Say No to Bottled Water
Marine Mailbox August 16th, 2007
At the canoe outpost, there was a sign that read, “No Bottled Water”. I panicked a little because it was a three hour trip down the Santa Fe river in the middle of June. In preparation for our weekend at Ichetucknee Springs, Florida we bought a case of Publix Spring Water and had a few bottles with us now for the canoe.
“We can’t bring bottled water?” I asked. The man behind the counter explained that we could, the sign was in reference to the petition that the locals had against plans for yet another bottling plant in the area.
“They say it doesn’t have any effect on the river, but ever since they started taking water from the springs it’s been lower.” he said.
I shook my head sadly, then walked away and quickly forgot about it as we loaded up the canoes and launched.
The canoe trip was uneventful and pleasant for the first ten minutes. Then we hit a shallow spot and had to get out and carry our canoes a few feet.. After a couple minutes we had to get out again. Then again a few minutes later. Our pleasant paddle down river had turned into the chore of navigating shallow spots and praying we didn’t get stuck again. Perhaps fun if you are young and adventurous. Not so much when you have a four year old in the canoe who is whining about the stench of river silt.
Halfway through the trip it seems as if we might be out of the muck. But then we saw it. A very wide expanse of land across the river. It was as if the river just ended and started up again one hundred yards later.
We had a group of three kayaks and six canoes, so we took turns carrying each one across. It took us probably twenty minutes. When we were finally adrift again I was hot, tired and thirsty. I fished a bottle of water out of the cooler, opened it, and just before I took a drink I paused. I read the label. The water was from Ginnie Springs and High Springs. The springs that fed into this river. I decided then and there I would never buy Publix spring water again.
The bottled water phenomenon seems to have sneaked up on me. I never paid much attention to the ever expanding selection of water in the beverage aisle of the super market. I think it has taken over our society in much the same way, in stealth mode. The majority of Americans believe in the bottled water mythology. It’s healthier, it tastes better, it’s more convenient, than tap water. None of that is entirely true and what truth there might be in it does not outweigh the stark realities of the damage the bottled water industry does.
If you want a truly eye-opening look at the bottled water industry I suggest… no I beg you to read Charles Fishman’s article that was published in this month’s Fast Company magazine. The online version is here: Message in a Bottle.
I know when you are confronted with that wall of text some of you will shut down, maybe crawl under your desk and roll into fetal position, shivering in fear of the lost minutes you will incur if you *gasp* read a long article. Trust me though, it’s worth missing the gossip about Paris or Britney at the Superficial, the article about Sim City at Something Awful, or the latest lolcat at ICHC.
Just in case, here’s a couple excerpts to entice you to read the whole thing.
24% of the bottled water we buy is tap water repackaged by Coke and Pepsi.
And in Fiji, a state-of-the-art factory spins out more than a million bottles a day of the hippest bottled water on the U.S. market today, while more than half the people in Fiji do not have safe, reliable drinking water.
we pitch into landfills 38 billion water bottles a year–more than $1 billion worth of plastic.
if the water we use at home cost what even cheap bottled water costs, our monthly water bills would run $9,000.
In 1976, the average American drank 1.6 gallons of bottled water a year, according to Beverage Marketing Corp. Last year, we each drank 28.3 gallons
The bubbles in San Pellegrino come naturally from the ground, as the label says, but not at the San Pellegrino source. Pellegrino chooses its CO2 carefully–it is extracted from supercarbonated volcanic springwaters in Tuscany, then trucked north and bubbled into Pellegrino.
Worldwide, 1 billion people have no reliable source of drinking water; 3,000 children a day die from diseases caught from tainted water.
After you finish the article go out and buy yourself a refillable water bottle for each member in your family. Save yourself a lot of money. Save energy. Save our waterways. Save the Manatees!
I’ve always believed in thinking globally and acting locally. Here’s some resources for people in Florida.
Uknown Quanity – The Bottled Water Industry and Florida Springs
Florida Spring – Protecting Nature’s Gems (I’m a little disappointed they don’t directly address the issue of bottled water here)
Captain John’s-Scuba Tampa Fl, Florida Dive Site! Boycott Bottled Water Page
Orange and Blue Online – The Dirt on Bottled Water
If you have information about the impact the bottled water industry has in your state please post a comment with details.
