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News & ArtsFriday, April 24, 2009
At Large Could I Get Some Bottled Water?
Posted by Dan Savage on Fri, Apr 24, 2009 at 3:25 PM
This sign was posted over the sink in a dressing room I was recently stored in before a talk. It didn't exactly set my mind at ease...
Um... gee. Anyone know far below maximum contaminant levels we're talking about?
3
Umm you probably would be better off with tap water, actually.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/arti…
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/arti…
4
it's funny cause you think it just has to do with the water coming out of that specific tap. I'm sure you know bottled water isn't any better because they use the same standards right?
5
Reading between the lines = Enjoy our lead!
Funny how the wording states that the "lead concentrations", meaning that there is lead content in the water is "below the maximum contaminant level" - thus it meet the minimum contaminant level?
Funny how the wording states that the "lead concentrations", meaning that there is lead content in the water is "below the maximum contaminant level" - thus it meet the minimum contaminant level?
6
I should say that 15 ppb total lead is the maximum concentration in Washington state, by MTCA method A. So somewhere between 15 PPB and no detectable lead by lab standards (basically zero).
At least you aren't drinking in the City of Redmond, where dry cleaning solvents are regularly found in the municipal well water. In fact, plastic water bottles likely leach out chemicals worse for you than a couple PPBs of lead. Just sayin'
At least you aren't drinking in the City of Redmond, where dry cleaning solvents are regularly found in the municipal well water. In fact, plastic water bottles likely leach out chemicals worse for you than a couple PPBs of lead. Just sayin'
7
Water can contain a maximum of 49.99% of lead, or else it is just lead containing some water. This water only has about 49.98% lead!
9
Bottled water is often tap water.
http://www.nrdc.org/water/drinking/qbw.a…
If we used just part of the billions of dollars we spend on bottled water we could provide clean drinking water for the entire world. Please don't promote bottled water companies by fueling fear based on myth.
http://www.nrdc.org/water/drinking/qbw.a…
If we used just part of the billions of dollars we spend on bottled water we could provide clean drinking water for the entire world. Please don't promote bottled water companies by fueling fear based on myth.
10
It almost reads like something that has been passed through Babelfish into another language and then back to English. Or like the hilarious Engrish signs that are all over Tokyo.
This water has lead insufficient quantities. for your pleasure.
Today is a new day like flash in the sky. Such a thing is.
ENJOY YOUR THIRSTY.
This water has lead insufficient quantities. for your pleasure.
Today is a new day like flash in the sky. Such a thing is.
ENJOY YOUR THIRSTY.
12
Way to go Dan. This is the kind of fear that leads to the entire freaking country drinking bottled (tap) water.
13
There is no reason you should hesitate to drink from this tap! Americans are so arrogant. I can't believe you are supporting bottled water.
Do you even realize that maximum contaminant levels are set by our government to be far below any level that might cause harm? I will repeat. American tap water is very very safe. You aren't in a third world country with parasites in your water that can kill you. Be glad.
Do you even realize that maximum contaminant levels are set by our government to be far below any level that might cause harm? I will repeat. American tap water is very very safe. You aren't in a third world country with parasites in your water that can kill you. Be glad.
14
That's at WWU... and yes, there was some lead issues in some buildings. Hence they went around testing and placing signs on the ones that passed.
I mean, you that a certain amount of rat poop is allowed in your cereal, right?
I mean, you that a certain amount of rat poop is allowed in your cereal, right?
16
@10:
"This water has lead insufficient quantities. for your pleasure.
Today is a new day like flash in the sky. Such a thing is.
ENJOY YOUR THIRSTY."
that, for gratitude and much enjoyment
gave me from you in this moment
I declare you maker of happy person, Best.
"This water has lead insufficient quantities. for your pleasure.
Today is a new day like flash in the sky. Such a thing is.
ENJOY YOUR THIRSTY."
that, for gratitude and much enjoyment
gave me from you in this moment
I declare you maker of happy person, Best.
17
Yeah, after Artzen hall had some issues I think. These are almost definitely a joke though, because they are also posted above Urinals and some of the sinks in the nastiest bathrooms on campus... that or they were moved.
18
bottled water at wwu, dan? really?
if you thought wwu students had a weird fascination with pegging, don't get them started on bottled water.
if you thought wwu students had a weird fascination with pegging, don't get them started on bottled water.
19
Dumb sign. Good to drink from a fountain.
Did you ever try to lift one of those 5 gallon jugs onto a water cooler? That shit is heavy. Imagine just one truck full of them. That shit is beyond heavy.
Think about how much fossil fuel is burned and CO2 released delivering all the bottled water in the world.
Then realize that out of most U.S taps, gravity delivers the water to every tap inside or outside your house.
Can we encourage the world to go tap?
tap tap tap.
