Bottled Water...

Ken · Post by **Ken** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 8:39 am

What are your thoughts on it?
Do you buy it?
Do you feel that it is safer than municipal water?
If you buy, what type? ie, natural spring, drinking (aka filtered), mineral, recycled?

Let’s delve deep into the depths of water, shall we...

Shove me in the shallow water before I get too deep...

Debbie · Post by **Debbie** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 8:46 am

I don't like plastic. I know people who stored their plastic bottles of water in their hot garages in the summertime and the water tasted like garbage. Got only knows what transferred in the liquid with the heat.

I tend to boil my water, let it cool down and filter it myself. I keep a large glass bottle in my refrigerator.

I don't even microwave in plastic. I use pyrex glass.

Just following my gut.

Post by **YeOldeStonecat** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 8:55 am

We go through a lot of Fruit2O
Keep bottles in the vehicles since we're both out on the road a lot.
Our town is heavy on recycle when it comes to putting the garbage out each week, so I don't feel as bad about the plastic bottles..they always end up in the recycle bin.
The water where I live now is city water..tastes like a swimming pool. Where I lived before I had my own well and filtration system, that water tasted good. But..with all the pollutants going into the ground, fertilizer, runoff from the road...who knows how much you can trust your own well water now.

brembo · Post by **brembo** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 9:12 am

I try to not buy bottled water much, it's spendy and I've heard enough stories of wacked quality control to make me wary. I basically hike for a living (surveyor) and I need to hydrate, so I'm a big believer in CamelBak hydration systems, which I fill from my tap (well). Now if I'm thirsty as hell and someone offers ne a nice cool bottle of water, yeah I'll drink it.

Dan · Post by **Dan** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 9:52 am

Ken wrote:What are your thoughts on it?
Do you buy it?
Do you feel that it is safer than municipal water?
If you buy, what type? ie, natural spring, drinking (aka filtered), mineral, recycled?

Let’s delve deep into the depths of water, shall we...

Shove me in the shallow water before I get too deep...

we buy a lot of it,I drink 3 or 4 bottles a day.and more in the summer,

I mostly buy them because taste better than tap water to me and they are easy to put in my little ice chest for taking to work everyday,

we just buy the basic 24 pack "filtered" grocery store brand ,or whatever is on sale that week.

I also save them and get the recycle money back,.05 $ here

MadDoctor · Post by **MadDoctor** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 10:17 am

I drink out of mud puddles.

blebs · Post by **blebs** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 10:59 am

I have to buy water because my well brings up sulfer in the tap. We just keep gallon jugs, wash them out and then go to machines that have filtered water and buy it for 25 cents a gallon. There is a spring house 12 miles away where we could get it free, but that's $2.50 in gas down and back.

JawZ · Post by **JawZ** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 12:57 pm

brembo wrote:I try to not buy bottled water much, it's spendy and I've heard enough stories of wacked quality control to make me wary. I basically hike for a living (surveyor) and I need to hydrate, so I'm a big believer in CamelBak hydration systems, which I fill from my tap (well). Now if I'm thirsty as hell and someone offers ne a nice cool bottle of water, yeah I'll drink it.

same same here.

Easto · Post by **Easto** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 1:08 pm

The tap water in my city if pretty good. When we upgraded the house with new copper piping the taste got even better. I'll stick with tap water. Bottled water is like having to pay for TV to me, which I'm not going to do.

RoundEye · Post by **RoundEye** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 1:30 pm

I probably should drink bottled water but I don’t, just water right out the kitchen faucet for me. Our city water taste great but is sourced from the Mississippi river. With that river draining practically everything from the Rocky mountains to the Appalachian mountains I’m sure it picks up some pollutants along the way.

I hear that most bottled water is just filtered city water anyway. Our city water is filtered, so what’s the difference? If you want to get real spring water around here you can get it from Kentwood Springs. They source their water from the Kentwood and Abita natural springs.

Sava700 · Post by **Sava700** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 1:35 pm

Bottled water comes from the same sources your town water comes from.... read the facts:

Where does Bottled water come from?

Bottled water comes from a variety of sources, including many of the same sources from which tap water originates. Sometimes the water you can buy in a bottle is simply tap water from a municipal water system that has been enhanced in some way. Other sources of bottled water include springs, wells, and surface waters.

Is bottled water really safer than tap water?

