MP's have initiated an attack on bottled water as more water is used in the process of getting bottled water on to the shelves than the amount of water actually sold. Ken Livinstone for one has urged the public not to buy bottled water.

I am dissappointed that few can see through this rhetorical argument. People, as usual, are indoctrined by the media (just like organised religion indoctrinates people) and I'm sure that many people who don't think for themselves will now use tap water rather than bottled water, like some government departments now do.

What I do not understand is why this attack is being brought specifically on bottled water and not on products such as Coca Cola and lucozade, as there are many more reasons which justify not buying Coke than bottled water.

In light of the fact that bottle water is very popular nowadays, I can only infer that this attack on bottled water was initiated by fizzy drink manufacturers (i.e. schweppes) who quite possibly may be giving the government backhanders. On the other hand, it may have been an issue concerning the fact that government departments spend too much of tax payers money on bottled water, in which case the argument is justified. However, the argument has been extended beyond this limit by the media and MPs which makes the issue of why the argument has been put forward much more questionable.

People should buy more bottled water and less fizzy drinks!!!

Do you agree, if not, please state your reasons...

Another issue which puzzles me is that Schweppes manufactures bottled sparkling water, but when they introduced a brand of bottled water, it was found to be unfit for drinking and Schweppes were told to take the water back off the market. How can their sparkling water be safe for consumption, but their normal brand of bottled water unfit?

This post has been edited by My Invisible Thoughts: Feb 20 2008, 09:43 AM

I don't know why the sudden slam on bottled drinking water, concidering all the hoppla that was raised to get us to drink more water.

Personally we have to drink the bottled water, because the recent drought made our tap water undrinkable. They keep telling us its safe, however if you can't get it down because it smells so bad from the algie bloom we had last summer which made the water taste and smell like mud, what else can you do?

Oh - they also keep "bleaching" the water every time it rains. Just hard to drink water that smells like it came from a swimming pool.

I never thought I would pay for my water twice.

Geesh, I'm so old I remember when bottled water simply meant some canteen we filled from the tap ourselves before going hiking. But if one lives in an area where the water is 'stinky', I too would be buying water - but suspect I'd opt for those huge water containers with a dispenser rather than individual bottles.

Have no idea if the present 'slam' on bottled water is based on facts or not - but all those pesky bottles that don't make it to the recycling bin, poor Mother Nature!

I have no-idea what the reasoning is behind the people you mentioned.
I can tell you why I feel people should a bit more informed before they do buy this product.
1. The water you are buying is most often tap water to begin with, only filtered
2. It's completely unregulated about the standards one must meet before selling it
3. It's insane that one would choose to be health aware enough to drink water, but then purchase a product incased in eviromentally destructive packaging
4. Even when you let people know the points I just made, they are so self indulged they continue to give no-thought to the enviroment and their contribution to it's demise
5. We ship these bottles to underdeveloped countries in an attempt to help people who are dying of thirst and large corporations make millions from your kindness, but do nothing when their bottles run empty

Now not to go too far astray from your topic, if you would like some ways to collect water for personal consumption let me know and I can tell you some ways to accomplish it.

Dear Vicki,
I was wondering if you are living in the city, or are you a suburbanite, or are you a country girl?
There are some ways to make your water much more drinkable, and then there are ways to collect, store and treat your own water supply if you happen to live in a country setting.
Of course this all depends upon many factors that you would have to take into consideration, but many are more economical than others.
Here where I live a lot of my neighbors have had to deal with sulfer water and you talk about stinky!!!!
I happen to be one of the lucky people who lives on top of a very good sand hill where my well water gets filtered naturally. ( our local "Culligan Man" was very dissapointed to find almost nothing in my water LOL)
You might be able to do some of the research yourself through places like "Mother Earth News" and other like type organazations focused on self sufficientcy.
Mother Earth News has been getting pretty "Incorporated" if you get my meaning so they may charge for researching, I'm not sure.
I believe that there are some government sites that will show you many ways to save yourself a lot of money by not being so dependant on the utilities.
I'm not very good at this computer thing still, so if I can't just type it up there at the top thingy box, well I just end up getting lost.
My whole point is that we need to start helping ourselves because it will in many ways also help our wallets.
And now I must apologize to everyone for taking this off topic.
Sorry everyone.

