Australian town bans bottled water

[Vympel]

Link

Australia town bans bottled water

A rural town in Australia has voted overwhelmingly to ban the sale of bottled water over concerns about its environmental impact.

Campaigners say Bundanoon, in New South Wales, may be the first community in the world to have such a ban.

They say huge amounts of resources are used to extract, package and transport bottled water.

The discarded plastic bottles then end up as litter or go into landfill sites, the "Bundy on Tap" campaign says.

More than 350 residents turned out to vote at the public meeting in the town hall.

Only one resident voted against the ban, along with a representative from the bottled water industry, ABC news reported.

The BBC's Nick Bryant in Sydney says locals have promised not to set upon visitors if they ignore the ban, but they will be encouraged to fill a reusable container from water fountains in the main street.

The reusable bottles will bear the slogan "Bundy on Tap".

Campaigner John Dee said local opinion had been incensed when a drinks company announced plans to tap an underground reservoir in the town.

Environmental impact

"The company has been looking to extract water locally, bottle it in Sydney and bring it back here to sell it," he said.

"It made people look at the environmental impact of bottled water and the community has been quite vocal about it."

The ban has been supported by shopkeepers in the town, which has a population of about 2,500.

"We believe Bundanoon is the world's first town that has got its retailers to ban bottled water," said Mr Dee. "We haven't found it anywhere else."

New South Wales Premier Nathan Rees has backed the cause, ordering government departments to stop buying bottled water and use tap water instead.

Mr Rees says it will save taxpayers money and help the environment.

Finally. If I was Emperor of the Earth banning the sale of bottled water would be my first edict. Hopefully this becomes a trend.

[The Spartan]

I would very much like to see similar laws enacted everywhere. When I sat down and actually thought about how much waste and expense I was going through using just one bottle a day it made me sick.

I have my own bottle that I reuse over and over now, but it's not a cheap paper thin walled bottle. It's a quality bottle that I bought at the sporting goods store.

I still keep "bottled" water around my house for emergencies, like, oh, say, a hurricane but when I say bottled I mean gallon sized jugs where one gallon represents a days worth of water for drinking, cooking, etc.

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

Are you kidding? How are you going to drink clean water in a country that does not have clean tap water? I could name at least a dozen countries where tap water is not drinkable.

[Chris OFarrell]

Uh correct me if I am wrong, but economically and environmentally it is going to be a hell of a lot more efficient to simply MAKE the tapwater drinkable through upgrading and re-engineering the infrastructure, then to try and run large numbers of people on bottled water over the long term

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

Uh correct me if I am wrong, but economically and environmentally it is going to be a hell of a lot more efficient to simply MAKE the tapwater drinkable through upgrading and re-engineering the infrastructure, then to try and run large numbers of people on bottled water over the long term

Perhaps you should a little north your country before saying that. Trying to provide clean water to 500million people where a good portion of the population lives in rural areas devoid of any modern infrastructure is billions dollar project, and likely running into the tens of billions. Just look at how many billions India has just to spend to even upgrade the damn roads and other projects, never mind water.

[Steve]

I buy bottled water from time to time. 1.5L bottles of Zephyrhills. Of course, even after I drink all the water within I re-use the bottles by filling them with tap water and putting them in the fridge...

[Akhlut]

It still has to be easier to produce iodine tablets and aluminum flocculation kits than sending billions of bottles to poor nations with bad infrastructure.

[CmdrWilkens]

Tap water filtration systems while not perfect in more polluted water systems have a VASTLY lower lifetime cost than bottled water. I know Pur and Brita use it as the center of their advertising but it doesn't change that charcoal filtration at the point of delivery is still WAY cheaper than bottled.

That being siad there are times and places for bottled water, pre-packaged bottled water is paticularly useful for travel over distances in a lot of developing nations where, even if you upgraded the drinking water, you may need significant quantities between refills and there are health issues with re-fillable containers if not handled properly.

[Lagmonster]

The thing about bottled water is to realize what you're actually talking about; the stuff they sell to Americans for $2 a bottle in mall food courts is 10 cents worth of tap water in shitty bottles. The stuff they jug by the gallon as emergency supplies to be sent to disaster areas is also technically 'bottled water', but is almost certainly going to be cheaper because it's not being sold as a convenience or under the suave marketing pretense that it's a "purer, more refreshing" liquid.

