Bottling it up

I try to drink 2 litres of water a day. I don’t really drink juice, soft drinks, coffee (anymore, really), milk drinks or anything other than black or green tea or water (we’re not counting alcohol here, okay?) but I’ve also been notoriously bad at drinking water in the past. Since I work at a Health Organisation we have Neverfail tanks delivered to our office and most of us drink plenty. I have since discovered that if you drink 2 litres of water a day you need to go to the bathroom a lot more than you would like. I have also realised that paying $3.50 for a bottle of water is a total crock of shit. Even if it’s designer water like Another Bloody Water, Fiji or Evian. However, carrying a bottle around and reusing it raises a few questions about the chemicals from the plastic, the bacteria that linger from reusing bottles without thoroughly cleaning them and then if you don’t reuse, how much plastic is going to landfill/recycling.

But whilst I am really keen to recycle as much as possible, I am a total water snob. But by that I mean, I don’t like carrying around dorky plastic drink bottles but I do reuse the 1L bottles that I sometimes purchase from the supermarket. I will drink tap water, filtered water or watercooler water though.  I used to only drink evian, which was my Godfather’s influence considering he drank 1.5-3L of evian per day. No idea how much tennis sponsorship related merchandise we got from that, but they even have special water to spray on your face. WTF? Glad I got over that phase and sucked it up enough to drink tap water. Moving to Melbourne where the water actually tastes good probaly helped though. Never living without a water filter anywhere else, ever again!

If you care about your water or about the environment then you need to consider more than just taste. There’s flouride/chlorine/mineral/sodium content, bacterium, shipping carbon footprint, recylced plastics, chemical transfer, charity/cause donation scheme and god knows what else.  Get a proper reusable bottle that you can put in the dishwasher and clean properly, and then refill from the tap. It’s heaps cheaper too, that buying plastic bottles all the time.

Actually, I like looking at all the expensive wanky designs that water comes in now! Kind of just for a laugh because I don’t really understand how water became such a fashionable thing. You need to drink it so you don’t die, simple. Check these out, and yes, they are all water bottles. I mean come on guys…

My favourite at the moment is VOSS “Artesian water” because it’s just so over the top. Check out this spiel from their marketing people:
Packaging may often be the only differentiation when it comes to bottled water. VOSS Artesian Water boasts low levels of mineral content and dissolved solids, making it almost the closest you can get to pure H2O. Developed together with former creative director for Calvin Klein, Neil Kraft and his design team, it is obvious the inspiration for the brand and packaging was influenced by the luxurious cosmetic industry.

WANKERS!!! Are they for real? A fashion designed bottle of freaking water!? From Norway. I mean, I’m just really not sure the people in Africa who have to walk miles to a pump of dirty water are really going to appreciate that.
Also if you’re interested in the water debate, check out some of these sites for figures, facts and not-so-facts:
http://lighterfootstep.com/2008/05/five-reasons-not-to-drink-bottled-water/
http://www.care2.com/greenliving/enough-with-the-plastic-water-bottles-already.html
http://www.plasticsinfo.org/s_plasticsinfo/sec_level2_faq.asp?CID=705&DID=2839
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bottled_water
http://www.jhsph.edu/dioxins
http://thewaterproject.org/