Overall, there is no reason to believe that bottled water is any safer than tap water from a regulated public water supply or from a proper, tested private well. These drinking water sources are normally safe and high quality.

How safe is tap water?

The public water supply is regulated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). All municipal water systems serving 25 or more people are tested regularly for up to 118 chemicals and bacteria specified by the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). Individual states may require additional testing. Everyone who gets their tap water from a public system is therefore assured of regular testing and certain standards. And, when testing indicates a problem, corrective actions are instituted. These actions include notifying residents about the problem and informing them of any special precautions that may be necessary.

http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/eh/w ... water.html

jeremyboycool · Post by **jeremyboycool** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 1:48 pm

The main reason I prefer bottled water is to avoid chlorine. Eventually, I'll get a filter for my sink but until then I don't mind spending 50 cents per, for bottled water. At any rate, it's much better then a soda pop ( I use to drink lots of soda pop but I use bottled water to help curve this).

Post by **YeOldeStonecat** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 1:55 pm

Sava700 wrote:Bottled water comes from the same sources your town water comes from.... read the facts:

Negative. That's not true of "all" bottled water. A more accurate statement would probably be along the lines of "Most bottled water comes from the same sources as town/municipal..."

But there are some legit "springwater" sources that sell bottled water from a local natural spring.

Got one of them places a few streets down from me that pull it from a spring right on their land.

A semi-interesting site
http://www.myspringwater.com/Default.aspx

Sava700 · Post by **Sava700** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 1:57 pm

YeOldeStonecat wrote:Negative. That's not true of "all" bottled water. A more accurate statement would probably be along the lines of "Most bottled water comes from the same sources as town/municipal..."

But there are some legit "springwater" sources that sell bottled water from a local natural spring.

Got one of them places a few streets down from me that pull it from a spring right on their land.

A semi-interesting site
http://www.myspringwater.com/Default.aspx

Bottle water comes from the same sources... spring water, well water, its all feed from the same ground you and I both walk on. City water around here comes from 4 different wells, many localities have lakes they feed from which is surface water and even surface water as I put in the quote is a source for bottled water.

Sava700 · Post by **Sava700** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 2:01 pm

jeremyboycool wrote:The main reason I prefer bottled water is to avoid chlorine. Eventually, I'll get a filter for my sink but until then I don't mind spending 50 cents per, for bottled water. At any rate, it's much better then a soda pop ( I use to drink lots of soda pop but I use bottled water to help curve this).

aww so instead of a little bit of Chlorine you would rather use Ozone?

hmm...

Bottlers do not use chlorine as a final disinfecting agent in bottled water. Bottlers use ozone (O3), a form of oxygen, or ultraviolet light. Unlike chlorine, which is commonly used in public water supplies, these methods disinfect water without leaving any after taste or smell.

There is a great deal of evidence to show that high concentrations of ozone, created by high concentrations of pollution and daylight UV rays at the Earth's surface, can harm lung function and irritate the respiratory system.

Long-term exposure to ozone has been shown to increase risk of death from respiratory illness. A study of 450,000 people living in United States cities showed a significant correlation between ozone levels and respiratory illness over the 18-year follow-up period. The study revealed that people living in cities with high ozone levels such as Houston or Los Angeles had an over 30% increased risk of dying from lung disease.[

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozone

Post by **YeOldeStonecat** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 2:02 pm

Sava700 wrote:Bottle water comes from the same sources... spring water, well water, its all feed from the same ground you and I both walk on. City water around here comes from 4 different wells, many localities have lakes they feed from which is surface water and even surface water as I put in the quote is a source for bottled water.

A lot of people classify town/city/municipal water as a totally different category. While yes technically it's all starting with (theoretically) H2O...there's a substantial difference in good spring water or even good well water, and water piped into your house through 150 miles of rusty underground pipes that come from a big chemical plant that processes lake/reservoir water (with the accumulation of seagull crap/swan crap/bird/fish crap) into the smell and flavor of a YMCA public swimming pool.

Sava700 · Post by **Sava700** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 2:04 pm

YeOldeStonecat wrote:A lot of people classify town/city/municipal water as a totally different category. While yes technically it's all starting with (theoretically) H2O...there's a substantial difference in good spring water or even good well water, and water piped into your house through 150 miles of rusty underground pipes that come from a big chemical plant that processes lake/reservoir water (with the accumulation of seagull crap/swan crap/bird/fish crap) into the smell and flavor of a YMCA public swimming pool.

no seagull crap here

Teirney · Post by **Teirney** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 2:48 pm

MadDoctor wrote:I drink out of mud puddles.

