We've been hearing a lot about the August, 1 Opinion piece in the NYT, "In Praise of Tap Water" (it's currently the #1 most emailed story on their site).
And we finally got a chance to read it.
It's a very quick read, filled to the brim with good facts:
If you choose to get your recommended eight glasses a day from bottled water, you could spend up to $1,400 annually. The same amount of tap water would cost about 49 cents.
The Earth Policy Institute in Washington has estimated that it takes about 1.5 million barrels of oil to make the water bottles Americans use each year. That could fuel 100,000 cars a year instead. And, only about 23 percent of those bottles are recycled ...
We've been (mainly) drinking tap water for as long as we can remember, but we understand the bottled water pull: it's omnipresent. There's bottled water in the office, at our friends' houses, at our parents' houses (no matter how often we try to sell them on using a Brita), at the convenience store.
We're thirsty ... and there it is.
This article is a good reminder for all of us. We're refilling our glass right now!
Image via: sxc.hu
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Here in Denver, almost everyone has a nalgene bottle http://store.everestgear.com/eqnlg2177.html (or two or three) on their desk.
Whether the water comes from the tap or a purifying pitcher - who knows? At least we're not buying Dasani after Dasani.
Some friends who moved here from LA were bewildered, "Everyone has these bottles. What's the deal?"
We take Nalgene bottles to work and play... CamelBaks on hikes and bike rides.
Yeah, I see plenty of water bottles - that don't get recycled...but I'll still bet we're ahead of the curve.
I still like my sparkling water now and then... because I don't drink soda it's my indulgence.
view clickchick's profile
I stopped buying bottled water a few months ago, and now keep a cup on my desk at work that I use to drink from my office's tap water purification system.
At home, I fill a washed-out wine bottle straight from the tap and keep it in the fridge. Tap tastes just fine cold.
My friends have yet to see the light... I've been dubbed "weird" but I'm working on them.
I'd go for the Nalgene, but I'm still a bit wary of the possibility of chemicals leaching into the water.
view shani-o's profile
shani-o,
to void the potential leaching in a nalgene, go for a kleen kanteen or a sigg. we all need portable containers to take places cups can't go!
view lindsey kathlene's profile
clickchick -
When I was in highschool in VT, nalgene bottles were the "it" accessory to have - everyone who was anyone had one that they carried from class to class, and occasionally drank out of. And of course, people were always spilling water down their front (why is it so difficult to drink out of those things!), which was highly entertaining. Definitly a sign of how the outdoor culture in places like VT and Denver has crept into the mainstream...
view Rosie's profile
I just bought this steel bottle.
http://www.newwaveenviro.com/6-liter-tinted-stainless-steel-p-83.html
It is the perfect size for me to carry around at work and I've been taking it with me everywhere. I love having the clip. I just attach it to my bag and off I go. The Nalgene bottles always seemed more difficult to carry around. Maybe that's just my own weird thing.
view alisa k's profile
Also I read once that bottled water is regulated by the FDA as a food product, and tap water actually has more strict standards of regulation! So in many cases, tap may be cleaner.
view supapfunk's profile