Campuses Banning Bottled Water

[bethievt]

The only thing I don't enjoy about The Big Bang Theory is how the characters are always drinking from disposable water bottles and eating from throw-away containers. Have you noticed that Leonard and Sheldon have very nice dishes that they never use?

Bonnaroo music festival also discourages use of disposable water bottles and has water stations everywhere.

A single-use styrofoam plate or take-out container is a disaster for the planet, mostly the oceans. There doesn't seem to be anything to do with styrofoam. I think it should be banned. Those plastic grocery bags too. They just break up into smaller plastic pieces that get ingested by animals. I hate it when produce departments wrap stuff in plastic and/or put it on styrofoam trays.

[ucbalumnus]

Originally Posted by HarvestMoon1

I agree. I drink bottled spring water precisely because I generally don't have much faith in the quality of tap water.

If you are that worried, drink distilled water.

But if you are worried about the tap water, how do you wash your hands in it, brush your teeth with it, or consume food made with it or washed in it?

[LoremIpsum]

I drink bottled spring water precisely because I generally don't have much faith in the quality of tap water.

I read that most bottled water is municipal tap water filtered again and packaged. It's not like they set up bottling plants in the middle of nature right next to some idyllic mountain stream.

[saintfan]

Get a Britta water filter if you're so worried. Where I live the tap water tastes good and is good for you. I see many schools in Washington, Canada, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Vermont etc. on this list. Either those places are "greener" on they just have better water quality control, maybe. I just don't see what the stink is about choosing not to sell bottled water on campus. The OCD people I guess can make COSTCO runs to stock their dorm rooms, but I bet others learn to refill their reusable bottles if they haven't already. Heck, my kids' HS has a special bottle refiller station - it isn't rocket science.

[jaylynn]

Yes. If you're buying "spring water" you're often just drinking a different community's TAP water. There's a graphic somewhere that shows which town's water you're drinking according to the brand you buy.

[GA2012MOM]

Do any parents still have their Bota Bags...?

Huh, what's a Bota Bag?

[sybbie719]

here you go...

https://www.google.com/#q=bota+bag&h...w=1270&bih=872

[GA2012MOM]

LOL sybbie, I thought I was being funny! Of course I know what a bota bag is. It is for carrying water only on a hike or for a camping trip, right?

[SteveMA]

The bottle fillers I have seen are filtered water dispensers.

[GA2012MOM]

All of us on the parent board are of the same approximate generation. Have any of you had problems back in the 60's, 70's or 80's with plain ole tap water? When exactly did we think it wasn't safe and we had to buy the "special" stuff?

[HarvestMoon1]

Ucba, thanks for the recommendation, but why distilled water? While I do wash my hands and brush my teeth with our tap water, I do not drink it or prepare food with it. We keep gallon jugs of spring water on hand for those purposes. We live in an area where all the homes have well water. There are many farms and manicured lawns in our immediate vicinity. The amount of chemicals that we observe going into the ground is staggering. So yup, we avoid consuming the water. We also have a centralized water filtration system in our basement. Not sure how much it helps.

Lorem, if you read the labels on the water containers most of them identify the source of the water. You are correct, brands like Dasani are just purified municipal water. But there are other brands that list the source as natural springs and identify where the water is coming from. But in either case, the water is probably cleaner that what is coming out of our well.

[Emaheevul07]

I like our city water and will readily drink our tap water. I do still buy bottled water, though, because it seems no matter how well I wash a water bottle I still get sick if I reuse it. In situations when only well water is available, I have to drink bottled water because for some reason the well water makes my throat swell shut once in a while-- I know sulphur has that affect on me so I wonder if it could be traces of sulphur in the water. I try to only use bottled water in a situation when water in a glass really would not do, which isn't all that often. I read recently that the student government at my alma mater is pushing hard to ban water bottle sales, and I would have been really aggravated if they had done that while I was still there. I usually had my own bottles but if I ran out of water or ate an unplanned snack and needed something to drink, I would not have been pleased to have to buy pop instead of having a healthy choice.

[saintfan]

Are there many Universities out there that run on well water? Unless you attended one of those cooperative farm as college schools I bet you're pretty safe.

[mom0809]

I wish more schools would have a 'no bottled water' initiative. Brita and other water filters are great for use in dorm rooms, and filling stations throughout campus are brilliant.
We're creating a nightmare for future generations at the rate at which we're consuming bottled water.

[Hunt]

Well water is a very different proposition from municipal water, which is treated and monitored.