Bottled Water: The Height of Stupidity

Buying bottled water is indeed stupid, and a gross waste of money, which most people of today have a very limited supply of. When bottled water is stored in an area that is subject to high temperature, such as the truck of a car during the summertime months, the plastic bottles leach some of the chemicals used in manufacturing them into the drinking water. Many of these chemicals are indeed carcinogens. Why spend $1.00-$2.00 for a bottle of what could very well be tap water or worse, when you can spend $25.00 and purchase a water fiter for your own tap and get the same thing? It just doesn't make sense!

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

"Bottles of water are not fluoridated which has been created tooth decay problems among youngsters and adults who avoid tap water."

Ah, yet another reason why I despise HuffPost. Not only is this sentence grammatically flawed, it is a major load of bullshit. I honestly would be shocked to see any research that might support such an outrageous claim. In fact, just about everything I've read says there's no correlation between the rate of tooth decay in a given area and whether or not the water supply is fluoridated.

Fluorides are highly poisonous compounds which when consumed produce adverse effects on the brain, endocrine and immune systems.

Drink Distilled.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

A lot of municipalities are switching from chlorine to chloramines. Apparently the common pitcher filters will not do a good enough job of reducing the chloramines. Any advice on inexpensive filters for reducing chloramines?
Sincerely,
Aouie

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

I don't understand why bottled water has been singled out in recent years.

Sure, it's wasteful, and anybody who buys it in place of tap water is being foolish. But how is bottled water different from any bottled or canned soft drink, or from anything that Coors, Miller, and Busch sell by the tons? It's all made from water, it's all at least as bad for your health as any water could possibly be, and it all creates waste and pollution. What am I missing?

I see a lot of unnecessarily overweight people in this country, and I'm pretty sure that their problem isn't that they've been drinking too much bottled water.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Just one more example of stupid yuppieism that has taken over. Their precious and over indulged lives have stomped over any sort of reason. They hijacked the good stuff from hippies without giving any credit (the clothes, the "greening" effect and so on)...and worse, brought us overhyped salaries (for them), overpriced lattes and water bottles and robotic, boring, germ-free and uninteresting McMansions. Yearning for back in the day when neighborhoods were interesting almalgams of different houses, people didn't have bottled water nor rampant consumerism...and life was happy, not over-hyped, over managed, and over-packaged.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

I quit bottled water a few years ago. Then I got one of those Brita filter deals, and got tired of fussing with the filters. Now I just use the old Brita container without the filter to keep tap water cold.

At some point I figured: I had already been drinking tap water for the first 20 years of my life, so any damage had already been done. And like the article suggests, does any smart consumer honestly think that zillions of gallons of bottled water come from a pure mountain stream in some pristine corner of the Alps?

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

What the author and most of the commenters have forgotten is that much bottled water is sold to travelers at convenience stores when they stop for gas or a snack. Yes, I know one could take a small container along to refill at rest stops, etc., but that just isn't as convenient. And, as one commentor has said, water isn't fattening! Beer and whiskey are! And, yes, you may not know it, but those also come in plastic bottles. The shame of all this is that many communities still don't have recycling.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

The first bottled water sold in the UK was Evian. Is it any coincidence that Evian spells Naive backwards? I reckon they're having a joke on us!

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

I drink bottled sparkling water because I enjoy the carbonation but the main reason I drink only bottled water all the time is TO AVOID FLUORIDE, which is poisonous, carcinogenic and bone-weakening, leading to hip fractures. If the government would stop forcing us to drink fluoride, I would seriously consider going back to the tap. (Yes, distilling can get this chemical out. An even better choice for the motivated).

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

During the height of the Reagan era in the 1980s, I noticed that many people had taken up walking around sucking on "sip cups"--plastic cups with lids and permanent straws. At the same time, people began wearing sweat clothes and bedroom slippers in public. They looked like large babies in their jammies desperately sucking on their bottles.

Fast forward to the present: the baby bottles that turned into sip cups have turned into water bottles and cell phones.

