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Ed Begley Jr.

Ed Begley Jr.

Posted: March 21, 2010 10:17 PM

The Cost of Bottled Water

What's Your Reaction:

As someone who has grown up living in Southern California, I know all too well about the costs and scarcities of water. As we continue to combine the effects of global climate change with an ever increasing and developing population, the supply and delivery of clean water will continue to be one of the most serious issues of our time. In Southern California, not only do we 'borrow' the majority of our water from other places like Northern California, the Owens Valley and the Colorado River, but we use huge amounts of energy to deliver it.

The use of bottled water as a source of drinking water doesn't make matters any better. In fact, it contributes greatly to the problem. Not only does it take valuable water resources from locations around the country that need them, but it uses huge amounts of fossil fuel to bottle and deliver it, leaving in its wake a literal ocean of unrecycled plastics.

Today, in my home, a combination of a whole house water filter from Lifesource and a water ionizer from KYK give my family clean and healthy drinking water, bath water and laundry water. A water recycling system from Gray Water Recycling Systems reuses much of that water as an irrigation source for my property. I quit drinking bottled water years ago, but now I have the perfect teaching tool with this film to convince my friends to give up the bottle. The film Tapped illustrates quite clearly how we've been getting 'soaked' for years by the bottled water industry.

Tapped is a must see!

 
 
 
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09:57 AM on 03/22/2010
Ed I must disagree. Bottled water, especially water that comes from a clean, natural source, is a lot better than the stuff you have to filter at home in SoCal. And it is a lot less environmentally wasteful than other beverages which require a lot of inputs. The plastic issue is also a red herring. Recycling is increasing substantially across the US but needs to increase much more - for all consumer packaging - not just bottled water. Bottled water is just 1/2 of 1 percent of landfill waste. Let's spend our time and effort going after elephants instead of dancing around the ants.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
drumz
Those little red panties they pass the test
01:26 PM on 03/22/2010
And I'm sure you have the proof to back your assertions? Let's see it or get out of the way.
02:28 PM on 03/22/2010
The plastic and landfill is only part of the problem. How does it make sense to build bottling plants, use enegy to pump the water, fill the bottles, ship the bottles and then recyle the bottles? I have LifeSource system on my house, and not only am I saving money on bottled water, but I am not bathing and showering in chlorine. Most bottled water is de-mineralized, which for most people is not healthy. Thank you Ed for getting the word out on this issue!
11:59 PM on 03/21/2010
Most folx served by major metro water distro should be satisfied with decanter-in-frig system. Such allows no-cost evaporation of halides that sanitize for distro - but their escape enables greatest improvement in taste.
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HUFFPOST COMMUNITY MODERATOR
lisakaz2
Da ministero dell'interno di Snark.
11:17 PM on 03/21/2010
Wish I could agree with you both both I and my cat have compromised health and our issues require distilled water. So I buy it.
11:32 AM on 03/22/2010
No prob. 'Member I said "most" folx. My late first wife could also ONLY drink distilled water. Bottled drinking water and even DI water caused reaction.
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saami
Cranky old lady
03:07 PM on 03/22/2010
You could distill the water yourself at home if you wanted to.
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HUFFPOST COMMUNITY MODERATOR
lisakaz2
Da ministero dell'interno di Snark.
04:19 PM on 03/22/2010
Don't know how well I'd do. And I'll put it this way. My cat was briefly put on a different brand of distilled, of a water known for heavy mineral content (Poland Spring). In the past year, she had 1 incident of p-ing outside the litter box. Guess what it coincided with -- drinking that brand. So she gets the store brand cheapo distilled and there are no issues.

I cannot be sure if there is a correlation or not because the door to where her box is may or may not have been open. It was enough of a coincidence to convince me to change, though.