Ban bottled water

[Aussiejeff]

bollox i say

tommorow morning i will wake in a strange bed , strange town, and mighty thirsty

shoud i be denied buying a bottle of water?

or should i buy another bottle of jacks instead and wander the earth in a haze?

You got that last line, man...

Seems my mates were right when they told me back in our drunken '60's stupor that drinking water was bad for you....

 

[wbosher]

Reminds me of being at Mt Cook in NZ where small cans of 'mountain air' were on sale for some ridiculous price.

I bet there are plenty of idiots who buy it or they wouldn't bother selling it!

 

[BurntToast]

I'm not too sure what the NSW Govt's excuse is, but from what I've read about the town that is banning it, it has come about because a company wanted to drain an aquifer near the town to use for bottled water... so rather than buy what they already have, they are installing filtered water stations around the town and selling reusable bottles.

I don't have a problem with that - it's a good idea actually, but I don't think you really need to go all out and ban bottled water too... educate and let people make their own choice.

...but you've all missed a bigger point here - if you think selling bottled water is the biggest marketing con job of all time, then Bundanoon are taking it to the next level, next time you drop by and need to quench your thirst, grab yourself an empty bottle out of the fridge when you buy your lunch

 

[Sunder]

I'm also a bit puzzled by this culture of always clutching a bottle of water wherever you go. Generations survived pretty well doing much more physically arduous activity than most of us do these days without needing to gulp water every five minutes.

We also are a generation that consumes a lot more salt, sugar and caffeine than previous generations. We also spend a hell of a lot more time in a drying, air conditioned office. That said, I don't buy bottled water, I just drink around 500ml when I first wake up, about a litre while at work, and another half a litre to a litre in the evening. All tap or filtered water though.

tommorow morning i will wake in a strange bed , strange town, and mighty thirsty

Some days are like that too, and I'm never quite sure if I had a bender the night before or if it was Alien abduction. I never plan ahead for them that I can remember though - you do??

 

[Calliope]

A few years ago I was on an organised tour of the British Isles. All the party were Americans except my friend and me.The first morning on the bus the tour guide said;

"I notice most of you have bottled water. All the water in the British Isles is of high quality. I suggest you fill up your bottles each morning at the tap before we leave our hotel."

We all did just that and there were no complaints, even though in parts of Ireland the water had a darkish appearance because of the peat.

 

[shag]

i dont really believe in regulations and catering for the lowest common Denominater(catering for a dumbed down population). but nz has some of the best water in the world. esp canterbury where the shingle beds run for hundreds of k's and filters water better than any plastic contained product(plastics and the process of bottling contaminates it anyway). its the best water in the world literally as i understand, comes out of taps free, comes out if u just drill down to it, the artesian system is so strong.
but idiots there still buy bottled water. loads of it. just idiots esp chicks, following advertising.
one family friend in nz supplies air nz from his dodgy bore and bottling shed. its like printing money.
from takaka, god i was shocked. lots of dairying, small but strong aquifer(if hes even drilled down to the main one), id be guesssing all manner of dairy pollutants get into it. he probably went to a local massive natural spring to get his testing samples. its viewed as a 'green' area but really isnt.

im used to non clorinated water, but hell its fine in sydney. i wouldnt drink the bottled sh-t if it was free.

 

[shag]

an aside to this, in nz they catered for the dropkick backpackers, many using the cheap/free and ex lovely able tasman coastal track.
the el cheapo europeans were so cheap and dirty they would crap in the streams.
in the 90's gardia took hold from this. now u cant drink from the best source when pissing sweat tramping, small streams, as u'll get serious gut rot-gardia. right thru the country.
tastes better than grog even when really hammering the tracks. bloody criminal.

 

[Mr J]

I've always thought so. Why not just fill a bottle from the kitchen tap and take with you.

It is not cold, Julia. Refills at lunch from the office kitchen will not be cold either.

I'm also a bit puzzled by this culture of always clutching a bottle of water wherever you go.

People generally don't hydrate themselves regularly enough, so water on hand will help this issue. As for carrying it around, well cold water is rarely available when you want it, and I'm sure many people prefer chilled water to tap water. Their office may not have chilled water, and the streets and public transport certainly do not. Bottled water has a place, although I agree some people are excessive (using it at home for example).

 

[Julia]

It is not cold, Julia. Refills at lunch from the office kitchen will not be cold either.



.

OK, fair comment. I agree about the water being chilled, especially in summer.
Have you considered either an insulated container (I have one which holds one litre and keeps iced water cold and chunks of ice still unmelted overnight on a hot summer night). An ordinary thermos flask would do.

And yes, of course bottled water has a place. I just object to it having become a cult.