Somehow during the Reagan years a green light went on giving people permission to regress to their most infantile, dependent, and thoughtless.

Stupidity, indeed.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

So my wife and I fill used Avian bottles with tap water, which tastes just as good and is a helluva lot cheaper.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Ha! I have been saying this for years....and do not buy bottled water. What a waste and sham.
Where I live, tap water is retrieved from an aquifer and artesian sources. Additionally, the local water company sends a chemical compostition report to all homes annually. I am thrilled to see this story because I have been looked at as "nuts" for my opinion that buying bottled water is totally unnecessary. It is incredibly disturbing and sad to think of the waste of resources--plastic manufacturing/bottling, packaging other than the bottles, transportation and distributing, displaying, INK and paper for advertising snake oil...oops, water. Enough said.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Unfortunately, it is a generalization that municipal tap water is always safe, tasty and drinkable. Over the years I've lived in many communities around S. California where the tap was criminal, soapy, and unfit for drinking. I understand the tap water in Mesa, Arizona has a high content of arsenic.

I currently live in Anaheim, and when I moved here in 1978 the water was undrinkable, but over the years improved in qaulity until now I would put it against the high Sierra water available in the western part of Los Angeles, excellent water. Of course, turns out the water in Anaheim is ground water that is treated by reverse osmosis as well as filtration.

Most people really can't tell the difference between good and bad water and bottled water is still a very big seller in Anaheim. When I moved here I used to buy filtered water, but it is no longer necessary as the were here is now excellent.

Regarding fluorides, back in the 50s, nutnicks used to claim it was a Communist plot. Now it is an evil right wing plot. Come on, give me a break. Yeah, floride is toxic in high enough concentrations, but so are many other compounds in water and it is no worse than those other substances. I'm a chemist and know of no reputable chemist who says florides are poisonous.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Good for on the go and survival that's it.

However I am one who is suspicious of fluoride in the tap water. I will brush my teeth and that's it for healthier teeth.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Yes, I agree bottled water is stupid! Have felt this way for years, which is why as a restaurant owner I've recruited a used 32 oz. Dijon Mustard plastic jar as my water bottle. Especially good for bringing Margaritas to a party when the invite is BYOB. What's just as stupid is the writer not checking her facts on Fluoride. This blunder makes me question the validity of the balance of the article. It would have been so easy to research this information. But instead the writer lazily poured gas on the old belief as a cheap aside in her story. Why not perpetuate the lie that lemmings throw themselves off cliffs, now that would have really made the story punchy! For the record: Fluoride is an industrial waste by-product that has been cleverly marketed as "good for you" medicine. Read "The Fluoride Deception" that came out years ago. It lowers your IQ, disrupts your thyroid, causes fluoridosis of the teeth & bones, etc., etc. Ultimately it has "jack bananas" to do with keeping cavities out of young children's teeth. Great strides in dental care & education has done that. Plus it is NEVER meant to be ingested, i.e. in drinking water. This would be why FDA has been foot dragging about putting the "skull & cross bones" on toothpaste tubes to stop small children from swallowing their toothpaste. Let's hope the Huffpost raises the research standards. You can read the Enquirer if you want malarkey.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

the tap water was so pure from our urban municipal system that beer breweries set up shop by the blockfull because they could use tap water without filtration... well, not anymore... but back then great!

hubby retired from water treatment/waste water, in another area of the country, a few years ago... water is tested every hour by on site lab for purity and contaminants... he would go down to the outlet pipe on his own time to check the fish and plants... if everyone there was happy, he was happy... only problems were when a guy nicknamed 'whitewater bill' was working and tap water was kinda milky... hubby would call down to water dept from the house and tell him to knock it off with the chemical treatment stuff and within an hour, water was back to good stuff...

water dept had several pushy pop companies try to get in on bottling through the local water system and all hell broke loose!!! got them kicked out and carefully metered to the point that the water dept knew if it was the usual pop production or if they were sneaking off with tap water as bottled water... big fines to them that defied the water dept to the point of being threatened to have taps turned off till they learned to behave... they behaved...

decent water is not a commodity to be exploited for profit, but a human need

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

I'm extremely glad there is bottled water available for purchase. It's unfortunate that there are so few places to dispose of the plastic bottles easily, but it's the same for any other beverage container...... I find I have a greater intake of good water ( flouride free, thank god ) I love the convenience of a cold bottle of good water when my schedule has suddenly become longer and I have many hours on the road before returning to my residence.

