[LINK] The true cost of bottled water

[Craig Sanders]

On Wed, Feb 07, 2007 at 07:39:24PM +1100, rchirgwin at ozemail.com.au wrote:
> We do buy bottled water, but mostly for the bottles ... we refill them
> endlessly for bushwalking, generally half-filled in the freezer and
> topped up from the tap on the morning.

yeah, i refill them over and over again...and always have a 2L juice
bottle full of water nearby (or in the fridge).

half-frozen's a good idea, i'll have to remember that.

> I have *never* understood the bottled water thing ... even a finding
> that bottled waters often contain *more* foreign substances (except
> chlorine) than the obsessively-filtered Warragamba variety (Choice
> a couple of years ago?) didn't shake the idea that taps are "dirty"
> somehow. I think it's an infantile thing ... everybody can get water
> from that tap, but *this* water is *mine*.

depends where you're from, i suppose.

us melbournites KNOW that our tap water is good.

adelaide water is vile (i spent 3 years of my childhood there). sydney
water isn't much better (way too much chlorine). dunno about other
cities.



i never drank bottled water until i went to india - couldn't see the
point in paying money for water that was no better than (nearly) free
water from the tap. i developed the habit of buying bottled water in
india, mostly because it was icy cold (and tended to stay cold most of
the day if i kept it in my well-insulated camel-skin leather bag), and
partly because it was sterilised and sealed. tap water in some places
in india is too risky to drink if your immune system isn't used to the
local bugs.  

not that i was overly fastidious about it, i liked to give my immune
system the opportunity to develop resistance to local bugs....worked for
me. YMMV.


craig

-- 
craig sanders <cas at taz.net.au>

Currently listening to: GMS - 150 Percent

Knights are hardly worth it.  I mean, all that shell and so little meat...