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Bottled Water and Other Scams

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in southern tasmania .port huon area . every time there was a heavy rain the tap water came out murky and brown ....... we either bought bottled water or drove up hartz mountain and filled containers up at the numerous springs and waterfalls on side of track /road up

geez that water was the sweetest ive had yet
 
Are cans any more ecologically friendly in which to store "bottled water" ?

gg
 

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nunthewiser said:
LOL at the "MS" fest in launceston 2008 the tap water was straight out of the Esk river

included free floaties

bottled water after that thankyou :)
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Why on earth didn't they just use Launceston's actual tap water supply instead? That's fine to drink.

I remember my grandmother telling me that after the 1967 fires in Tas, the water supply was restored quickly but the water had ash, cinders and so on in it and the council recommended boiling it before drinking to make sure it was safe. Not having any power, that took a few days to restore, that meant boiling it in a pot over an open fire which added to the ashes and smokey taste problem.

But those who died in those fires, 62 people I think, died from the fires or attempts to fight them. They didn't die because the water was contaminated.

I've drunk plenty of untreated water from outdoor taps, rivers and streams (and straight out of a power station tailrace lol) over the years and it hasn't killed me yet. Biggest danger was that of falling into the river or being blown away trying to turn the fire hydrant on just enough to drink straight from - they aren't really designed to supply small amounts of water.

As for the idea of putting the stuff in cans and how eco-friendly it is, well for every litre packaged that way it will consume about 0.4 litres of oil (or its coal, gas, nuclear or hydro equivalent) to produce it. Not exactly what I'd call eco-friendly. Even using plastic bottles, whilst a lot better than aluminium cans, is still pretty destructive in terms of energy use and emissions compared to drinking from the tap.

I generally wouldn't bother with bottled water in Australian cities. Even in Adelaide it won't kill you and yes I've drunk the water there. Get a tank supplied from the roof or a filter if water quality is really a problem as it is in some rural areas.
 
Smurf1976 said:
Why on earth didn't they just use Launceston's actual tap water supply instead? That's fine to drink.

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it was held behind the footy stadium on a paddock , bordering the esk ... just looked like a basic setup actually with a temporay tap or 2 around the licensed area ...... yes ive drunk lonnie water also and found it quite sweet and pleasant
 
Sorry about the poor quality shot. But would you believe this?

$11 for a bottle of water. No, I am NOT in Hong Kong, or Mexico, or even Zimbabwe. This is Singapore - that makes it about $12.10 AUD for 1L of water.
 

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Sunder said:
Sorry about the poor quality shot. But would you believe this?

$11 for a bottle of water. No, I am NOT in Hong Kong, or Mexico, or even Zimbabwe. This is Singapore - that makes it about $12.10 AUD for 1L of water.
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Wikipedia.
FIJI Water has been criticized for the environmental costs embedded in each bottle. The production plant runs on diesel fuel, 24 hours a day. The high-grade plastic used to make the bottles is transported from China to Fiji, and then (full of water) to the United States and other countries. A 1 liter bottle of FIJI Water contaminates 6.74 liters of water to stretch-blow mold the plastic, burns fossil fuel to transport plastics from China and full bottles to the country of sale, and produces 0.25 kg of greenhouse emissions, based on the U.S. as the country of sale.
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But it has a certain snob value to be seen with a bottle of Fiji (or Perrier) on your table at an up-market restaurant. People might even think you drove there in a Porche.
 
Lest you should think that $123 million is not much to pay for the convenience of not having to fill a bottle from the tap before you go on your morning walk, when you add it to all the other scams we willingly tolerate we are talking about billions.

Consider;

The weight loss and diet industries
The fitness and exercise industries
The health food, vitamins and pills industries
The cosmetic and perfumery industries
The soft drink and cordial industries
The organic foods industries

There are many others including the massive financial advisory industry.

Yes I know they keep a lot of people employed, but I think we would be happier and fitter if we paid these employees to do nothing.

We are indeed a lucky country to be able to afford to indulge these scammers. Ironically some of them, like the soft drink and weight loss industries complement each other.
 
One type industry 'scam' I find ironic is the smoking patches companies.

These co's dont actually want people to quit, otherwise they will be out of business, so my inner cynic suggests that they probably dull down the nicotine in patches so people end up going back to the smokes and then try quitting all over again.

Or some of the co's are actually owned by tobacco co's. Now thats vertical integration for you :)
 
  • Web developers - many are useless.
  • Search engine optimisers - just plain thieves and liars.
  • Car salesman - irritating, liars and petty thieves.
  • Real estate salesmen - liars and bs artists in BMW's
  • Financial advisors - subscribe to the Eureka Report or similar then charge you $80 per hour to read it to you.
  • The Catholic church..........no I wont go there.
  • Kevin Rudd - revenge of the nerds only this is for real.
 
