All the cool green cities are starting to ban bottled water use. Why isn’t Charlottesville?
It’s a pretty simple deal actually. It’s much more expensive to produce bottled water, it pollutes more and has a much larger environmental impact.
In June 2007, San Francisco issues an executive order, slapping the bottled water industry in the face with the eventual goal to phase out all bottled water purchases.
The rise of the bottled water industry is well documented and visible throughout San Francisco and the entire world. The global consumption of bottled water was measured at 41 billion gallons in 2004, up 57 percent from the previous five years. This consumption increase occurred despite the fact that bottled water often costs 240 to 10,000 times more than tap water…Data suggests that the environmental impact of the bottled water industry has been profound. According to the Container Recycling Institute, supplying the plastic water bottles that American consumers purchase in one year requires more than 47 million gallons of oil, the equivalent of one billion pounds of carbon dioxide that is released into the atmosphere.
New York has run a “Get Your Fill” advertising campaign promoting the benefits of tap water.
Many schools and municipalities in Canada have banned bottled water.
In Europe, most bottled water is consumed via glass bottles which are recycled.
I’m sure there are many more examples, but I didn’t look all over the internet. So, Charlottesville and Albemarle… what’s your plan!?
Popularity: 61% [?]
Tagged as: albemarle, bad, bottled water, Charlottesville, Environment
I’m pretty sure its time to ban everything.
Yes, everything.
It’s probably easier for San Francisco and NYC to convince people to drink tap water because it probably has less death algae and more drugs.
I use a BPA-free Camelbak®, acquired at Blue Ridge Mountain Sports for like $12. I fill it with tap water. Because that’s a lot of bottled water is anyway. And because trucking/flying/shipping in water from foreign climes is flatly irresponsible and untenable.
Don’t know about everyone else, but coming from a country other than the U.S., tap water has always worked for me. Therefore, if C’ville and Albermarle decide to ban bottled water and ease on the pollution, then I think improving the quality of tap water will help significantly.
Every now and then, it’s evident that someone has tampered with the water when taps ooze out muddy liquid that’s supposedly consumable. Even I have apprehensions of dipping my hands for a taste of hydrating H20.
/How about filtered water?
Masters of the internet, moderate my 2-link comment.
I’m all for it, but I do agree that the local tap water could use a little help. I like my algae bloom flavored water as much as the next guy, I would just prefer that the taste didn’t vary so much seasonally.
We just got rid of our water cooler at work and purchased a Brita filter that fits on the faucet. It’s cheaper, better for the environment and the water is probably cleaner.
There’s at least one City Councilor in favor of the idea. Councilor David Brown brought the idea up last summer after a trip to San Francisco.
Thanks, Sean.
I buy one bottle of Smart water (with the awesome baby-bottle squirty top- cuz I’d rather suck than keep unscrewing and gulping) and refill it with our spring water all week then replace the next week. One bottle a week ain’t that bad right? Am I an asshole? I really can’t be bothered to go all the way to Whole Foods to buy a metal bottle. If anyone’s up that way, grab me one and I’ll give you cash.
Am I an asshole?
Yeah, but it has nothing to do with your water drinking habits.
I don’t quite understand where all the water snobs are coming from…I was raised on tap water and I not only like the taste, but I turned out just fine. except for the slight dependence on alcohol/drugs. wait a minute…maybe there’s a connection there.
@10 I heard that reusing plastic bottles is a no-no because the chemicals from the plastic will eventually contaminate the contents of the bottle. I have no science on this so it could be an urban legend, it’s just what I have heard
I heard that reusing plastic bottles is a no-no because the chemicals from the plastic will eventually contaminate the contents of the bottle.
I’ve heard that too, but if refilling a bottle with water for a week is bad, what do you think is happening to the bottle of Coke that has been sitting on the shelf for a month?
@12: The Smart bottles are #1 which ain’t that bad, I think. And I throw it away at the end of the week to be safe..
