bottled water debate tomorrow night.

[RecycleMichael]

Here are the details, per today's TulsaWorld.

TU to host lecture on tap vs. bottled water
The University of Tulsa will host a lecture and discussion titled "Tap/Bottled Water — What are the Facts?" at 7 p.m. Thursday in the Gallery Room of the Allen Chapman Activity Center.

A panel of experts will talk about the purity of bottled water and tap water and respond to audience members' questions and comments.

Panelists include a TU chemistry professor and representatives from the Tulsa Water Department, the Metropolitan Environmental Trust and the International Bottled Water Association.

The lecture is free. For more information, call 631-2515.

I agreed to discus this with a utilities guy before a bunch of college chemistry students. Then the organizer said that the President of a local bottled water company (Ozarka)had been added. Then he further stacked the deck against me by flying in the president of the International Bottled Water Association.

I am not afraid. I plan to use every debate technique possible to win and convince the crowd to stop buying bottled water.

The event is free. There will time for questions and answers. If you have an interest, show up tomorrow night and cheer me on.

[Conan71]

RM-

Would you like to borrow a collapsable baton?  That's the best debate tool I know of.

Knock 'em out.  Bottled water sucks.

[YoungTulsan]

Will there be free bottled water?

[cannon_fodder]

I'm on the board of directors for a bottle water company.  [xx(]

However, I agree with RM.  It is totally unnecessary and uses an amazing amount of resources to deliver what is, often, an inferior product (compared to tap/home filtered water).  The "big boys" at Ozarka surely use filter their water very finely, then use ozone reverse osmosis, and finally put minerals back in the water to make it taste "clean" (I admit to loving that taste).  Their water probably IS more pure than tap water - but such is not the case across the board and the contaminants in tap water are still more heavily regulated and well within safety guidelines.

We do buy bottled water in my house.  For hiking, biking, football games, and other such events.  We generally refill the water bottled for ~ a week afterwords.  I find it prevents me (and my family) from drinking sugar loaded beverages more.   We probably buy 1 case every third month, maybe.

BUT, the market research for the company I referenced shows a growing percentage of middle class women refuse to drink tap water.  They will order bottled water at a restaurant for $3 instead of getting a free glass of water.  Really?  Wow.

I really do not see much of an argument for the bottle water company.  By way of debate, RM, I see them pointing out that they have lowered the plastic content of their bottles, that they bottle local and thus save on transportation waste, and that the bottles are recyclable.  All mitigating factors but their product remains, ultimately, an unneeded and wasteful. convenience.

Does that mean it should be banned?  No. Regulated more heavily?  I don't think so.  But I do think it means people should consider the impact it has both financially and environmentally and limit their use accordingly.

[Red Arrow]

Bottled water is a good option when water is otherwise not available. I refill bottles.  If I am going somewhere that I can take a cooler with more water, I will refill the bottle of the day with water from the cooler.  I try to treat the bottle like a canteen. I always have several refilled bottles in the refrigerator.

[TheArtist]

I keep hearing about how some plastics leach chemicals into water. Is there any indication that plastic water bottles leach any chemicals into that water? Would be kind of ironic if they purified the water of harmless things only to bottle it in something that actually makes it a health hazard.

Btw, I never buy bottled water for the "purity". I just get it cause its available when I am thirsty and its much healthier than sodas and less calories than fruit drinks.

[Conan71]

Perhaps a .05 per bottle deposit would ensure that far fewer bottles would wind up in our landfills and scattered down our streets.

I buy a bottle every now and then if I'm on the fly and need something for my throat.  I will generally refill a bottle until it's ragged.  It's useful having them when I row and easier to deal with than a larger Nalgege bottle.

I doubt I buy more than 10 bottles a year since I sold my sail boat.  We used to buy more for it, and re-filled them every week to take back to the boat.

[dbacks fan]

Just my .02 on this.

I have seen a few threads on this subject here and in other forums and have some thoughts I'd like to share. Some very good points are always brought up as to the pro's and con's of bottled water. Convenience is the main item, then the plastic bottle itself and filling landfills with them.

For my wife and I it is mainly a matter of convenience for living here in Arizona that we buy bottled water. We buy, depending on the time of year, anywhere from three to six cases (24 to a case or flat) a month. Part of this is for my wifes business as a dog walker and pet sitter. She uses them not only for herself, but also for the dogs that she walks. The ones that the dogs has licked or drank from go into the recycle can at our house. (Almost all of the cities in the valley have recycle programs.)

The other reason is we tend to spend alot of time outdoors at the lake, taking hikes, going to the lake on camping trips with friends, and we like to go and explore alot of the state on the forest roads, where you may spend two to four hours or longer driving through remote areas. When we go to the lake, you may not have access to potable water, and we have taken extensive trips on Lake Powell with friends going 70 miles or more up the lake from Page Arizona. But with any of our excursions, we follow "Pack it in, pack it out" thinking, and tend to leave our camp ground cleaner then when we arrived. (No, we are not left coast tree hugging enviromentalist wackos, we just hope that whoever comes behind us will think the same way)
At home we reuse the bottles until they can't be used any more.
As for the bottles, we found a company in Colorado called Biota that has biodegradeable bottles. While not the perfect answer, it's a step in the right direction.

As for the .05 deposit (I remember as a kid collecting glass pop bottles to take to Git N Go to get an Icee and collecting the bear stamps to get a free Icee) I have been in only one state that I know of that enforces that deposit and it was in Oregon, and if I remember correctly, if you bought a 6 pack of plastic sodas, they charged you .30 on the purchase price, and for every plastic bottle you brought back, you got a .05 discount so there was an incentive to recycle the plastic.