August 16th, 2007 at 12:17 pm
http://www.uswaternews.com/archives/arcquality/7presinxx1.html
That’s about an hour north of where I live. There’s nothing remotely close to a f*#king “Ice Mountain” here btw!!! Maybe an “Ice Hill” …
August 16th, 2007 at 3:18 pm
Ok, OK I get it but I also strongly believe that global warming is playing a significant part in this too. YOu know no rain to fill those little rivers, etc. We know that some of the bottled water comes right from the tap, as I suspect those machines where you can fill your jugs at Publix does….but I really like my Perrier is that ok? I mean come on I stopped using plastic bags, cut all the little loopy things off the soda bottles so the sea life can survive and I changed all my light bulbs too….so can I keep my Perrier? I mean France has good drinking water for their people right? or do they all just drink wine?
August 16th, 2007 at 6:12 pm
Victor, very interesing.
Rose, what’s one of the major causes of Global Warming? Carbon dioxide emissions? How do you think that Perrier get to the US? Trucks and boats that run on fossil fuels. What do you think the plant that bottles it uses to run it’s machinery? I’m betting it’s not solar energy.
August 16th, 2007 at 6:30 pm
Ok so do I stop wearing clothes too? How about the shoes I wear they are Birkenstocks and I think they come from Germany. I mean I bet that France has more solar power than we do AND they did join Kyoto where we ~America~ pulled out…Did I mention that our house has also switched to wind power, comes from the New Jersey Wind Farm?
Are we not to have any fun??? I can tell you one thing though, I do try to buy American and from companies that do not import fillers from other countries i.e. China…we didn’t have to worry about the Pet food recall because we buy from Merrick who grow their own products and are as holistic as one can be. So does that make us carbon neutral…just a little bit?
Oh good grief I just looked at my Sunglasses and they are Prada! Is that Italian? At least I know it isn’t Chinese
Oh more importantly: I didn’t vote for either Bush~father, or sons!!! LOL
August 16th, 2007 at 7:28 pm
You didn’t read the article did you?
It’s not about buying American. Nothing to do with imports at all. You brought up global warming as a reason that our rivers are in trouble and I was just pointing out that the bottled water industry contributes to global warming. No matter what country they are in, the factories use fossil fuels to bottle it and ship it.
So it’s a double whammy really, they’re taking water straight from the aquafiers (an equivalent to a lake a day in Poland Springs) and creating carbon dioxide emissions.
Clothes and shoes are necessary.
Water is necessary.
Water in a bottle is not. It’s a luxury and a convenience. Tap water is safe. If you want cleaner and “better tasting” water, it’s cheaper to buy your own reverse osmosis system in the long run. That’s all Pepsi and Coke do with their bottled water, run it through one of those.
August 16th, 2007 at 9:59 pm
Uhh…how about it hadn’t rained in that part of Florida for 6 months? Wouldn’t THAT affect the water levels??
Pardon, but don’t cry me a river full of misconstrued “facts”.
Noe post something damning about illegal immigrants saving this country!
August 17th, 2007 at 12:14 am
Ah finally someone finally brings up the drought we had. Kudos. Yes, it totally was a factor on water levels. Completely sucked didn’t it?
Doesn’t change the facts surrounding bottled water. You really think sucking all that water out of our springs doesn’t have any impact on us? Read more.
Even if I hadn’t read, some local dude that’s been working a canoe outpost there for god knows how long, tells me it matters, it means more to me than some anon guy on the interweb. Sorry, try again.
Common sense dictates that if you screw with mother nature it will bite you in the ass. You don’t build a levy around New Orleans and you don’t go stealing water from aquifers. Follow the journey of water my friend, http://www.floridasprings.org/anatomy/jow/
Misconstrued? I don’t know. My story was simply a tale of how the the impact of the bottled water industry was brought to my attention. I did my research based on my experience. It’s truly what brought the issue to my attention. I didn’t lie about that.
Illegal immigrants? Whole other beef, not going to go there. Start your own blog, write about it, I’ll come comment.
August 17th, 2007 at 12:53 am
I be proud Babysan
August 17th, 2007 at 7:39 am
Wait a second…doesn’t global warming mean no rain? I said it first! Totally agree about the immigrants, whole other issue, except I know some of them like Perrier, LOL
August 17th, 2007 at 11:13 pm
I believe the Santa Fe river and Sewannee Rivers are mainly spring fed from a deep underwater aquifer of limestone that flows like an underground river for hundreds of miles from the midwest and southeast. The waterlevels are determined from the aquifer pressure and not local rainwater, so the recent drought should factor very little into this.
August 17th, 2007 at 11:55 pm
Interesting. Thanks Pat.