It IS a crime, tho, that the bottleing of this precious liquid is done by unscrupulous companies who continue their obscene corporate practises in the way they are allowed to do. That is the problem, not the bottle of water itself.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Well, I like tap water just fine, but I buy bottled water and keep it in my car for when I am driving on long trips. Find a place to fill your water jug on the road.....not always available. From a dirty sink in a gas station? Not always do-able. How about all the sodas and fake juice in plastic that are not only using petroleum, but filling consumers up with high fructose corn syrup, or the diet drinks with the weird chemicals, etc. It is a big problem, very complicated.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

This same subject seems to appear at least weekly on various web news sites - writers standing on their morally lofty pedestals calling bottled water drinkers stupid or worse. Maybe your tap water is lovely. The stuff that comes out of my tap in West Los Angeles is disgusting. It even smells bad coming out of the shower head. I've tried water filters - they make no significant difference. I don't drink bottled water to be fashionable. I didn't drink it before moving to LA.

The LA Department of Water and Power insists that tap water is cleaner than bottled water. Municipal buildings probably have $50,000 filtration systems built in. Their tap water doesn't make them gag, therefore everyone should drink tap.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

I disagree with the author of this article.

Tap water contains chlorine and, in many cases, fluoride -both DISASTERS for the health of the body. Don't take my word for it. Do your own research.

In addition, as was recently discovered, there are all sorts of medications in tap water, drugs which have been flushed down into the water table. In the city where I live it was discovered that some 25 different drugs are in the water.

So, if we follow the "logic" of the author of this article, we should just go ahead and drink this cesspool and to hell with the consequences.

I used to drink the best-quality bottled water in the US - but it simply became too expensive. And I felt guilty drinking bottled water.

So, I researched and found a British water filter company that makes a variety of filters, including one that takes out the garbage and takes out the fluoride. I like the taste of this water, too. The filters are available in the US:

http://doultonusa.com/

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Without bottled water people who mine plastic, make water and bottle it, the drivers who deliver it and the people that sell it would be out of work. And this doesn't even take into consideration all the trash collectors that pick-up the empty bottles, recycling companies and the money that's made from whatever sickness one might get from drinking leached carcinogens and poisons coming from those plastic bottles. Doctors, nurses and hospitals need to make a living too, you know.

I swear, you people should think first before you put all these people out of work. Don't we have enough unemployment as it is?

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

I'm in complete agreement with the stupidity of buying bottled water but I have a couple questions about it.

Bottled water that isn't from tap, albeit it appears hard to determine at this point, does it contain fluoride and/or chlorine?

How about heavy metal deposits?

My family lives in an old house, 1920's, and I have serious doubts about the quality of the pipe system that our wonderful slumlords are responsible for upgrading. It's the only reason that I pay to have someone refill our water containers each week because there's definitely a taste/quality difference between what's being brought out and what comes from the tap.

The other thing I'd like to know is, why aren't we also hell-bent on beating down the soda bottling companies? There's got to be just as many, if not more, of the same size plastic bottles being tossed out everyday just for people to drink something that isn't even a required consumable for survival.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

almost all beverages come in plastic... even unfiltered organic apple juice...yanno?

it's really sad how our planet has become a toxic waste dump in just 100 years.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

This article incorrectly states, Bottles of water are not fluoridated which has been created tooth decay problems among youngsters and adults who avoid tap water.

Not only are some bottled waters high in fluoride, Gerber's Baby Water, Vichy and Trinity come to mind, there is no evidence whatsoever that swallowed fluoride has any beneficial effects on teeth or that drinking bottled water has led to more tooth decay.