 

[nulla nulla]

A few years ago I was on an organised tour of the British Isles. All the party were Americans except my friend and me.The first morning on the bus the tour guide said;

"I notice most of you have bottled water. All the water in the British Isles is of high quality. I suggest you fill up your bottles each morning at the tap before we leave our hotel."

We all did just that and there were no complaints, even though in parts of Ireland the water had a darkish appearance because of the peat.

A dram of Irish Whisky in the bottle would have cleared that up and made the natural sweet nector of Ireland all the more pleasant to drink.

 

[Bobby]

Sheez !people just think about getting a drink of Non fluoride water for a start
Banning bottled water is insane better to get rid of those sugar filled drinks first before banning pure water .

Also think about the jobs this will stuff up in that industry .

 

[jono1887]

Sheez !people just think about getting a drink of Non fluoride water for a start
Banning bottled water is insane better to get rid of those sugar filled drinks first before banning pure water .

Also think about the jobs this will stuff up in that industry .

Its not a blanket ban covering the whole of Australia... I think people are exaggerating the extent of the situation. People will not be loosing jobs over this and it will not DESTROY the industry - considering all the companies that bottle water also sell those sugar laced fizzy drinks as well :

 

[Bobby]

Its not a blanket ban covering the whole of Australia... I think people are exaggerating the extent of the situation. People will not be loosing jobs over this and it will not DESTROY the industry - considering all the companies that bottle water also sell those sugar laced fizzy drinks as well :

Thanks for the reply but what about the issue of not wanting to drink fluoridated tap water ?
Gee if someone wants a drink of water & cant buy the bottled stuff their stuck with that sugar crap then ! or contaminated tap water , thats if they can find a bubbler :

 

[Bafana]

Ban it. Complete rip off and one of the greatest cons around especially in Australia where or tap water is AOK. If China, Indonesia, etc than bottled water makes sense.

Besides the container gives you low sperm count or something doesn't it?

 

[jono1887]

Ban it. Complete rip off and one of the greatest cons around especially in Australia where or tap water is AOK. If China, Indonesia, etc than bottled water makes sense.

Besides the container gives you low sperm count or something doesn't it?

Really? Havn't heard that one before...

Thanks for the reply but what about the issue of not wanting to drink fluoridated tap water ?
Gee if someone wants a drink of water & cant buy the bottled stuff their stuck with that sugar crap then ! or contaminated tap water , thats if they can find a bubbler :

Why would you want to not drink Fluoridated water? its good for you... strengthens teeth ect ect
Tap water is not contaminated by any means... the invention of bottled water was probably the smartest thing ever. Buy some.thing that costs 2c per 1000L and sell it for $2 per 600mL. Thats a 16,666,666% profit... i dont think even TH could profit that much on the market!

 

[Smurf1976]

the invention of bottled water was probably the smartest thing ever. Buy some.thing that costs 2c per 1000L and sell it for $2 per 600mL. Thats a 16,666,666% profit... i dont think even TH could profit that much on the market!

Don't forget the cost of all the oil and coal used in order to produce that bottle of water. That'll dent profits and it's the real issue with this product.

 

[jono1887]

Don't forget the cost of all the oil and coal used in order to produce that bottle of water. That'll dent profits and it's the real issue with this product.

True... well in that case, all they are really selling to you are just plastic bottles. And we're back to the earlier point of selling plastic bottles of air.

 

[Smurf1976]

True... well in that case, all they are really selling to you are just plastic bottles. And we're back to the earlier point of selling plastic bottles of air.

The bottles of air would use far less energy and thus emit far less CO2 however. Water is heavy to transport via diesel-guzzling trucks that's problem number 1. There's your oil consumption, somthing that would fall by somewhere around half if the trucks carried empty bottles instead of full ones.

Problem number 2 is that the bottles are commonly sold in open-fronted refrigerators (a terribly inefficient design) displayed under bright lights. There's the electricity / coal consumption.

As I said, I'm not against bottled water. But just don't go and drink the stuff unnecessarily (anywhere there's a tap...) then tell me we shouldn't be drilling for oil in Alaska, building pulp mills in Tasmania or burning brown coal in Victoria. You're the one who has chosen to pay extra in order to pollute, industry is merely responding to your demands and those of millions of others for this and all sorts of other non-essential products.

Not in favour of a ban though for exactly the same reason I'm not in favour of a ban on plastic bags. I'm sure that if you count ALL the beans, there will be a downside somewhere and in this case it's probably health.

Green thinking almost always focuses on what "could" be done to eliminate some nasty, rather than what will actually happen in practice. Consumers are going to buy bottles of something, most won't choose the tap, so it might as well be water rather than sugar. Yes we could use the tap and cut pollution, but that's not what will happen in practice, a concept that proponents of all these plastic bag / incandescent bulb / bottled water etc bans fail to grasp. All that usually happens is the pollution turns up somewhere else in some other form rather than actually being eliminated.