Yo ho and a Bottle of Water

[Adam Renshaw]

Bottled water is a huge industry, but I honestly fail to see why. The rumors of it being "safer" or "cleaner" are completely false, companies do not even know what goes into this so called "safer" water. There's even evidence to show that bottled water can actually be worse than tap water, as it has been recalled before due to being contaminated with arsenic, bromate, cleaning compounds, mold or bacteria (Charles Strand). Think of it, you're spending more money than you ever would on tap water (up to 1900 times more), (Charles Strand) to get bottled water which could potentially be even worse. And that's just about the water, I still haven't brought up all the plastic bottles that the companies are required to produce in order to create bottles for the water.

These plastic bottles just add even more unnecessary pollution and landfill, it's sad to think that people can prevent the risk of poisoning themselves, prevent themselves from spending more money than they need to and prevent a lot of unnecessary pollution; but they choose not to. Are the advertisements the companies put up really that influential, or do people just really have a problem with setting up a water filter to filter out their tap water?

[Alanna McColl]

Adam has a a great point towards the amount of people spending money on bottled water when they have it coming out of a tap. As Annie Leonard stated in a video "'Manufactured Demand' pushes what we don't need and destroys what we need most". This proves that bottled water is not any better than your average tap water. Large industries such as "Coca Cola" or "Nestle" are trying to tell the people that bottled water is better. When in fact bottled water can contain arsenic, bromate, cleaning compounds, mold or bacteria. The United States is the country with the highest amount of bottle water consumption in the world. They have used 17,336.8 Litres of water in the year of 1999. In 2004, they used 25,766.1 Litres of water. This was only through bottled water. All the countries in the world have used 98,395.3 Litres of water in 1999. And in 2004, 154,280.5 Litres of water. These rates will only continue to grow unless people start to put there foot down. But when will people actually begin to do so?

[Abbygael Gregoire-Gaul]

I completely agree with Adams point of view about bottled water. All rumours about it being cleaner then tap water are lies. The prices go higher for bottled water and people waste their money away on it thinking that it’s going to be healthier for them when really, it’s not. From what many people have heard, is that bottle water really is just tap water in the end. They only add a few more things to it to change it up a bit and then there you go, you have bottled water. The bottles for the water are made of plastic and it’s been know that the plastic they use for our bottle seeps in and contaminates the water. Lately these days, it’s all about the money, it’s no longer about our health, it’s just whatever will improve the industry .The constant empty bottles of water that I find littering the ground is outstanding. They put more money into the water bottles then actually putting it into the water we drink to make it cleaner and safer for us.

[Victoria Barrett]

I agree with Adam and what he has to say about the lies of bottled water. It is scary to not know what we are consuming and why companies have neglected to take a stand and control things. Water is a necessity and that is why there is so much money to be made from it. Also, companies can in ways control what is said about their water and tap water. As Alanna mentioned, the United States are the biggest consumers of Bottled Water but if you think about it... How many people do you hear about having major, life threatening problems with bottled water? It is quite rare. Also, we are exposed to so many chemicals each and everyday, we know that small amounts of these don’t hurt us. I’m pretty sure that the levels in the bottled water, specifically in well developed countries are fine. There are standards, laws, precautions that have been implemented and most people seem to forget that. However, there is always room for improvement, to find solutions to get cleaner water and to know for sure the levels of chemicals we are consuming.

[SirTimothyMacDonaldPlante]

I disagree with your opinion of the plastic bottles. Currently there is a large mass of floating plastic garbage in the pacific ocean, visible from space. This might seem undesirable at current time, however we have to think long term. I foresee it becoming very useful in the near future. At some point in time, there will be enough plastic garbage in the ocean to reach from Japan or east Asia all the way to the west coast of North America. At this point, we could melt the garbage down to create an artificial plastic walkway linking the two parts of the globe. We could then attach water pipes to the underside of this glorious bridge and share water the way god intended. Which means no one will be selling for money and everyone will have a equal amount of water.

[SirTimothyMacDonaldPlante]

I disagree with your opinion of the plastic bottles. Currently there is a large mass of floating plastic garbage in the pacific ocean, visible from space. This might seem undesirable at current time, however we have to think long term. I foresee it becoming very useful in the near future. At some point in time, there will be enough plastic garbage in the ocean to reach from Japan or east Asia all the way to the west coast of North America. At this point, we could melt the garbage down to create an artificial plastic walkway linking the two parts of the globe. We could then attach water pipes to the underside of this glorious bridge and share water the way god intended. Which means no one will be selling for money and everyone will have a equal amount of water.

http://www.treehugger.com/galleries/2009/05/great-pacific-garbage-patch.php

[Erik teh J0K3R]

I disagree with Adam Renshaw because he says that bottled water is worse that tap water but I find it taste a lot better then that rancid so called tap water! So what if people die every day in America. Its not the water, its those environmentalists brainwashing the entire world. they just want another reason to complain about how bad the environment is, when its actually pretty good. I think the tap water is worse because recently there has been a recall for the tap water in Aylmer. what does this mean maybe we should just buy bottled water forever and stay on the safe side. Sure maybe we can take more time purifying the bottled water but come on how many of us drink bottled water over tap water.

Adam Renshaw's other point about how the water bottles filling up the landfill and destroying our world and he only blaming it on the water bottles. Its fun to say the water bottles are destroying but what do you think is that big blue bin in front of your house is, a house for the raccoons in your neighborhood to stay in. NOOOOOOOOO its to recycle the water bottles to make the plant more healthier isn't that what the environmentalists want?

At the end of this day I'm going to sit on my porch drinking Godlike bottled water while all you guys are getting sick form tap water.

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