The other point I want to make as to why we buy bottled water is that during the summer months alot of people here take raod trips to San Diego and the LA area to escape the heat, and along I-8 and I-10 you have long stretches of road through the desert that you would be foolish not to take bottled water just in case you have a problem. The hottest tempurature that I have experienced was between Yuma and El Centro where the temp was 129 degrees. (Yes, call me crazy)

[Hawkins]

I've boiled them down myself, and that Tulsa tap water will cover the bottom of the pot with a layer of white chalky substance.

All the bottled waters leave a smaller amount of white residue, and the Ozarka Spring Water leaves almost nothing behind when it boils.

So lecture me all you want, I'm only drinking Ozarka.

I won't even give my dog that Tulsa tap water. Nasty, nasty chicken poop, chemical-laden liquid. Absolutely never going to drink it.

If they take bottled water off the shelf, I'd buy a purifier before ingesting it.

[Red Arrow]

quote:Originally posted by Hawkins

I've boiled them down myself, and that Tulsa tap water will cover the bottom of the pot with a layer of white chalky substance.

All the bottled waters leave a smaller amount of white residue, and the Ozarka Spring Water leaves almost nothing behind when it boils.

So lecture me all you want, I'm only drinking Ozarka.

I won't even give my dog that Tulsa tap water. Nasty, nasty chicken poop, chemical-laden liquid. Absolutely never going to drink it.

If they take bottled water off the shelf, I'd buy a purifier before ingesting it.

Why not buy a purifier for home use anyway? It's bound to be less expensive in the long run. Just use it for the drinking water, not the whole house.

[cannon_fodder]

quote:Originally posted by TheArtist

I keep hearing about how some plastics leach chemicals into water. Is there any indication that plastic water bottles leach any chemicals into that water?

No.  The "dioxin" fear and similar rants of plastic leaching chemicals into water is purely fictional.  

So says snopes, trueorfiction, and John Hopkins University:
http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/petbottles.asp
http://www.jhsph.edu/dioxins

Yous truck on a pet peeve of mine...  forwarding emails without bothering to look it up (you are not guilty of it here, just saying you reminded me of it).  Good god man, it takes 2 seconds.  I can not resist the urge to email someone back and tell them they are a fool.

[mrburns918]

quote:Originally posted by Red Arrow

quote:Originally posted by Hawkins

I've boiled them down myself, and that Tulsa tap water will cover the bottom of the pot with a layer of white chalky substance.

All the bottled waters leave a smaller amount of white residue, and the Ozarka Spring Water leaves almost nothing behind when it boils.

So lecture me all you want, I'm only drinking Ozarka.

I won't even give my dog that Tulsa tap water. Nasty, nasty chicken poop, chemical-laden liquid. Absolutely never going to drink it.

If they take bottled water off the shelf, I'd buy a purifier before ingesting it.

Why not buy a purifier for home use anyway? It's bound to be less expensive in the long run. Just use it for the drinking water, not the whole house.

Excellent point.

I always wondered if common tap water helped us build immunities. We are so disease conscious these days we may be hurting ourselves by not letting our immunities build up.

Isn't our tap water more purified today than say 50 years ago? Maybe not?

Mr. Burns

[joiei]

quote:Originally posted by Hawkins

I've boiled them down myself, and that Tulsa tap water will cover the bottom of the pot with a layer of white chalky substance.

All the bottled waters leave a smaller amount of white residue, and the Ozarka Spring Water leaves almost nothing behind when it boils.

So lecture me all you want, I'm only drinking Ozarka.

I won't even give my dog that Tulsa tap water. Nasty, nasty chicken poop, chemical-laden liquid. Absolutely never going to drink it.

If they take bottled water off the shelf, I'd buy a purifier before ingesting it.

Are you aware that Ozarka bottled is tap water from the fabulous city of Houston, TX?

[Conan71]

quote:Originally posted by Hawkins

I've boiled them down myself, and that Tulsa tap water will cover the bottom of the pot with a layer of white chalky substance.

All the bottled waters leave a smaller amount of white residue, and the Ozarka Spring Water leaves almost nothing behind when it boils.

So lecture me all you want, I'm only drinking Ozarka.

I won't even give my dog that Tulsa tap water. Nasty, nasty chicken poop, chemical-laden liquid. Absolutely never going to drink it.

If they take bottled water off the shelf, I'd buy a purifier before ingesting it.

Fact: the white chalky substance is what is commonly referred to as "scale".  It's not chicken poop.

Scale is what makes water "hard" and consists of important minerals your body uses: calcium, magnesium, bicarbonates, small amounts of salt, and trace amounts of iron.

But, if it makes you feel better to drink bottled water, more power to you.

[OkieDiva]

When I was pregnant - not too, too long ago, as my son's only 8 - I was told (by either my OB or dentist, someone in a white coat invading my personal space) to drink tap water whenever possible instead of bottled water. Seems that not all bottled water has fluoride to match what comes out of the tap... and the baby leeches some of the mother's vitamin and mineral stores, making good fluoride intake essential to prevent tooth decay (and also to help in development of baby's dental system).

That said, we buy bottled water now for convenience. Drink tap water at home, make lemonade and ice with it, fill son's sports bottles with it - but keep a case in the trunk of the car to grab when on the run.