In 2006 Dr. Kathleen Thiessen, a specialist in risk assessment, concluded her service on the National Academy of Science's expert panel reviewing fluoride in drinking water. In 2008 she was invited to explain the NRC's findings to the Metropolitan Water District in LA and given just 5 minutes to explain 3 and a half years of exacting detailed scientific work. She did a marvelous job of explaining exactly why ingested fluoride could and would harm vulnerable subsets of the population.

I have posted her clear and cogent comments on YouTube Poisoned Babies. That makes fluoridation not only stupid but a violation of the safe drinking water act.

Water should be safe for all to drink.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

The article states, He said bylaws require special water filtration systems (in restaurants) be installed so that their "tap water" is safer than any.

While carbon filtration is an excellent idea it does nothing to remove fluoride and very few of the numerous contaminants added to the drinking water by fluoridation with silicofluorides. Silicofluorides are raw untreated hazardous waste byproducts from phosphate fertilizer production and contain substantial amounts of arsenic, lead and other heavy metals.

Even if you love the idea of mass medication with fluoride no one in their right mind would agree to dumping toxic waste in our drinking water yet hydrofluosilicic acid or sodium silicofluoride is used in 91% of the water fluoridation schemes in the US.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Somebody is dumb enough to actually buy this stuff....?
Outside of residing in a current disaster area...?
Evian indeed....

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

I hear the regular water isn't all that great and all that despite any renovation which most landlords DO NOT want to even consider all too often since their only goal is to fatten up their already bloated bottom line. Don't get me wrong. I know that bottled water is a scam but as some have pointed out, we've been stuck with it for ages in form of sodas and alcohol. I might even add milk and juice since they too are made of mainly water.

However, I do agree with author that recycling and reusability must be made a top priority. After all, if all these plastics that are made of petroleum are supposed to last longer, then it's high time we the people wake up and make our companies reward us for giving them back their bottles they gave us, have them clean them out, and refill them. That's great for the people and the environment and in the end everybody wins and we can quit choking ourselves to death with more wars for oil for a change.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Fluoride is more toxic than lead - yet government permits higher levels of fluoride in drinking water than what is allowed for lead...go figure!!!!

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

When I lived in Dallas TX a few years ago I was semi dehydrated all the time because I couldn't stand the taste of the tap water. When on a long driving trip someone offered me a bottle of water I actually didn't know what it was because it tasted so good. During the next few years I bought gallons of bottled water and was grateful for the opportunity. Now that I'm back in more familiar territory I don't buy bottled water any more. Even so I still don't drink water straight out of the tap. I put it in a pitcher and give it some time for the chlorine smell to evaporate.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

As usual when this subject come up in an article in the "progressive" media the writer regurgitates what has already been said by largely uninformed writers with their own limited ignorant agendas. The fact is some city tap water is safe and some bottled water comes from such sources. The fact is much well water and water from small municipal systems are unsafe because they are contaminated with agricultural and industrial runoff or with naturally occurring toxic materials. Ask the citizens of Alamosa, Colorado if they prefer city tap water bottled somewhere else or their own salmonella contaminated tap water. Out here on the plains farm and ranch wells are commonly contaminated with nitrates, selenium, salt and uranium. Any of you folks leaving comments want me to bottle some up for you to drink for free. After all it came out of my tap so it must be good.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

The reason I drink bottled water (besides the fact my ex got the water purifier) is that parasites are often found in tap water. It's not just Cryptosporidium, which caused major illness years back, but other more, subtle organisms as well that many of us don't even know are messing up our bodies and aren't tested for at the tap.

With widespread ignorance of the prevalence of such infection (even among MDs) in the US, and my having learned about sewage being dumped into reservoirs for NYC water when I worked for a water-based environmental group, I'll take my chances on bottled water in the hope that parasites may have been processed/sterilized out. Chlorine in tap water doesn't kill many parasites.

Add to the mix the fact that widespread use of antibiotics can destroy our protections against them, and it makes sense to try to avoid possible sources of parasites.

