Just watched "Tapped" about the bottled water industry

[seventhson]

really eye opening...instant watch on Netflix...

"Tapped" on Netflix

check it out!

[fourstringdrums]

Thanks I'll check it out

[stevetx19]

free on hulu

[MJ5150]

Thanks for the Hulu heads up. We buy lots of bottled water in our house, so I'd really like to see this.

-Mike

[bassrique]

What is the brief on this?

[carl h.]

Originally Posted by bassrique

What is the brief on this?

Avatar or link?

(wondering about the avatar myself...)

[stevetx19]

eh, pretty garden variety enviro doc. There were a few moments where the interviewed scientists were starting to get into interesting territory, but the editing cut to dramatic footage and hipster soundtrack.

couple points i jotted down while watching:

Early in the film they mention citizens are mad that bottles are ending up in local lakes, and they are blaming bottled water producers. Sure they play a role in creating the product, but its not particularly strong to argue that it's the producer's fault that is citizens aren't properly disposing of trash.

Like i said, there were a few interesting topics but they seemed almost glossed over. One example: A NC town was facing a drought and water restrictions were enacted on the citizens, but not on the local water bottle pumping plants. The rest of the town is forced to cut back, but industry can do what they please.

For a brief moment they discuss the power of advertising...(the real issue imo)

tap water implied impure?

air pollution by plastic production plants= bad, but stopping drinking bottled water will not stop that; it's a bi-product of oil refineries that will continue operating even with lower plastic demand

tap water regulated, bottled not= bottled not as safe as tap; but before the complaint was bottled was actually coming from tap and not some superior product that they claim it is! funny stuff.

I understand this is about water, but we use plastic in a ton of stuff...attacking bottled water for our addiction to plastic isn't going to solve the problem.

The beginning is interesting and i think the strongest lobby against bottled water specifically, corps coming in and taking tax-free groundwater to the detriment of small communities that didn't see it coming or don't have the resources to fight back.

was that a brief enough commentary?

[hbarcat]

Penn and Teller: The Truth About Bottled Water

YouTube - The Truth About Bottled Water

[seventhson]

Originally Posted by stevetx19

tap water regulated, bottled not= bottled not as safe as tap; but before the complaint was bottled was actually coming from tap and not some superior product that they claim it is!

There is no conflict in those two points. Yes, bottled water is essentially municipal water sold at 1900x the cost back to the consumer.

But in terms of safety, they are talking about the ancillary health effects of the bottling process itself.

1) the leaching of chemicals from the PET and BPA plastics containers. they did this simply by sampling bottled water bought at a supermarket.
2) the ancillary effects of mass packaging on an assembly line. i.e., same reason why mass packaged spinach can get tainted with e-coli on an assembly line. And they highlight this point with noting a bunch of recalls on bottled water that have occurred.

edit: Penn and Teller addresses the safety and taste myth of bottled water (thanks to hbarcat)

Originally Posted by hbarcat

YouTube - The Truth About Bottled Water

[Schlyder]

In Canada.. bottles made with BPA are banned.

[Ursus Tyrannus]

And for more happy feel good films I suggest "Food Inc.", "Gasland", and "Waiting for Superman" to put a smile on your face.

[TheSuzie]

My illness makes me super sensitive to smells. I can detect and frequently identify things at much lower levels than the average person, never mind that I can have reactions such as facial swelling and airway restriction from some things at levels where even I cannot immediately identify the source. I find it really hard to find drinkable water.

Most bottled water stinks of plastic to me except for those brands that use chlorinated city water that has not been filtered sufficiently. Those stink like chlorine enough to cover up some of the plastic smell. Both will make me ill. One west coast brand that I believe claims to come from a spring and is sold in the fancier clear bottles, smells strongly of benzene or something similar. I don't trust these products, never mind that they are awfully expensive and frequently abusing local water supplies.

I will say that if you are buying water in plastic bottles and plan to continue to do so, do your health a favor and store them in a cool place. I find that the plastic stink that transfers to the water is much worse if the bottle has been exposed to heat. There seems to be a threshold around 85 deg F and each time the bottle is heated up to that level, the water tastes and smells much worse.

Peace,
S

[Blort]

Bottled water is one of the biggest scams ever. It's a brilliant idea really.

I'm always amused when gas prices rise, and it seems like the same people who complain are the same people who buy bottled water when they can get the same out of their tap for free, and pay $3 for a sugar bomb Red Bull.

[Phalex]

We have a machine in a bottled water plant not far from here. I went out there on a service call once.

It's about a mile from the airport.

Here's what I observed at the water bottling plant who's name ends in "springs" (No not Poland).

They have a 3 or 4 inch diameter pipe that brings in water from the municipal water supply. They run it through a reverse osmosis filter and it goes into a HUGE container (Probably 8' wide and 12' tall.) From there it goes to the bottling line. They have one guy who tells the other 6 or 8 guys what to do, and they ship a crap load of water every day.

A buck a bottle for what is essentially municipal tap water. It's a pretty good scam.

[nocontrols]

That Penn & Teller bit was really interesting (and funny). I drink nothing but water out of the tap... mainly because I'm cheap but at least I'm not dumb enough to think bottled water is guaranteed to be better for me.

To quote Dennis Miller: "Evian is 'naive' spelled backwards"

[nocontrols]

Ha ha ha... seriously, I'm loving that Penn & Teller segment. The phonies at the end pretending to taste a difference is classic. (It reminds me of people "hearing" differences in boutique basses, to be honest) People are tools.

[i_got_a_mohawk]

If I buy bottled water, I'm buying it for the container.

The tap water here isn't as good as at my folks, but it's still tastes better than most of the bottled stuff. And will just refill a bottled water bottle, over and over until the lid gives

[McHaven]

Buy a reusable water bottle, and drink tap. If you don't want tap, buy a Brita or Pur filter for your home. You will save a ridiculous amount if you're already buying bottled water, and helps keeps some of those stupid bottles out of dumps.

[sloasdaylight]

Originally Posted by i_got_a_mohawk

If I buy bottled water, I'm buying it for the container.

The tap water here isn't as good as at my folks, but it's still tastes better than most of the bottled stuff. And will just refill a bottled water bottle, over and over until the lid gives

That's what we do.

[Blort]

Originally Posted by i_got_a_mohawk

If I buy bottled water, I'm buying it for the container.

The tap water here isn't as good as at my folks, but it's still tastes better than most of the bottled stuff. And will just refill a bottled water bottle, over and over until the lid gives

Not sure how much truth there is too it, but it's said that that's a bad idea. Bacteria accumulates on the container over the course of the day, and chemicals in the plastic get released over time because they aren't meant to be re-used.

Then again, I think most people are hypochondriacs. I re-use water bottles myself and I'm fine.