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ClumsyDisciple
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Name: David
Country: United States
State: California
Gender: Male
Interests: Birds, fantasy, and the absurd
Expertise: Birds, Classical Music (B.A. Music), and Linguistics (M.A. Linguistics), Old Testament Prophets
Occupation: User Interface Engineer
Industry: TV DVR
Message: message me
Member Since:
2/26/2004
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| This is the first of a two-part series detailing what I've learned in my research the bottled water industry.
I heard a report on NPR's All Things Considered in which Robert Siegel
interviewed Charles Fishman, a reporter for the magazine Fast Company.
Fishman explained that Pepsi's Aquafina and Coca-Cola's Dasani are
essentially purified tap water. That's something I didn't know. It
turns out there are a lot of things about the bottled water industry
that I didn't know. So I started researching...
Until recently, I thought bottled water was cleaner and safer than tap
water. I thought bottled water tastes better than tap water. I thought
I was doing a good thing by drinking bottled water. But it seems I was
deceived by the bottled water companies' marketing machine.
Who "owns" the bottled water?
Pepsi, Coca-Cola, and Nestle comprise 50% of the bottled water market.
Is bottled water safer than tap water?
Emphatic no. In fact, tap water is actually the safer source. Tap
water is regulated by the EPA, whereas bottled water is regulated by
the FDA. And the EPA's standards for water are much higher than that
of the FDA. For example, The EPA requires that tap water sources be
regularly tested several times a day for the presence of bacteria,
whereas, the FDA requires bottled water sources only be tested once a
week, and if it's a carbonated water then it never has to be tested.
There are exceptions to this safety issue: bottled water may be safer
than your tap water if you do not have water provided by a
municipality. And bottled water is definitely safer than the tap if
you are in a developing country without a clean water supply.
What is bottled water?
Some bottled waters are gathered from natural springs, others are
pumped from wells, and some are simply repackaged, municipal tap water
(possibly from your own city).
Aquafina and Dasani are both processed tap water from U.S. cities. The
companies apply an extreme filtration process which removes everything
from the water and then they add back into the water a proprietary mix
of minerals. They don't do this in order to 'purify' the tap water
(since it has already been purified by the city), but rather to
maintain a consistent taste from bottle to bottle. This means you are
essentially paying Pepsi and Coca-Cola to do what you can do at home
with a Brita filter.
Similarly, Everest Water is from a tap in Corpus Christi, Texas, and
Glacier Clear Water is from a tap in Greeneville, Tennesee, but Ozarka
Natural Spring Water, Crystal Geyser Alpine Spring Water, and Poland
Spring Water all come from natural springs in the U.S.
Evian comes from a mineral spring on the shore of Lake Geneva in
France. FIJI Water comes from a well in the Fiji Islands, and Iceland
Pure Spring Water truly comes from a natural mountain spring in
Iceland.
Does bottled water taste better than tap water?
Yes and no. It depends upon where you live and which bottled brands
you are considering. Bottled may taste better than water straight from
your tap, but after applying a simple Brita filter, the same cannot be
said. The reality is that our preferences are greatly influenced by
perceptions unrelated to the actual taste of the water. Some would
argue that branding is essentially an institutionalized, albeit
subtle, form of peer pressure.
In 2005, 20/20 did a blind taste test with five bottled waters and tap
water from a drinking fountain in New York City. Ironically, the
highest rated water was the cheapest bottle of the bunch. Here is the
complete ranking:
- American Fare (Kmart)
- Aquafina (Pepsi)
- (tie) Tap water & Iceland Pure Spring Water
- Poland Spring (Nestle)
- Evian (Nestle/Danone)
What is not indicated by this simple ranking is that the middle four
choices were all pretty close in ranking. The Kmart brand was
definitely a strong 1st and Evian was overwhelmingly rated as
terrible. Although this test was unscientific, similar taste tests
have found similar results. Their conclusions are that we have been
conditioned to believe that bottled water tastes better than tap
water, even though we often can't tell the difference.
What is still true, is that each bottled water company has its own
distinct taste. For some, this is because of a proprietary process,
but for others it is simply the unique blend of naturally occurring
mineral concentrations. FIJI water describes itself as smooth, Evian
is sometimes described as milky. After all, taste is very subjective.
As do most companies, my company trucks in bottled water for us to
drink. I keep a 20 oz cup at my desk which I regularly fill up at the
water cooler. As a test, I filled up my cup in the drinking fountain,
and sure enough, it tastes just as good as the water cooler. It's hard
to say, but it might even taste better than the water cooler.
Here is what I've concluded
- Bottled water is not any healthier or safer than tap water
- Bottled water does not necessarily taste better than filtered tap water
- Bottled water is a needless expense
- If clean, filtered, tap water is available, there is no compelling reason to drink bottled water.
*** In my next installment, I'll discuss the environmental impacts of
our obsession with bottled water. ***
Sources
Fast Company
"Message in a Bottle"
This is a very very long read, but it is comprehensive.
ABC News
"Is Bottled Water Better Than Tap?"
Refers to the 20/20 tests
UC Berkeley Wellness Letter
"Bottled Water: Better Than Tap?"
Reputable health and wellness newsletter
San Francisco Chronicle
"Local tap water bubbles up in restaurants"
Slate
"Evian Criminals: The new snob appeal of tap water"
Natural Resources Defense Council
"Bottled Water: Pure Drink or Pure Hype? "
Upper Green Side
"Drink Tap Water for a Cleaner Environment" | | |
| Does anyone have an extra/old cell phone that I could have?
The screen broke on my current phone, and I'm out of warranty, so I'm looking to replace it. The phone still works, but I have to manually dial because I can't see the address book or anything else that requires the screen.
I'll take any dual-band phone that I can put my sim card in. I don't care about features. My current phone (Samsung x427) was the free phone with my plan.
Thanks! | | |
| Your results:
You are Spider-Man
You are intelligent, witty, a bit geeky and have great power and responsibility.
| Spider-Man |
| 65% | | Superman |
| 60% | | Green Lantern |
| 55% | | Robin |
| 53% | | Hulk |
| 45% | | Catwoman |
| 45% | | The Flash |
| 40% | | Wonder Woman |
| 38% | | Iron Man |
| 30% | | Supergirl |
| 28% | | Batman |
| 25% |
Click here to take the Superhero Personality Test | | |
| It's 1:25 PM on Sunday. I'm at business meeting. Where are YOU! | | |
| 
(Click image for larger version.)
Yup, Daphne ran a 5k this past Sunday morning! That's about 3.1 miles. She met with 9 other women from Stroller Power at 7AM to run the 5k portion of the Metro Silicon Valley Marathon. Let's hear it for Daphne... I'm so proud of her! | | |
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