[dragon]

I know when I was deployed to Sarajevo a few years back bottle water was provided free for all the soliders on base as we were strongly encourged to not drink the tap water. Cook with it, shower with it fine but don't drink it. A few people didn't listen and ended up with bug you get from drinking bad water. THey were extremely sick for almost a week.

[LaCroix]

Nobody says that there should be a worldwide ban on bottled water!

But in most countries, there IS drinkable tap water, so there is no need to sell overpriced tap water in bottles.

I lived in spain back in the early 90's and there was no drinkable tapwater in the village I lived. So people (and I) went to a public fountain in the village centre once or twice a week with multi-gallon jugs to get water for home use. Biking bottles were used widespread for walking around. No one was stupid enough to pay a lot of pesetas for a pre-filled bottle in a store.

That water bottle hype rose sometimes in the early 2000's, I practically vomit every time I hear the term "still water" (no CO2 added) in advertisements.

[erik_t]

Nobody says that there should be a worldwide ban on bottled water!

Really?

Finally. If I was Emperor of the Earth banning the sale of bottled water would be my first edict. Hopefully this becomes a trend.

I would very much like to see similar laws enacted everywhere.

[The Spartan]

Chris OFarrell and CmdrWilkens have hit the at-the-source cleaning thing already so I won't rehash it, but since it's apparently not clear from my post lets hash out what Bottled vs "bottled" is and why I have a problem with the first, but not the second.

The first, Bottled, refers to those little, thin-walled 0.5 liter or so bottles made out of cheap plastic that clutter or clog up our roads, our rivers, our oceans, our forests, our land fills, our everywhere. They need to go. They feed into the whole consumer culture and are ridiculously overpriced. They should, by and large, be banned.

The second, "bottled", isn't in what I would call a bottle, it's in a plastic jug of 1 US gallon or more size. This I don't (necessarily) have a problem with because it's for long term storage so you can hydrate when other sources of water are not available, whether because the local water is contaminated or the filtration is down for whatever reason or because a hurricane just blew through and there's nothing to drink that's not in a jug.

[Themightytom]

I grew up with a well so the concept of paying for water is still absurd to me. When i moved to the city I made a concious decision to learn to drink city water because I viewed bottle water as effete.

Then I went to Honduras and tried that shit. Not fun, i cans ee why bottled water is preferred in some areas. On the other hand once my insides reset themself to their default configuration i DID in fact adapt and within a week I was drinking the water as well as any native.

My doctor did in fact check my Kidney and liver functions when I returned stating that I was a moron for drinking the water.

In terms of reusability, the only reason you can't reuse the container in the US is sheer laziness. Even if you don't want to buy a good water container, I tend to reuse bottles teh cheap storebought ones for months when I run. They literally crack before I recycle them. At least in the US, you're a jerk if you keep buying bottled water over and over and over again.

[The Spartan]

I tend to reuse bottles teh cheap storebought ones for months when I run. They literally crack before I recycle them.

And since you live in the US you should realize that this makes you an exception.

Hell, I'm an exception because I have a seperate bottle that is meant to be reused rather than constantly buying bottles over and over.

[CmdrWilkens]

In terms of reusability, the only reason you can't reuse the container in the US is sheer laziness. Even if you don't want to buy a good water container, I tend to reuse bottles teh cheap storebought ones for months when I run. They literally crack before I recycle them. At least in the US, you're a jerk if you keep buying bottled water over and over and over again.

Actually the reason you shoudln't re-use the cheap thin-wall water bottles is because warnings have been made about the possibility of bacterial and viral contamination. There was a big deal made a yar or so ago about the fact that the construction is so cheap that certain bacteria can actually live on the inside of the container. The initial fill of the bottels is purified but once you expose it to outside air and/or non-filtered water the chances rise that something could grow on the inside. In other words they are so shitty that they could be hazardous after the first use.

[Themightytom]

I tend to reuse bottles teh cheap storebought ones for months when I run. They literally crack before I recycle them.

And since you live in the US you should realize that this makes you an exception.

Hell, I'm an exception because I have a seperate bottle that is meant to be reused rather than constantly buying bottles over and over.

I would love to say that I'm never lazy but not only am I lazy, I'm a poor planner. I forget to bring the Nalgene bottle to a workout regularly, or i bring it to work to pre-hydrate and leave it in my office. If I get a poland springs bottle for example I run it into the ground. before discarding it.