UJJ- I live in the country and we have an overabundance of fresh water springs - the problem that occured is because of the drought, our water had what you call a algee flush due to low water. The water was "safe",but it stank bad and tasted twice as bad, we were all forced to find alternate water and the alternate for the time being was bottled water. Since the rains the water has become better and we have discontinued the bottles, unless it occurs again.

Sometimes you are at the mercy of the elements and you do what you have to do, until something better comes along.

In most cases bottled water is not bottle from a spring its simply tap water either purified or non. Regardless if it says spring water or mountain water. Watch 20/20 for more info on this.

Plastic is bad for the environment and so its unwise to purchase and throw away any more plastic than you must. Soda is bad for you that's for sure. For homeowners by all means by a Brita pitcher or purifier faucet attachment. It takes the smell and the taste of chlorine away like 99%!!

Chlorine is very bad for your health. Just read on the internet.

cowsgonmadd3 made my point for me in that there are inexpensive filtration systems for removing chlorine and smells.
You can also put a pond on your property and there are many ways to utilize this resourse for your drinking needs. (it's not that complex but does carry a price tag if you hire it out to be done)

***You can also put a pond on your property***

Not possible, where I live, the front yard is at about a 45 deg. grade leveling out around the house and back yard for about 2 acres (because we made it level w/a bulldozer) then goes up at about another 45 deg grade, on both sides I drop at about a 60 degree grade.
Nope a pond wouldn't go anywhere. I live on 8 acres but we are in a very hilly area, 1: because of the natural terrain and 2: because we live near an old meteor strike. Wells Creek Basin, from Earth Impact Database If you look at the images I live at about the bottom right of the image (if it continued out a little)

P.S. most of the ponds dried up last summer.

Filter did not work for the water last year, we have a filter for the water and a filter in the refridgerator for the water.

We did use the BIG bottles if I makes you feel any better.

There are no fixes for some problems. Believe me I know where the good water is, there was a time when my husband tried his hand at carrying on an old "family tradition" Tennessee style.

This post has been edited by Vicki: Apr 8 2008, 08:48 AM

Okay one more chance for you to consider.

If you have the money can you drill deep enough to find an aquafir with potable water.

My friend and neighbor who has had to deal with with sulphur water, and contaminated aquafirs, has finally spent $14,000 drilling to a depth of 700 feet where upon he found his water.

One other expensive way would to have built or build for yourself a sistern of about 10,000 gallon capacity buried on your property, gather rain water from collection points.
You can then easily treat this water so you will have a good reserve and more than enough if you use it for just drinking water during the bad times.

I wish I were able to research on this computer better, becasue there are thousands of ways to deal with water problems.
I feel frustrated with some of my shortcomings to provide you with more information.

This post has been edited by unjustjohn: Apr 8 2008, 09:42 PM

Hi Mara (long time no see, but great to renew)

Re 'pesky bottles' - yes they ae a heck of a problem, millions of them contaminating all over the place. However, I recently researched some stocks and came across "Naturally Iowa" a firm I believe that has led the field in environmentally friendly milk packaging - you are in a better position than I to check them out, but if this is true, what's the chances of this type of packaging being used for bottled water - in fact bottled anything?? I agree with other posts - I never, ever thought I'd be paying for potable water! Actually, unless travelling, I don't! I live with a family on a country property where there is no town water, so we have rainwater tanks, collecting from various roofs, then put through a filter from the pump (roofs collect all kinds of stuff, especially as we are in the middle of a huge winery district where the vines are regularly sprayed with nasties!) and we also have a solar pumped bore,giving about 300 gallons a day, pretty hard water, but drinkable, and helps out with our needs for horses, sheep, goats and commercial boarding kennels.

Anyway, if anyone 'over there' has any pull or contacts to investigate or promote the Naturally Iowa packaging, I'd be interested in what transpires.....


(edit spellingQM)

This post has been edited by Quietmike: Apr 8 2008, 11:44 PM