We have filters on our tap water at home and at the trailer...but sometimes we buy bottled water...which Chris gets with his lunch.

OSULLY · Post by **OSULLY** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 3:26 pm

It's all recycled piss anyway. Even star throw aways

jdmcrx · Post by **jdmcrx** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 3:29 pm

My .02. Working for a company that is #1 in the distribution of bottled water, and of water consumption in the United states I have learn a vast amount about the differences between tap water and other varieties.

For example, Dasani which is what most of the posts referring to as "the same as tap water" is true. Dasani is pump right from the city water supply as is ALL of the H2O that goes into making all of our carbonated soft drinks. The only difference is that we have a 20 million dollar machine that takes out all off the bad stuff, ie; fluorine, chlorine, and bacteria, by reverse osmosis. When then add a couple different minerals into the water for an enhanced purer taste.

Evian is in fact from France and is spring water. Were they get the water from in France has strict requirements on how many contaminates by parts per million can be in the water. This is probably the purest and best tasting water of all of the spring waters.

Danon, Aquarious, Spring, Publix, and certain other spring waters are all from our facility in High Springs Florida. This is not to far from were Zephyr Hills bottles there water.

Smart water is distilled water that is electrolyte infused water. This is probably the overall best water for you. It has almost no taste and goes through your mouth like air, but because of the electrolytes in it, it quenches your thirst faster then normal waters.

On to the reasons that bottled waters have expiration dates on them, or taste funny after being left in the sun for an extended amount of time, or have been stored for an extended amount of time. Most of the older style bottles that we use are what are called polyethylene terephthalate or PET. These bottles brake down at a slower pace then the newer "green" bottles that we use now. The bottles that we are using now are actually make from plants, and use little to no petroleum products. As the bottle brakes down over the years it is still not dangerous, but does tasted a little funky.
Just my insight. And by the way, I drink lots of the Smart Water.
Matt

RoundEye · Post by **RoundEye** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 3:43 pm

Sava700 wrote:...Bottled water comes from the same sources your town water comes from....

Maybe in most cases, but that Kentwood and Abita water comes from genuine springs. People have been crossing the Pontchartrain Lake by steamboat to get to the town of Abita Springs for over 100 years just to get to the water. That was before trains or even the Causeway Bridge was built. When I worked for Confederate Motorcycles they were located in Abita Springs. That was a long commute crossing that bridge every day.

Ken · Post by **Ken** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 5:27 pm

The link to ozone is a bit misleading as it is referring to ozone and UV rays coming directly from the sun and atmosphere in personal physical “contact" and/or "breathing" it, not in relevance to “treating” water... Treating water is quite different than the meaning the link intends for...

Ozone and UV in “water treatment” applications kill basically all “microbiological” (…living, such as virus, bacteria, cysts, etc.) organisms by sterilization/deformation...

Filtration mainly removes things not living, such as heavy metals, chemicals and such... (Although there are different filter mediums such as carbon, kdf, ceramic, sand, etc., each capable of limited targets.)

Yet, still different would be “purified” water which can be attained by Reverse Osmosis which removes everything down to ~0.02 microns, allowing only H2O to pass through.... (Yes, RO is by filtration) “Distilling” would be another method. IIRC, anything less than 1.0 micron is technically, as well as officially, considered microbiologically "safe", and less than 0.5 is microbiologically “sterile”. (It has been quite some time since I did research on this; however, I believe that I am recalling the correct numbers…)
The problem with RO and distilling is that everything, good and bad, are removed, making the water less beneficial to life such as humans, thus the need to supplement it.

As SCat said, municipal water typically has been treated by “more than” 1 method, i.e. filtration and/or UV and/or chemicals, etc. Chlorine is very effective at killing some living organisms, however, it's by-products and effects have to be treated afterwards, thus the part of quote stating "Bottlers do not use chlorine as a final disinfecting agent in bottled water." The keyword being "final"... You must remove much of the chlorine as well as the by-products AFTER disinfecting with chlorine… The chlorine itself is gone after ~24 hour exposure to air. (Think about a swimming pool, same type of deal...) (Did you know that chlorine bleach loses its effectiveness quite quickly and has a very short shelf life? Buy your laundry bleach in smaller quantities to have the most potency...)