@13: Is that why plastic bottle coke tastes so gross?
4– that muddy water isn’t indicative of someone “tampering” with the water, it’s much more likely just that the reservoir is low– I remember a summer a couple of years ago when we had a drought and the water smelled flatulent for months because it was the dregs, so to speak.
/still drank it.
12– I agree with you, I don’t really -get- the bottled water thing. I’d much rather have my own bottle than buy those flimsy ones over and over. And for a good part of my childhood, I lived on well water, which is delicious! Way better than flat bottled water.
@15: I would guess that’s why it tastes so different. Various middle/high school science fair projects showed me what Coke can do to teeth, meat and steel. I can only imagine it’s doing the same thing to the toxic plastic bottle it’s stored in.
alright thanks to google i found out it was all a myth.
reuse those plastic water bottles like WHOA
Muddy water = result of rain stirring up mud in smaller tributaries and then the muddy water flowing downstream. Look at any large river 12 hours after a large rain storm.
19– or that, too.
Do any of you know of a great filtering system for kitchens? I live in the country, have a well and never do the
bleach trick. I am really weird about well water but would like to get away from the bottles all together.
Thanks
Well I’d have to move if they passed such a law. I have chronic dehydration and am vulnerable to bacteria and have to drink 2 gallons of water a day to stay out of the ER. I can not trust the tap water in this area and need to buy bottled water which I keep in my refrigerator and I always carry spring water with me. Yeah, let’s just become a fascist city and county, we’ve already banned dog barking, now let’s tell people what water they can drink but let’s not ban SUV’s and mini-vans because that would actually help. Seriously ban bottled water when folks can drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes and cigars, drive monster SUVS to the supermarket, own recreational boats and RV’s, buy McMansions for 2 people, etc.????
@fed, this isn’t about banning stores from selling bottled water.. it’s about banning the government use of it because it’s wasteful and sends a bad message to the public.
@22: I’d hope they would provide exemptions for people with medical conditions. I know before my grandmother passed away, she could only drink distilled water because of her immune system. However, if they ever ban alcohol, I’ll raid Charlton Heston’s gun vault, and start an armed rebellion.
/seriously, who needs that many guns?
Yeah, I’m such a snob that I only drink water bottled in glass - upside is the glass is recyclable, downside is the water is shipped from Italy, so not exactly environmentally friendly. Oh well, it tastes good and is BPA free (and considering how much tap water runs through PVC pipes, which is one of the most noxious chemicals ever, plus we live in a place not exactly known for having a water surplus, I’m not staying up nights feeling guilty about my choice).
/selfish asshole
I think it would be a great idea from an environmental and financial standpoint for the city of Charlottesville to stop purchasing bottled water. Thor, I think the post could be a little clearer because at first I thought you meant banning the sale of all plastic bottled water in Charlottesville and Albemarle Co. Only if you click the links will you know that you are referring to a municipal ban on purchasing plastic bottled water with city funds.
Should I edit it? Mr. Scowly????????
I think we should ban editing.
@2 also easier for SF & NYC to do it because they have really good tap water.
@10 they sell the metal bottle at ragged mountain too.
@12 just if you leave the plastic bottle in your hot car all day. then it tastes bad too!
@22 drinking alcohol isn’t bad for the environment. duh.
@27 yes.
they’ll have to pry my water bottle from my cold, dead ………….oh, just not gonna buy the city employee’s water in bottles,why are we buying it that way for them in the first place?…….let them drink from the tap the lovely water they are providing for the rest of us………
This is what I don’t understand about the new follow-me conventional wisdom about bottled water. Has anybody actually drunk Charlottesville tap water in the summer?
Or drunk water from a chlorinated swimming pool?
I’m not saying you can’t filter it, I’m saying why is there a cone of silence about the Cl2? Must I nail it to the Sclosskirche door? Poop in your pilgrim hat?
@ 30 Your ellipses are… impressive! So long. So… well… wow.
/ellipses envy.
