Except they are rarely reused, and the carbon footprint of bottling and transporting these things is enormous compared to tap. You also grossly overstate the dangers of tap water, and in any case, advocating bottled water as a response to that is like giving up on the clean air act and hauling an oxygen tank around with you all day.

It’s irresponsible, and as someone who lives in a small rural community that’s being victimized by a predatory water bottler (Nestle), I’d suggest taking a hard look at what you’re really doing.

Except they are rarely reused, and the carbon footprint of bottling and transporting these things is enormous compared to tap. You also grossly overstate the dangers of tap water, and in any case, advocating bottled water as a response to that is like giving up on the clean air act and hauling an oxygen tank around with you all day.

It’s irresponsible, and as someone who lives in a small rural community that’s being victimized by a predatory water bottler (Nestle), I’d suggest taking a hard look at what you’re really doing.

I’m not trying to say that anyone here in the US should settle for unsafe water, but there’s something that strikes me as very arrogant and unfeeling about debating some minuscule amount of chlorine in our tap water while elsewhere in the world, there are people who would give anything for access to the water that you are rejecting because of its negative ‘vibrations’.

From water.cc:

Water, the stuff of life and a basic human right, is at the heart of a daily crisis faced by more than one billion of the world’s most vulnerable people—a crisis that threatens life and consigns large segments of humanity to chronic disease, poverty, and insecurity.

Water-related disease is the single largest killer of infants in developing countries—diarrhea alone causes 1.8 million child deaths each year—and access to safe water is the most important factor in the survival of children under the age of five. Nearly half of all people in developing countries are suffering from water-related health problems. The annual number of deaths from water-related diseases is six times greater than the number of deaths from armed violence.

Sufficient clean water is foundational for all other community development. Lack of water and sanitation is an obstacle to education for children across the world, leading to hundreds of millions of lost school days each year. Safe water is necessary for economic growth. In many nations, shortage of water is a cause of violent conflict.

Lack of access to clean water perpetuates cycles of disadvantage which affect millions of people, with illnesses and lost educational opportunities during childhood leading to poverty in adulthood.

I’m not trying to say that anyone here in the US should settle for unsafe water, but there’s something that strikes me as very arrogant and unfeeling about debating some minuscule amount of chlorine in our tap water while elsewhere in the world, there are people who would give anything for access to the water that you are rejecting because of its negative ‘vibrations’.

From water.cc:

Water, the stuff of life and a basic human right, is at the heart of a daily crisis faced by more than one billion of the world’s most vulnerable people—a crisis that threatens life and consigns large segments of humanity to chronic disease, poverty, and insecurity.

Water-related disease is the single largest killer of infants in developing countries—diarrhea alone causes 1.8 million child deaths each year—and access to safe water is the most important factor in the survival of children under the age of five. Nearly half of all people in developing countries are suffering from water-related health problems. The annual number of deaths from water-related diseases is six times greater than the number of deaths from armed violence.

Sufficient clean water is foundational for all other community development. Lack of water and sanitation is an obstacle to education for children across the world, leading to hundreds of millions of lost school days each year. Safe water is necessary for economic growth. In many nations, shortage of water is a cause of violent conflict.

Lack of access to clean water perpetuates cycles of disadvantage which affect millions of people, with illnesses and lost educational opportunities during childhood leading to poverty in adulthood.

I also have a Materials Science background and have had the pleasure of struggling greatly through classes taught by the Stanford prof quoted by H2OM – William Tiller. Through him, I learned that ALL things have a unique vibration and basically a consciousness (he never said that in so many words, but his teaching style was to enable us to almost shrink down and crawl within a crystal lattice). So, I believe that water can carry a positive vibrational imprint, so to speak.

And if you read the company’s website, they design these bottles to be reusable. They are really cool looking, so I plan to use them when I go to the gym.

Is glass better than plastic, is domestic less harmful than imported, is tap water just fine? The only way to make a competent decision is to have your water tested, as everyone’s water, even in the same city, can vary a lot.

Then you need to educate yourself on the nuances of “harmful levels” and make the call as to whether your tap is cool, or if you should filter your tap water, or go packaged.

Truth be told, the packaged route is not sustainable – plain and simple – as much as you might prefer it.

Is glass better than plastic, is domestic less harmful than imported, is tap water just fine? The only way to make a competent decision is to have your water tested, as everyone’s water, even in the same city, can vary a lot.

Then you need to educate yourself on the nuances of “harmful levels” and make the call as to whether your tap is cool, or if you should filter your tap water, or go packaged.

Truth be told, the packaged route is not sustainable – plain and simple – as much as you might prefer it.

From treehugger.com:

Bottled water manufacturers’ encourage the perception that their products are purer and safer than tap water. Bottled water can cost up to 10,000 times more per gallon than tap water. But the reality is that tap water is actually held to more stringent quality standards than bottled water, and some brands of bottled water are just tap water in disguise. What’s more, our increasing consumption of bottled water—more than 22 gallons per U.S. citizen in 2004 according to the Earth Policy Institute—fuels an unsustainable industry that takes a heavy toll on the environment.

Approximately 1.5 million barrels of oil—enough to run 100,000 cars for a whole year—are used to make plastic water bottles, while transporting these bottles burns even more oil.

The growth in bottled water production has increased water extraction in areas near bottling plants, leading to water shortages that affect nearby consumers and farmers. In addition to the millions of gallons of water used in the plastic-making process, two gallons of water are wasted in the purification process for every gallon that goes into the bottles.

Nearly 90 percent of water bottles are not recycled and wind up in landfills where it takes thousands of years for the plastic to decompose.

So the next time you feel thirsty, forgo the bottle and turn to the tap. Because the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s standards for tap water are more stringent than the Food and Drug Administration’s standards for bottled water, you’ll be drinking water that is just as safe as, or safer than, bottled.

If, however, you don’t like the taste of your tap water or are unsure of its quality, you can buy a filter pitcher or install an inexpensive faucet filter to remove trace chemicals and bacteria. If you will be away from home, fill a reusable bottle from your tap and refill it along the way; travel bottles with built-in filters are also available.

If you’d like to know more about your tap water, the EPA has a list of frequently asked questions about tap water on its Web site. Depending on where you live, you can find a water quality report for your area.