Having been infected and reinfected a number of times, few people have picked the brains of a parasitologist as I have, so I understand the common ignorance about these critters.

With muni water remaining a wild card in this regard, real standards for bottled water need to be developed. But please don't tell me there's any guarantee that tap is as good or better. Many who say this don't even know what they should be concerned about.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Just a heads up. As someone who grew up in Maine, we did indeed have a deposit on bottles and cans. However, as someone who has lived in Rhode Island for the last ten years, we do not have one here. It would be nice if every state had a deposit law, but that is not the case. I have been drinking tap water for years now.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

People buy bottled water because it is a cold alternative to sugary soft drinks. And we can afford to do it.

A rip off? Hardly. No one forces me to buy it.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

And I'm not talking about water either.

the worst water in America is better than the best water in most parts of the world.

All you whiners should be forced to start dipping your cups in the gutter for awhile ten you might appreciate the water out of our taps.

America has got the best plumbing in the world. And even though it has some aging pipes in a lot of old buildings, it's still far above the quality of 90% of the planets urban and rural water well sources.

The real problem with the bottled water is the bottles. If it was bottled in glass there would be no probems out side of the paranoia of floride.

And as for Chlorine. I accidently swallowed a mouthful once and I'm still here and didn't suffer abit beyond fearing the worst. I must say I was surprised when the Poison Control Hot line said , "Don't worry, just drink plenty of water!" (No kidding).

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Where I live the water is basically runoff water that flows into the reservoirs, which picks up plenty of minerals, including salt, and tastes...well, terrible. You can mask the taste with tea or coffee, but drinking the local tap water "straight" is not a popular choice.

I like to buy "reverse osmosis" (filtered) water by the gallon (you can fill them at several different locations in town) and then filter that through a Brita (or other brand) pitcher. It makes the water taste pretty good.

I also buy bottled water on occasion, mainly at convenience stores when it's hot and I'm not heading home to my pitcher of ice water sitting in the fridge. There are better ways to spend money, I'm sure, but there are worse ways too.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Ok, so we all know that most plastic is made of petroleum, you know the non-renewable resource. Yet, since plastics made of petroleum are supposed to last longer, why aren't we the people waking up to that fact and joining forces to make sure all those bottle-water companies are taking back our bottles, doing simple cleaning, and getting them ready for refilling? The company and the customers would save loads of money and the environment would be saved from burning excess crude oil so everybody wins. Alternatively, if we all don't want to reuse, why not turn to getting them companies to make biodegradable bottles? It doesn't have to be so hard. Give one or both options a try.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

from the tap or the store water is water is water. Or so they'd have us think. The environmental costs of bottled water,the leaching of chemicals from the bottles and the water itself are becoming suspect. After Love Canal all public water is too. Cryptosporidium can no longer be killed by chlorine. Has your water company called you to boil your water before drinking it? probably not. They stand to lose a lot of money because utilities operste as a public trust and telling us they're giving us unsafe water might erode some of that trust.
What's most important about this situation is the attention being given to water. It is fundemental to our very lives and 46% of it can no longer be made safe to drink,swim,fish or boat in. This provides us with the oportunity for creation of empolyment in the emerging field of Hydro-reclaimation. We need to stop destroying our marshlands,they are natural water purifyers. Creating pure fresh water systems is certainly more important that chasing down the Bush family enemy. What good is being the world's policeman if you have'nt got any water worth drinking?
The more safe water becomes scarce,the more you will see power structures fail, for nothing has more power than a mob that's hungry,thirsty and has nothing to lose. I think we can save ourselves long before it come to that.
WRITE-IN Jeffrey7 for Prez '08

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

One of my favorite jokes concerns a yuppie visiting his dad, who notices he's drinking from a fancy bottle.
Dad: "What's in that bottle you've got there?"
Yup: "Spring water."
Dad: "But what was in it *before*?

I have terrific well water in Massachusetts, water from a cistern (that I boil, just is case) in the Bahamas, and use a nifty thermos bottle when I travel. Bottled water never has made much sense to me as a status symbol, but yes, I have tasted the water in Alamosa, CO--once--so can understand it there.