Did you ever try to lift one of those 5 gallon jugs onto a water cooler? That shit is heavy. Imagine just one truck full of them. That shit is beyond heavy.
Think about how much fossil fuel is burned and CO2 released delivering all the bottled water in the world.
Then realize that out of most U.S taps, gravity delivers the water to every tap inside or outside your house.
Can we encourage the world to go tap?
tap tap tap.
20
@Dan and 4,
Tap water is regulated by EPA standards, if I recall, while bottled water falls under a mess of regulations supposedly arbitrated by the FDA. The bottom line is, as I think someone already mentioned, that tap water in the US is usually as good as or better than bottled water. In many cases, bottled water IS tap water; in others, bottled water can contain much higher levels of contaminants (including lead) than municipal water supplies.
I might be a little off about the regulatory structure, but tap water is good and safe.
Drink the water.
Tap water is regulated by EPA standards, if I recall, while bottled water falls under a mess of regulations supposedly arbitrated by the FDA. The bottom line is, as I think someone already mentioned, that tap water in the US is usually as good as or better than bottled water. In many cases, bottled water IS tap water; in others, bottled water can contain much higher levels of contaminants (including lead) than municipal water supplies.
I might be a little off about the regulatory structure, but tap water is good and safe.
Drink the water.
21
"Do you even realize that maximum contaminant levels are set by our government to be far below any level that might cause harm?"
Do you realize that when the suburbs around Rocky Flats were discovered to have too much plutonium in their soil, the Feds raised the minimum by a factor of ten. Problem solved!
Do you realize that when the suburbs around Rocky Flats were discovered to have too much plutonium in their soil, the Feds raised the minimum by a factor of ten. Problem solved!
22
You weren't at ease?! The one in my bathroom at WWU, is above so I get to "flush" ,my water for 30 seconds. I feel like I'm in Mexico.
24
Hmmmm ... It makes you wonder why they didn't mention the test results for giardia, cryptosporidium, and mercury, doesn't it?
Dan, just because you're paranoid, it doesn't mean they're not out to get you.
Dan, just because you're paranoid, it doesn't mean they're not out to get you.
25
and then there is this:
"Mother Superior called all the nuns together and said to them:
"I must tell you all something. We have a case of gonorrhea in the convent."
"Thank God," said an elderly nun at the back. "I'm so tired of chardonnay."
"Mother Superior called all the nuns together and said to them:
"I must tell you all something. We have a case of gonorrhea in the convent."
"Thank God," said an elderly nun at the back. "I'm so tired of chardonnay."
26
I think what some people are missing is that the "maximum contaminant level" does not equal "the maximum legal contaminant level." The sign makes it sound like the water has below the maximum amount of lead you could get disolved into water at room temperature.
27
I wonder about that every time I take a drink. Yes, WWU, I will enjoy drinking here. It washes down the paintchips nicely.
28
@are you really this dumb:
Uh, you DO realize that people get sick every day from bacterial or protozoan infections from water in the US, right? Just because a lot of our water is safe doesn't mean that we NEVER have things leech in that can be bad for us.
Uh, you DO realize that people get sick every day from bacterial or protozoan infections from water in the US, right? Just because a lot of our water is safe doesn't mean that we NEVER have things leech in that can be bad for us.
30
If there is so much lead in the water that a wet paper towel will completely block x-rays, then it's probably close to the maximum.
31
As far as contaminants, bottled water has no more regulation than tap water. They are pretty much equally safe.
32
Yeah, go ahead and drink your bottled water, then toss the bottle in a landfill, so it might wind up surfing the currents of the Central Pacific with millions of its plastic friends.
33
it's obvious that many of you have drank the kool-aid. if you all have any faith that the epa or the fda is actually protecting our interests than you have not been paying attention.
i am also very tired of hearing people telling other people how to live green. i am pretty sure a few recyclable plastic bottles are the least of our worries. it's a distraction from the real issues, such as corporate greed, that makes it necessary for me to seek out clean water sources.
it's the flouride and additives that are poisoning us.
i am also very tired of hearing people telling other people how to live green. i am pretty sure a few recyclable plastic bottles are the least of our worries. it's a distraction from the real issues, such as corporate greed, that makes it necessary for me to seek out clean water sources.
it's the flouride and additives that are poisoning us.
35
I have written a speech called Kill Bottled Water that I gave recently. Bottled water is silly is the underlying message.
36
@33
How, exactly, is fluoride poisoning us? A lot of wacky alternative-medicine kooks like to claim that it is but none of them actually like to talk about how. Can you please explain? Because I can explain exactly how it's good for your teeth, and I can also easily find good epidemiological studies that demonstrate how it reduces the rates of dental problems in areas with fluoridated water.
I can also find data on the toxic chemicals released in both the manufacture and recycling of plastics, and on the vast amounts of hydrocarbons consumed in that manufacture and subsequent distribution.