The pipes are the main contaminants in municipal water, and typically the pipes inside your house most often, especially in older houses with galvanized or metal pipes. The contaminants, namely heavy metals tend to congregate at the ends of the pipes, such as spigots, faucets, etc., so if you have an older house, you should always let the water run a few “seconds” before filling your “drinking glass”…

And again, as SCat said, the most danger comes from "natural" water sources like unchecked wells, natural springs and such. Actually, samples of water from these types of sources should be checked routinely to have valid conclusions. The "natural" water sources would typically be the most contaminated with ...fecal matter… Animals typically defecate and urine when they are eating or drinking (think of a baby...) It dilutes, however, doesn't "disappear"...

I dated a girl some years ago that worked for a lab that tested bottled water, and I thing that I got from her (OK, another thing

) was be very careful drinking “natural”, spring” and the like, bottled water. They haven’t necessarily been filtered as they are "natural". She said that you wouldn’t believe the amount of fecal contamination in them…

20 years ago, I laughed when I first heard of selling bottled water. Marketing is the reason, after all, if you check prices in stores, bottled water is usually more expensive than soft drinks, which are mainly…water… Go figure…

Anyway, I was curious as to how you guys felt about it. I am engineering a system for my RV that will allow me to literally throw a hose into a cess pool and after treating have pure water. OK, pure water is an oxymoron as water is a compound and therefore can not be pure, but I am sure you follow what I mean.

MadDoc, how did you get out… *biotch smack*

YARDofSTUF · Post by **YARDofSTUF** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 5:57 pm

Debbie wrote:I don't like plastic. I know people who stored their plastic bottles of water in their hot garages in the summertime and the water tasted like garbage. Got only knows what transferred in the liquid with the heat.

I think part of that is without preservatives, keeping water sealed tight for a long time is bad, if I remember correctly.

BTW, Nice AV change.

mountainman · Post by **mountainman** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 6:03 pm

I use a 750ml CamelBak bottle filled via filtered fridge water thing.

Last time we bought bottled water, I really noticed how many bottles are wasted. We recycled them, but still... I chug one of those waters in one gulp.

RoundEye · Post by **RoundEye** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 6:07 pm

On the History Channel they repeated a Modern Marvels show about water.

They went over a lot of the stuff Ken and jdmcrx are talking about. Because water quality was so bad, bottled water was big business in the early 1900’s. Bottling water is not a new idea.

Dan · Post by **Dan** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 6:11 pm

Sava700 wrote:Bottled water comes from the same sources your town water comes from.... read the facts:

http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/eh/w ... water.html

right,that's common knowledge,it's just filtered as Ken mentioned,it's no better for us(healthy wise),IMO it tastes better though,and that's good enough reason for me.

Dan · Post by **Dan** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 6:13 pm

YeOldeStonecat wrote:Negative. That's not true of "all" bottled water. A more accurate statement would probably be along the lines of "Most bottled water comes from the same sources as town/municipal..."

But there are some legit "springwater" sources that sell bottled water from a local natural spring.

Got one of them places a few streets down from me that pull it from a spring right on their land.

A semi-interesting site
http://www.myspringwater.com/Default.aspx

fish have sex and go potty in it also

mountainman · Post by **mountainman** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 7:14 pm

Dan wrote:fish have sex and go potty in it also

Additional flavor and nutrients!

MadDoctor · Post by **MadDoctor** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 7:57 pm

Ken wrote:MadDoc, how did you get out… *biotch smack*

crap.......

CableDude · Post by **CableDude** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 10:24 pm

Poland spring baby.

Humboldt · Post by **Humboldt** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 10:46 pm

CableDude wrote:Poland spring baby.

Is that a brand name or a specific type of fecal contaminant?

CableDude · Post by **CableDude** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 10:52 pm

Humboldt wrote:Is that a brand name or a specific type of fecal contaminant?

http://www.polandspring.com/

jeremyboycool · Post by **jeremyboycool** » Wed Oct 28, 2009 1:22 am

Sava700 wrote:aww so instead of a little bit of Chlorine you would rather use Ozone?

hmm...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozone

"There is a great deal of evidence to show that high concentrations of ozone,"

They used chlorine gas in World War 1 as a chemical weapon and at a high enough concentration chlorine does kill.

But I really don't want to peddle to which is the lesser of two evils. One is tasteless, the other is not and that is what matters most to me.