As my dad always said, "Conserve water. Drink your scotch neat."

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Good article highlighting the obvious (but obviously water and water bottles are still an issue), followed by a raft of comments based largely on common misconception ... for which I offer my professional expertise as a lab techician/utility operator, take it or leave it or look it up for yourself:

Copper and lead - municipalities are required to test at point of consumption, so your first line of defense is to call city hall. Metals can be removed by countertop distillation units or in-line reverse osmosis cartridges.

Chlorination and fluoridation - Cl2 has been widely used as a disinfectant, with some concern over the by-products of reaction. Cl2 itself breaks down to water and salt; any noticeable odour is generally due to trihalomethanes (THMs), common chlorination by-products in 'dirty' water. Excess chlorine/chloramines (thought to produce fewer THMs) and THMs can be readily removed by an activated carbon cartridge or pitcher-type purifier. Fluoridation is very costly to implement (due to its high hazard) vs dubious benefit so, again, make your voice heard at city hall.

Bacteria and other pathogens - Generally killed off by chlorination and most definitely by boiling or distillation, if ghardia or crypto is a concern. A few drops of bleach per gallon in emergency will work. Deep wells are protected from contamination but surface wells or private surface water sources should be treated with UV. Small units eg Trojan can be installed inline with a sedimentation filter for maximum effectiveness. Unfortunately, if you have a well affected by sulphur-producing bacteria, you will require a full-blown system i.e. activated carbon/reverse osmosis to deal with the smell.

Pesticides and petrochemicals - Organic compounds adsorb readily onto activated carbon, either a cartridge unit inline or, again, a simple pitcher-type purifier. Watch what you put down your sink - most treatment facilities were never designed to remove these persistent organics and you will end up poisoning your own aquifer or someone else's.

Hardness, colour and odour - Won't kill you. Pitcher-type purifiers have some water softening and work well on taste and odour.

Nitrates - toxic residual from fertilizers is highly soluble and requires reverse osmosis or distillation to remove. Much of Europe's tap water is considered undrinkable largely for this reason, although the new membrane bioreactor technology has potential to clean up the worst water.

Turbidity - visible as particles swimming in the water or sand at the bottom of a bathtub. Other than providing roughage, this is generally only a concern in regard to the disinfection process. High iron waters and systems with a reverse osmosis cartridge would also benefit from a sedimentation filter cartridge. A fine enough filter will eliminate ghiardia/crypto cysts but requires a pressurized system to produce any real volume.

In short, you should look at the exact particulars of your water system and come up with a solution based on your needs and your budget. Your local health agency or village office SHOULD be glad to help with your questions. Water utilites have been not-for-profit because there is no profit in treating water - unless the consumer is being bled at the throat. Fear bred of wilful ignorance, mixed with the convenience of letting others make our choices, play us right into the hands of the carpet-baggers. Whether you drink straight tap water, install your own treatment system, or buy local bottled water in bulk because you can't afford reverse osmosis, at least you can make a informed decision ;.)

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Chlorine in tap water inhibits bacterial contamination. But right out of the pressurized tap, the chlorine taste isn't so great in my tap water (in Kansas). There is a simple way to remove it. Put the water in a plastic or glass containers, put them in the fridge and leave the container open. The chlorine evaporates, the water cools, and you have (in my case and perhaps yours) really good, clean, tasty water.

Another good use of tap water is to put it in bottles and replace meat or other items in the freezer with bottles of water. (Leave about a 10 percent space in the top for expansion.) A full freezer is more efficient and lasts longer when the power is out than a partially empty freezer.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Just persusing some of these anti-fluoridation comments. It is the Left's version of Jack D. Ripper, the crazed general in the movie Doctor Strangelove who ranted about the fluoride poisoning of his "precious bodily fluids".

Fluoridization is safe and proven in scientific (emphasize that word) study after study. It occurs naturally in water.