Colfer… what is a cone of silence? A gelato you give to a 3 year old to get them to shut the fuck up?
And what in the name of shite is CI2?
/ Please don’t ever get a job in a Nuclear Reactor dude.
You think that’s long?
This site gets wussier &/or douchier
every time I visit it.
Bring back Lilith
If bottled water is banned I will leave Charlottesville for good and never, ever return. What a silly idea. Why not just tax it?
@35: Thanks for making a it a little bit douchier with that comment.
I can’t handle all this douchiness; I’m leaving. I’ll be at South Street if anyone needs drunk echo.
Wuss.
@35 hey maybe if you keep coming back periodically, one day you’ll finally be the coolest person on the internet!
Hey… leave BarBri alone… that is the coolest name EVER…. It’s Scooby Doo trying to say ‘Barbie’.
35: Hey if you think this site is “dushie” then you are welcome to leave. There are a few hundred/thousand people that might disagree but that is the beauty of the “internets”.
PS - We are amazing without lilith - funny how the world still manages to turn.
@40 I’m keeping my fingers crossed
@43… did you accidently press ’submit comment’ before you had finished typing? I was hoping for so much more.
/Reer-ree I was
I apologize for whatever hypocritical element of douchiness/wussiness I
added to this site. Discussing banning bottled water is scintillating hot
gossip that also manages to epitomize manly alpha maleness.
That being said, there’s still a hole in my heart that can only be filled by
she who must not be named.
we’re not gonna protest! we’re not gonna protest! we’re not gonna protest! we’re not gonna protest! we’re not gonna protest!
water-tossers.
water, filter?
back on track guys.
country, need? HELP!
PUR?
46: I’ve only ever used Britta-type filters, which seem to work all right. But I just use tap water.
Maybe one of the h2o experts (paging Doctor Tuffy, paging Doctor Tuffy) can help.
@47 why would you need a filter if you have well water?
I understand if you want to remove some minerals, but the taste of well water is the best.
@47: Is that a haiku?
@45: So we went to being a “hot gossip” site to a virtual “salon” where we now actually exchange intellectual news and ideas. Wow, you’re right, what a downgrade.
First of all, I don’t understand the medical need for bottle water either. Quite a few tests have confirmed that bottled water has higher concentrations of bacteria than well or tap water. (basically, the longer you let anything sit around the greater the chances bacteria will grow in it, and no amount of filtering removes all bacteria). Distilled water might be an exception to that, but I don’t think that’s what is being talked about here.
What I’m really against is water mining in the county. While we were on drought restrictions, there were companies mining water from the county and selling it in bottles. That’s just not right. In fact, a new water mining facility was proposed in a community I lived in at one time in Albemarle, and just the ugly test wells all over the place broke my heart. It was such a beautiful valley before they dotted it with drilling sites.
Futhermore, you can get R.O. water from Whole Foods in reusable jugs. Seems to me this is the way to go if you need your filtered water fix. (R.O. is the next best thing to distilled, and it filters it right there in front of you so you know it hasn’t been sitting around growing stuff).
So, yeah, I think they should ban bottled water. If it causes some folks who just can’t live without it to pack up and leave Charlottesville then I suspect we’re better off for it. Besides, I think city employees can survive without it. (Gosh, how did humanity ever survive thousands of years without it?)
Thanks for the nod, Stanley, I saw the Erlenmeyer Flask projected into the sky and knew there was some science to be dropped.
Bottled water, as Lonnie implied, is really not that different from tap water in some respects. Both are chlorinated to hell, both with lots of minerals, and both have their fair share of bacteria. BUT! A lot of the bottled water in the Aquafina, Dannon ilk are basically just ultra-filtered or distilled tap water to which minerals like sodium, magnesium, carbonates, etc. are added TO MAKE IT TASTE LIKE NATURAL WATER. It kills me. You’re basically paying extra money to have your water filtered, then have the same chemicals dumped back into it that were there originally. That’s a bit simplistic, sure, but it’s the main idea.
