Water

Bottled Water Is Destroying The Environment & Making Us Fat!

• 7/16/07 at 3:48 PM
• Comment

That is, if you are to concatenate (and believe) the findings of two weekend articles in the NYTimes and Salon. The Times article, on the enviro-civic backlash to bottled water, was in the Week In Review, meaning it's a lagging indicator - MP:SF was on top of that story months ago. But the point is, cities are now advertising their own tap water as an alternative to expensive and environmentally unfriendly bottled water. Yes, we should all be drinking tap water (Chicago's is some of the best in the country), carrying it around in reusable bottles with us and so forth. But we're lazy, and it would be nice if municipal tap water were more accessible around the city. What happened to public fountains? Oh, that's right.

And if you need another reason to stop drinking bottled water, Salon has a tidbit about a chemical in plastic (the ubiquitous bisphenol A) that permanently affect fat cells receive information during pregnancy in a way that apparently leads to obesity. And would you believe that this chemical went into commercial use around the time when the obesity epidemic really took off? Sure, it's at most a correlation, and it certainly won't stop you from using the chemical (it's in everything!), but it at least reminds of the many issues at play when hydrating in a globalized economy. Just wait until the water runs out, and then all of this will be a painful memory.
http://chicago.grubstreet.com/2007/07/bottled_water_is_destroying_th.html
 
A Battle Between the Bottle and the Faucet [NYTimes]
Presenting a yucky truth [Register-Guard]
Does plastic make us fat? [Salon]

[Photo: a sinister-looking water bottle, David Eppstein] 

Kliphnote: We are not running out of water! The ocean's are filled.

We just have to get it drinkable. 

Think Reverse Osmosis. Windmills on the shore. Dedicated to water.

Water bottles are recyclable, you just have to recycle them.

I reuse them.

When we dump water down the drain it goes to the wastewater

treatment plant. Than goes back into the lake.

And it's cleaner than the lake water. 

And it's pumped out to be drank again.