I think sometimes Alternet has been taken over by a bunch of Lyndon LaRouche types.

The really wacky one is that fluoride "causes aluminum to cross the brain-blood barrier" and causes Alzheimer's. Totally unproven and chemically/biologically impossible.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

I agree that bottled water is generally a rip-off and bad for the environment, but there are other considerations.

I have my own filtration system at home, and I try to mostly drink that water, but sometimes when I'm out and about, I purchase bottled water. A big reason is that I want to avoid chlorides, which indiscriminately kill bacteria. This is a bad thing because according to recent research, many bacteria in the alimentary canal perform valuable functions. They help with digestion, keep bad organisms in check, and support immune function.

I guess I don't know that bottled water doesn't contain chlorides, but it doesn't taste like chlorine the way fountain water and restaurant water often do.

Also, regarding reuse of plastic bottles, I saw a news report recently that indicated that plastic bottles release toxic compounds when washed in hot water. The "expert" that was interviewed recommended NOT reusing plastic bottles.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

I agree, bottled water is terrible, and a hoax on this country. Of course, the building that I work in has a terrible filtration system, sometimes the water comes out of the tap in colors (brown, white, yellow), smells like chlorine (so not good when it's colored), and yet they tell us it's good water drink up!

We pay for water yes, and unfortunately, our water providers are not doing what they need to be, in order to protect our own supply. In many cases the lines are aging. Do you notice that in winter how many pipes burst! They want you to believe it's due to the cold - NO, it's because the pipes are old, if they have been replaced they were replaced with faulty parts!

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

By far the safest, most cost efficient solution is an installed, under the sink water filter. For a couple of pennies per gallon you can protect yourself from chlorine, chloramines, and THMS (toxic chlorine disinfection by-products)which ARE present in municipal water. Also, live cysts sometimes get through the municipal systems making people pretty sick! Most filters don't remove chloramines. Many don't remove cysts. A good Under the Sink water filter can do it all with next to no environmental impact.
Compare the Top Ten Filters

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

I have felt so alone with this bottled water brainwashing issue for the past several years since I did a research report on it. The more I delved into the subject the more bewildered I felt. I started noticing all kinds of ways consumers allow themselves to get pushed around and yes, most definitely yes!, brainwashed. I bet if enough commercials advertised water in bottles to come in various grades of excellence by coloring the water people would fall for that too. Maybe the very best water would be blue, a grade lower might be pink, and so on. "Feeling posh, take the blue water with you while you're wearing your diamond earrings. Want to rough it today? Yeah, go ahead and carry the murky brown water in your back pocket. Show 'em you're made of the tough stuff!" I can see it all - very serious obedient consumers doing exactly what the faces on the TV screens tell them to do. No thinking necessary anymore. How simple it is to silence opinions these days! Now take this to areas of robot voices doing the talking in customer service, superstores that make grocery shopping like the all day adventure it was in the early 20th century, people bragging that they work 60 - 80 hours weeks while saying goodbye to their homes, and somewhere someone needs to ask, "Why don't people get a clue of what's going on here?" Buying water in a bottle is as ridiculous as buying peaches in the store when you have an excellent peach tree in your own yard. Bottom line there are a fair amount of people who just plain old like to argue (and point out grammatical and spelling errors lol), and I guess they'll never get it. Please write another article on customer service. I'd love to read it.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

typical of throwing the baby out with the bathwater. there are pros and cons to just about everything in life. we can read and hear both sides and/or all sides and come to some reasonable and rational conclusions and decisions for ourselves ... for the health of ourselves, loved ones, and future generations who will be effected by what we do and don't do in our own generations.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

thank you for the link. appreciate it very much. this information is FOR us, not against us! i am thankful for those who care enough to share their concerns and to share their research.

it is true that 'experts' in most all areas of life do not all agree with one another. i don't care what their titles are, just show me the data.

we can all choose to close our eyes to whatever we want. we can adopt whatever view provides convenience and makes us 'comfy'. at least unless or until those privileges are taken away from us in some way or another.

i appreciate the data and information shared.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]