"The Liver - making dodgy water safe to drink for 5 million years"

Believe it or not the human body (and most other animals) has an incredible built-in facility to handle water with a number of contaminants. Before we sat in fancy restaurants, or had even invented the tap, humans drank water from streams, creeks, and often quite tepid sources for millions of years. This is why I think it's slightly amusing the obsession with "pure" drinking water, when we've been drinking the opposite for centuries before.
 
For some people clutching the bottle of water is a fashion accessory.

It amuses me to see women (yes, it's always women) dressed in upmarket sports gear out for 'exercise'. This seems to consist of a slowish amble over a couple of kms at most, but still apparently requires the intermittent rehydration that can only come from pure bottled water.

Reminds me of being at Mt Cook in NZ some years ago and seeing small cans of "Fresh Mountain Air" for sale!

All these scammers must just love the suckers who fall for all this stuff.

Gfresh: excellent point re the body's own capacity to cope with some contaminants. I reckon part of the reason some people get sick so often is that there is such an obsession about 'avoiding germs'. Huge market for multiple domestic antiseptics etc.
 
gfresh said:
"The Liver - making dodgy water safe to drink for 5 million years"

Believe it or not the human body (and most other animals) has an incredible built-in facility to handle water with a number of contaminants. Before we sat in fancy restaurants, or had even invented the tap, humans drank water from streams, creeks, and often quite tepid sources for millions of years. This is why I think it's slightly amusing the obsession with "pure" drinking water, when we've been drinking the opposite for centuries before.
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Yes gfresh, I am pretty sure that if we went to live in India our livers would learn to cope with Delhi Belly after a while.

Even here, at my favourite Chinese Restaurant, while I would hesitate to look in their back rooms behind the kitchen, I munch away happily and contentedly in the knowledge that my liver will look after me. I trust it, and it trusts me not to go too heavily on the grog. Unlike my palate, it doesn't like grog much.

Yes Julia, we have an obsession with "germs". Old Brisbanites don't like to talk about this, but in the days when we had backyard toilets I suspect that the flies on your cakes at morning tea had often made a previous visit to the toilet. My theory is that exposure beefed up our immune systems.
 
Julia said:
Reminds me of being at Mt Cook in NZ some years ago and seeing small cans of "Fresh Mountain Air" for sale!

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:D LOL funny you should mention that . years ago i bought a can of "puffing billy steam".lol was on sale at the puffing billy in the dandenongs :) i found it quirky so i bought a can

blessem
 
gfresh said:
"The Liver - making dodgy water safe to drink for 5 million years"

Believe it or not the human body (and most other animals) has an incredible built-in facility to handle water with a number of contaminants. Before we sat in fancy restaurants, or had even invented the tap, humans drank water from streams, creeks, and often quite tepid sources for millions of years. This is why I think it's slightly amusing the obsession with "pure" drinking water, when we've been drinking the opposite for centuries before.
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you have a point, but it must be tempered with that age expectancy has only increased from 30 or so years very recently in human history.

tap water costs about 0.04 cents per litre i think i read. u buy almost the same stuff for $2.00 for 600ml.
 
Stormin_Norman said:
you have a point, but it must be tempered with that age expectancy has only increased from 30 or so years very recently in human history.

tap water costs about 0.04 cents per litre i think i read. u buy almost the same stuff for $2.00 for 600ml.
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$3-$4 for 300mls in most nightclubs :D...good money in water
 
Stormin_Norman said:
you have a point, but it must be tempered with that age expectancy has only increased from 30 or so years very recently in human history.

tap water costs about 0.04 cents per litre i think i read. u buy almost the same stuff for $2.00 for 600ml.
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Yep a process heightened by urbanisation and industrialisation as it meant drinking water from stream ain't much chop. Think of the killer water-borne diseases - cholera, hep-a etc. Nasty way to die. Also see how you go drinking fecal matter, e-coli, industrial waste. hmmm...

Not saying bottled water isn't a rip off.

Best scam is any type of branded product actually. I mean paying $3 for some flavoured soda water must be up there. Also what about fashion - garment costs less than a $1 to make yet, once it is branded FCUK, the victims of celebrity-culture happily pay over a $100. Methinks FCUK off!
 
There's an interesting book I read a review to recently about the greatest marketing coup of the late-20th, early-21st century and that's bottled water. It's called Bottlemania; How water went on sale and why we bought it.

Apparently, bottled water is a global industry worth $US60billion a year even though 90% of the supply of tap water in developed countries is either better or just as good.

If anyone knows where it download it for free as an e-book, please provide the link as I've been trying for weeks with no luck ;-)

Personally, I like my bottled water - 24 x 700ml bottles of Frantellies for under $10 is a bargain...I get enough fluoride from using toothpaste twice a day, and it tastes sweeter that Sydney water 'ruined' by David Hill.
 
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