring water if it comes from a river, lake, or aquifer... so not necessarily pure. I think those test results I posted includes some "spring" water brands.

THE-GUY · February 9th, 2009, 09:23 PM

So I guess I should listen to ZG then. It's gonna be a hard change for me since Im used to the taste of spring water.