I'm not arguing that a society in which companies are obligated by law to make money at all costs is a bad idea. I'm not saying that the government isn't infiltrated to a very uncomfortable degree by greedy corporate interests. What I am saying is that there is no logical basis to make the leap from that, to the idea that the EPA is evil and is poisoning us with fluoride. That's a non sequitur.
Please do explain.
How, exactly, is fluoride poisoning us? A lot of wacky alternative-medicine kooks like to claim that it is but none of them actually like to talk about how. Can you please explain? Because I can explain exactly how it's good for your teeth, and I can also easily find good epidemiological studies that demonstrate how it reduces the rates of dental problems in areas with fluoridated water.
I can also find data on the toxic chemicals released in both the manufacture and recycling of plastics, and on the vast amounts of hydrocarbons consumed in that manufacture and subsequent distribution.
I'm not arguing that a society in which companies are obligated by law to make money at all costs is a bad idea. I'm not saying that the government isn't infiltrated to a very uncomfortable degree by greedy corporate interests. What I am saying is that there is no logical basis to make the leap from that, to the idea that the EPA is evil and is poisoning us with fluoride. That's a non sequitur.
Please do explain.
37
@36
a little flouride helps strengthen teeth. a lot of flouride, say through drinking it all day for years and years, has been connected to birth or developmental effects, brain and nervous system, organ system toxicity (non-reproductive), reproduction and fertility problems. read the blah, blah here: http://www.ewg.org/chemindex/chemicals/2….
for me it has more to do with the fact that i don't need it so i don't want it in my beverage. let's pretend that 20% of the population is depressed. since paxil could help them does that make it logical to add it to the water supply?
plastic is bad= duh. my point was just that other people might drive a car and have 3 kids. i drink bottled water. should that person lecture me on my carbon footprint? for the record i refill a 3 gallon bottle at the store and add my own organic ions.
i don't believe i said anybody was evil. it just seems so obviously dangerous to blindly trust. government is a very large and slow machine. even after resounding evidence that change is needed it takes years to implement. i'm not willing to wait for them to catch up with science.
a little flouride helps strengthen teeth. a lot of flouride, say through drinking it all day for years and years, has been connected to birth or developmental effects, brain and nervous system, organ system toxicity (non-reproductive), reproduction and fertility problems. read the blah, blah here: http://www.ewg.org/chemindex/chemicals/2….
for me it has more to do with the fact that i don't need it so i don't want it in my beverage. let's pretend that 20% of the population is depressed. since paxil could help them does that make it logical to add it to the water supply?
plastic is bad= duh. my point was just that other people might drive a car and have 3 kids. i drink bottled water. should that person lecture me on my carbon footprint? for the record i refill a 3 gallon bottle at the store and add my own organic ions.
i don't believe i said anybody was evil. it just seems so obviously dangerous to blindly trust. government is a very large and slow machine. even after resounding evidence that change is needed it takes years to implement. i'm not willing to wait for them to catch up with science.
38
@jenny
In fact, yes, someone with three kids and a car would still be correct if they said that a bottled water habit was an unnecessary contribution to the waste-carbon problem. You're committing both a tu quoque attack and a nirvana fallacy there; on the first hand, calling someone a hypocrite might undermine their credibility but it does nothing to address specific concerns, and on the other, it's true that others might create more waste carbon but that doesn't mean that reducing a lesser source won't still help.
You may or may not be on the right track about the fluoride - from what I can see the scientific jury is still out. At worst, though, I think you can conclude it's an outdated policy from a time when there were a lot of people who didn't use fluoridated toothpaste.
And as far as blindly trusting, it seems a pretty broad leap to accuse anyone of it based on the assertion that drinking tap water is less harmful than drinking bottled water. Stating that the EPA has stricter water quality standards than the FDA seems to me more like a recognition that our government is fractured and flawed than any sort of imprimatur on their policies.
In fact, yes, someone with three kids and a car would still be correct if they said that a bottled water habit was an unnecessary contribution to the waste-carbon problem. You're committing both a tu quoque attack and a nirvana fallacy there; on the first hand, calling someone a hypocrite might undermine their credibility but it does nothing to address specific concerns, and on the other, it's true that others might create more waste carbon but that doesn't mean that reducing a lesser source won't still help.
You may or may not be on the right track about the fluoride - from what I can see the scientific jury is still out. At worst, though, I think you can conclude it's an outdated policy from a time when there were a lot of people who didn't use fluoridated toothpaste.
And as far as blindly trusting, it seems a pretty broad leap to accuse anyone of it based on the assertion that drinking tap water is less harmful than drinking bottled water. Stating that the EPA has stricter water quality standards than the FDA seems to me more like a recognition that our government is fractured and flawed than any sort of imprimatur on their policies.
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