I do, howevs, enjoy me a natural spring water. These exactly as they sound and have basically only been filtered and checked for potability. Nice clean and simple a la Poland Springs and Pelligrino. Please don’t ban these.
Water filtration: the best and most economical solution, I reckon. Activated charcoal in the filters will strip out the heavier and more stanky minerals and compounds in the water. I use an under the sink filtration system at Chez Tuff and they last for months and cost about $6 each, and the water flow is not restricted at all.
But, be careful with the activated charcoal. One of its properties is that once all of the sites that ‘catch’ the minerals are full, it will begin to discharge them back into the water. This means you get all of the bad stuff that’s already in the water + the stuff that is being discharged out of the activated charcoal filter.
But this stuff is sooooo regulated that more often than not, your tap water is pretty dang clean and delicious.
Drink, pee, and be merry.
Love,
Dr. Tuffy
It’n not the tap water that bothers me so much, but the pipes and the faucet. Who cleans those? Oh yeah, nobody. Have you ever looked in your spigot? Pretty scary.
That’s the truth, Shen. I did a water line hydrant pumping job for my old company and the shit that came out of those drinking water pipes that go under the streets…gah-dayum!
Oh man I can’t wait to go tubing Saturday and pee in the James. Wonder if any of that water ends up in our pipes?
Nope, it’s waaaay downstream. My goal of peeing in open water every day for a week is 4/7ths complete. The James will be my crowning glory.
Errr.. you know that hot tub party we invited you to Tuffy… it’s errr… it’s canceled due to umm… due to like our alcohol all got stolen. All of it. Stolen. Just like that. Gone. No more hot tub party.
Aaaah, got it. Open water, OPEN! Dilution is the solution to pollution.
No hot tub or pool pee, I promise.
San Francisco tap water = yummy
Charlottesville tap water = puke
Maybe I don’t need to filter the well water. Must be a displaced city gal!
@50 no, I am lazy.
Anyway trucked to Lowes, got a PUR. Give it a whirl, then most likely knock it off and just drink up.
Somewhere in back of my head is an idea of cow shit water!
@60 Funny you say that since certain counties in California have been introducing treated wastewater into the potable groundwater aquifers since the 1970’s.
http://www.gwrsystem.com/about/pdf/0312gwrs_whitepaper.pdf
More like San Francisco tap water = pee
It is still illegal to recharge groundwater aquifers using treated wastewater in VA however reclaimed water will soon be in use around the state for irrigation and other non-potable uses.
/agrees that summer time C-Ville tap is not the best vintage but still safe and much cheaper than importing toilet water from San Fran.
Please flush
Also - http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/11/BAH9VHE23.DTL
San Francisco water is pretty delicious (just moved back today from a couple of years in SF).
San Fran has no drugs in their water supply? Pretty sure they should re-test
SF Gate = Water Gate?
Had the ah crap fact check feeling and have been served.
/SF Bottled water on shelves in a store near you?
We are quickly moving into the realm of an authoritarian socialist state. I’m getting sick of this environmentalism fad. Green is for money, you people. It’s the biggest scam ever unleashed on a vastly uneducated American public.
It’s the biggest scam ever unleashed on a vastly uneducated American public
Bigger than the military industrial complex and its revolving door between the private and public sectors? Oh, I think not.
/Alas, Eisenhower, they didn’t listen to you. Was worth a shot though.
Okay, you got me there. But it’s the biggest scam unleashed in the last five years, at least.
Cap and trade is worth 1.6 trillion tax dollars, so you could make a good case it’s the top 3 biggest scams ever.
I choose to believe that Ethan spent the 6 hours between his posts researching his argument.
I choose to believe that Ethan spent the time doing unspeakable things with the invisible hand of the free market.
@71 Stan….hahaha… do you think ‘the hand’ feels used and dirty?
@18, thanks odie! I almost had a heart attack sitting here drinking out of my month old diet coke bottle that I keep refilling with water