Actually the reason you shoudln't re-use the cheap thin-wall water bottles is because warnings have been made about the possibility of bacterial and viral contamination. There was a big deal made a yar or so ago about the fact that the construction is so cheap that certain bacteria can actually live on the inside of the container. The initial fill of the bottels is purified but once you expose it to outside air and/or non-filtered water the chances rise that something could grow on the inside. In other words they are so shitty that they could be hazardous after the first use.

Do you have a link? I'm curious as to whether the bacteria is really harmful or not. I DO always empty the remainder of the bottle before refill to avoid the staleness. If bacteria growth were such a problem by now I would have noticed, I run a LOT and I use the running bottle at kung Fu as well, so I reuse the crappy bottles a lot. That might interfere with the bacteria growth though. Not enough can accumulate?

Incidently that brings up ANOTHER issue I ran into at honduras. They have purified water brought in by a water company at the elementary school... and then have a single metal cup taht the entire school shares. I remember a pack of nurses trying to explain in spanish to them that they were setting themselves up for an epidemic.

[Agent Sorchus]

http://www.thegoodhuman.com/2008/03/17/ ... er-bottle/
This article contains links and arguments as to why you do not want to reuse most water bottles. But the basic reasoning is that the plasticizers used are carcinogens that are released if when reused.

If I recall correctly the type of plastic that milk jugs are made out of does not have the health that most plastic bottles have.

[Themightytom]

http://www.thegoodhuman.com/2008/03/17/ ... er-bottle/
This article contains links and arguments as to why you do not want to reuse most water bottles. But the basic reasoning is that the plasticizers used are carcinogens that are released if when reused.

If I recall correctly the type of plastic that milk jugs are made out of does not have the health that most plastic bottles have.

hmmm but those won't fit in my gym bag...
but hey good to know I'll be suing Poland springs for not warning me i was killing myself when i turn up with cancer...

[Stark]

You're an idiot. Crap plastic isn't hygenic and they never claimed their crappy bottles were reusable. Just buy metal drink bottles like... shit ... everyone else.

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

Tap water filtration systems while not perfect in more polluted water systems have a VASTLY lower lifetime cost than bottled water. I know Pur and Brita use it as the center of their advertising but it doesn't change that charcoal filtration at the point of delivery is still WAY cheaper than bottled.

That being siad there are times and places for bottled water, pre-packaged bottled water is paticularly useful for travel over distances in a lot of developing nations where, even if you upgraded the drinking water, you may need significant quantities between refills and there are health issues with re-fillable containers if not handled properly.

That assumes the said people have even tap water, and not some common village well. Not every part of the developing world has that luxury, especially outside the city.

Also, these darn things wear themselves very fast when the water coming in is pretty dirty on its own, like mud dirty. I remember when I was last in Bali, the water coming out of the tap was actually brown, and that was a ... 4 star hotel.

With regard to those pills, I am not so sure about their efficacy when the water in question has lots of dust particulates and other matter.

[CmdrWilkens]

That assumes the said people have even tap water, and not some common village well. Not every part of the developing world has that luxury, especially outside the city.

Also, these darn things wear themselves very fast when the water coming in is pretty dirty on its own, like mud dirty. I remember when I was last in Bali, the water coming out of the tap was actually brown, and that was a ... 4 star hotel.

With regard to those pills, I am not so sure about their efficacy when the water in question has lots of dust particulates and other matter.

Which is why I don't think a total ban is some sort of laudable goal but certainly for locales where there is some sort of tap service then the money spent on packaging and shipment alone would be sufficient to filter if not neccessarily treat public source water.

[Aaron]

With regard to those pills, I am not so sure about their efficacy when the water in question has lots of dust particulates and other matter.

If your using pills to purify your water it's still a good idea to use a filter (like those ones hikers use), iodine and the other pills aren't effective against certain bugs that can be in water.

So you may as well save yourself the trouble and just use a filter.

[Themightytom]

You're an idiot. Crap plastic isn't hygenic and they never claimed their crappy bottles were reusable. Just buy metal drink bottles like... shit ... everyone else.

ah. Like a soda can. I understand completely.

[CaptainChewbacca]

Penn & Teller did a good episode on bottled water. Basically, no first world country needs bottled water, and its monumentally wasteful and expensive when you consider your taxes already pay for the clean water that comes out of your taps.