We have a well, and our water tastes way, way better than most tap water, or bottled water for that matter. I have Nalgene bottles in a variety of sizes, and we always carry a couple with us in the car. When we go camping, we carry 5 gallon jugs of our own water with us. So I seldom buy bottled water, and when I do I try recycle the bottles responsibly. I've also heard that you shouldn't reuse them more than once or twice.
Greens - there are places that will test your water for you if you're worried about the bateria levels. When my grandparents lived in Florida their water had that sulfury smell/tase. They found that by letting it sit most of that evaporated and it was drinkable. But as Diane (OH2007) says, there are filters out there that will help.
I have a water filter at home - it's a Sunbeam one and it removes everything and chills it as it runs through too! I love it and I refill my water bottles with it.
My boyfriend has on inbuilt to his sink too, so I drink water at his house a lot.
When I can carry a faucet around with me and when there are water fountains convenient when I'm out of the house and the office, I'll stop drinking bottled water.
So invest in a reusable water bottle (Nalgene, SIGG or KleanKanteen)!
I drink "bottled" water - but I buy it in refillable 5 gal bottles at the supermarket. It's the same stuff as Aquafina - municipal water purified by UV and reverse osmosis. Just purchased in bulk. It doesn't have fluoride, but the toothpaste we use does.
I can't drink the water here at home, it's too salty so until I can afford a RO system for the house that's how we'll do things. Brita filters don't get the salt out. From what I understand RO systems waste a bunch of water too, so I'm not sure of the "perfect" solution. We do buy bottled water sometimes when travelling but when I get my act together, I use our nalgene bottles and fill them from the home supply. I should do it more often though.
I have an aunt who's a nun, I don't know if her convent has taken up this cause but lately when I go to lunch and look for something to drink I kind of feel like a little finger is tapping on my shoulder and saying "Water belongs to everyone, don't support its commercialization ", so now I try to limit my beverage buying to pop and flavored sparkling water. I have a SIGG bottle (12 oz, or the equivalent liter-size, but SIGG only makes that size with kids' designs so I got the one that had the least babyish design) at my desk that I really should fill from the bubbler and take along with me; the only darn problem with fountain water is in the summer it tastes like ***, all the minerals and algae, so I try stuff like Water Sensations or True Lemon + Splenda to mask the taste, and since I like flavored sparkling water I think I'll order some Fizzies and see if that makes a reasonable substitute
Last edited by ANOther; 08-09-2007 at 12:24 PM.
Reason: wanted to add an adjective
Thanks for the link, ANOther! I never thought of water as being a free resource and that nobody should be making a profit on it.
A tangent: An uncle of mine once made a similar comment about Disney movies, how they're finding a way to make profit from something that normally would be our folktales, our oral tradition.
I was under the impression that Nagalene was one of the worst plastics to store water in (recent studies have shown that it leaches more than other plastics.) Actually most plastic is bad to store water in if the bottle is going to be sitting anywhere where it will get hot. Of course, I tend to think plastics are a bad idea for food/beverage storage purposes anyway. When it's unavoidable I look for number 1,2,3, or 4 plastics. This is my opinion and you don't have to agree with me, I'm just throwing this out there.
You can also buy stainless steel water bottles and they don't give water a metallic taste like alluminum does.
I do agree that something needs to be done about the amount of water bottles in our landfills. There are more bottles than disposible diapers for goodness sakes! It does border on the ridiculous that we are such a consumer based society that we buy water in the bottle when we already pay taxes to have clean water in our home areas (whether it really is clean is another subject up to debate.)
Thanks for the link, ANOther! I never thought of water as being a free resource and that nobody should be making a profit on it.
Well, basically what we're paying for is the service. That it's bottled, packaged and convenient for us to grab. They're saying, "Hey, I'll bottle this water for you, but you're going to pay for my efforts."
That doesn't mean I agree with paying for water. But think about it, water isn't free. We pay for our water and sewage. It costs me money to flush my toilet, take a shower, do the dishes and do a load of laundry. When I fill up my "tap" that I keep in the fridge (I have one of those water containers with a tap on it that I keep in fridge because I like to have cold water around) it's not free. It's costing me to fill that thing up. Our water bill is about $40 a month.
Yes, water SHOULD be a free resource. But it's not. If you live in an apartment and don't have an actual water bill, you can bet that water usage is figured into your rent.
I get the water in the jugs from the store. Our tap water tastes a bit funny to me, and the old plumbing adds weird stuff to it.
The only time I used bottled water is when I'm out of the house. I'm being careful now about reusing bottles. Some, after so many uses, will start to leech chemicals back into the water. Some bottles are even one-time use only! I saw a small article about it in a magazine. I'll find it and post it. It said you can tell by the number in the recycling triangle how many times you can use it safely before it will start to leech chemicals back in.
I was under the impression that Nagalene was one of the worst plastics to store water in (recent studies have shown that it leaches more than other plastics.) Actually most plastic is bad to store water in if the bottle is going to be sitting anywhere where it will get hot. Of course, I tend to think plastics are a bad idea for food/beverage storage purposes anyway. When it's unavoidable I look for number 1,2,3, or 4 plastics. This is my opinion and you don't have to agree with me, I'm just throwing this out there.
You can also buy stainless steel water bottles and they don't give water a metallic taste like alluminum does.
I do agree that something needs to be done about the amount of water bottles in our landfills. There are more bottles than disposible diapers for goodness sakes! It does border on the ridiculous that we are such a consumer based society that we buy water in the bottle when we already pay taxes to have clean water in our home areas (whether it really is clean is another subject up to debate.)
Yup Nalgene is bad, not because it leaches more, but because of the kind of chemical it leaches. My friend was one of the senior scientists in the study done at university of cincinnati that showed that the lowest level of contamination by BPA do the most damage. So even trace amounts of it are harmful. Actually of all the plastic bottles, ironically the cheapest ones like the disposable aquafina bottles are safer. They leach more, but what they leach isnt as harmful. But they are darn hard to clean.
Our water tastes awful, I filter home water, but I tend to carry bottles in the car. I usually refill the bottles several times from home and then dispose of them. But I do keep a case of water in the car. Mostly because I kept forgetting to refill AT home and then would end up buying a pop instead which is worse (I dont see that it is better to pay to put chemicals in my body than to pay to put water in my body)
I have Nalgene bottles in a variety of sizes, and we always carry a couple with us in the car. When we go camping, we carry 5 gallon jugs of our own water with us. So I seldom buy bottled water, and when I do I try recycle the bottles responsibly. I've also heard that you shouldn't reuse them more than once or twice. 
so until I can afford a RO system for the house that's how we'll do things. Brita filters don't get the salt out. From what I understand RO systems waste a bunch of water too, so I'm not sure of the "perfect" solution. We do buy bottled water sometimes when travelling but when I get my act together, I use our nalgene bottles and fill them from the home supply. I should do it more often though. 
", so now I try to limit my beverage buying to pop and flavored sparkling water. I have a SIGG bottle (12 oz, or the equivalent liter-size, but SIGG only makes that size with kids' designs so I got the one that had the least babyish design) at my desk that I really should fill from the bubbler and take along with me; the only darn problem with fountain water is in the summer it tastes like ***, all the minerals and algae, so I try stuff like Water Sensations or True Lemon + Splenda to mask the taste, and since I like flavored sparkling water I think I'll order some Fizzies and see if that makes a reasonable substitute
Great Link!
