Some bottled water contains 70000 cfu of bacteria per mL

[Canada 02]

Tap water has an average of 170 cfu; 500 is considered the maximum

More than 70 per cent of popular brands they tested did not meet the standards set out by the United States Pharmacopeia, a non-governmental agency that sets safety standards for medications and health care products.


No more than 500 colony forming units (cfu) of bacteria per millimetre should be present in drinking water, according to the USP.


"Heterotrophic bacteria counts in some of the bottles were found to be in revolting figures of (100) times more than the permitted limit," said Sonish Azam, a researcher on the study, in a news release.


Some brands had as much as 70,000 cfu per millimetre, Azam.


The average number of colony forming units in tap water samples they tested in order to compare results was 170 per millimetre, she said.

http://www.calgaryherald.com/technol...562/story.html

[Table 5]

Canadian researchers say they've discovered some bottled water in Canada contains more bacteria than what comes out of the tap — although they won't reveal which brands are the culprits.

Thanks for nothing. I hate when people do that.

[Thor]

I always drank cold tapwater in Calgary, bought a nice water container to take with me out but never bought bottled water.

I don't get it, vast majority of people can't tell the difference between tap water and expensive bottled water, so why buy it?

[GoinAllTheWay]

Originally Posted by Table 5

Thanks for nothing. I hate when people do that.

Drives me crazy too. They don't want to say as I'm sure they will get sued but when we are talking about peoples drinking water that they purchase because they are under the impression it's cleaner, they really should have to say who the company is.

[troutman]

Originally Posted by Thor

I don't get it, vast majority of people can't tell the difference between tap water and expensive bottled water, so why buy it?

I've said it before - EVIAN is NAIVE spelled backwards.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=73396754811

This group has been created to facilitate an organized action against the use of bottled water. Our aim is to raise awareness of the negative effects that are created by the consumption of bottled water. We hope to eliminate the use of bottled water in our society.

Still a skeptic? Here are some facts:

- It takes over 1.5 million barrels of oil to manufacture a year’s supply of bottled water. That’s enough oil to fuel 100,000 cars.

- Eight out of 10 plastic water bottles become landfill waste.

- In 2007 we spent $16 billion on bottled water. That’s more than we spent on iPods or movie tickets.

- Plastic bottles can take up to 1000 years before they begin to decompose once buried.

- 90% of the cost of bottled water is due to the bottle itself

- 80% of plastic bottles are not recycled

- Bottling and shipping water is the least energy efficient method ever used to supply water

- Bottled water is the second most popular beverage in the North America

Price Comparison:
Average cost of 500 ml of bottled water ~ $1.50
Average cost of 500 ml of tap water ~ $0.06

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by fotze

Probably that water that I see in your neck of the woods (NYC area) Poland Springs. They sell that stuff for like 48 bottles for 50 cents. So ridiculously cheap down there.

I wouldn't doubt it, probably the cheapest brand around which means I'm probably chugging fecal matter. Then again, it's (sort of) local fecal matter, so at least I'm supporting the local fecal community.

[Pinner]

[Canada 02]

just for fun, i'm going to go out and buy several bottles from the grocery and test them. Shouldn't take more than a day or two. I'm betting the bottled water labelled 'purified' (likely by filtration, distillation or reverse osmosis) will have very low bacterial counts, but the bottles labelled 'natural' or 'spring' will be the bad ones

[mrgreen]

It's hilarious that water is now a mass-marketed 'beverage'. I'll keep sticking to delicious tap water and save my money for beer.

[Bring_Back_Shantz]

Originally Posted by troutman

Still a skeptic? Here are some facts:

- It takes over 1.5 million barrels of oil to manufacture a year’s supply of bottled water. That’s enough oil to fuel 100,000 cars.

- Eight out of 10 plastic water bottles become landfill waste.

- In 2007 we spent $16 billion on bottled water. That’s more than we spent on iPods or movie tickets.

- Plastic bottles can take up to 1000 years before they begin to decompose once buried.

- 90% of the cost of bottled water is due to the bottle itself

- 80% of plastic bottles are not recycled

- Bottling and shipping water is the least energy efficient method ever used to supply water

- Bottled water is the second most popular beverage in the North America

Another interesting fact:

-25% of these stats on bottled water say exactly the same thing

[HeartsOfFire]

Bottled water: More expensive than gasoline.

Think about that next time you complain about gas prices while the cashier is ringing up your Dasani.

[Canada 02]

Price Comparison:
Average cost of 500 ml of bottled water ~ $1.50
Average cost of 500 ml of tap water ~ $0.06

I think this is exagerated. That might be the price if you buy a single bottle from a vending machine or 7-11. I buy Aquafina by the case, 35 bottles for about $4. Thats $0.12 a bottle.

[Bring_Back_Shantz]

Originally Posted by HeartsOfFire

Bottled water: More expensive than gasoline.

Think about that next time you complain about gas prices while the cashier is ringing up your Dasani.

Why is gasoline always considered the benchmark by which people judge these things.
Lots of things are more expensive than gasoline.
Milk for example.

Hell, if you want to make a judgement on bottled water being rediculously priced why not compare it to milk? A bottle of say Fiji water, is WAY more expensive than milk.

[Cactus Jack]

Originally Posted by Thor

I always drank cold tapwater in Calgary, bought a nice water container to take with me out but never bought bottled water.

I don't get it, vast majority of people can't tell the difference between tap water and expensive bottled water, so why buy it?

It'd ridiculous. I have friends that work with water-related NGOs and Calgary time after time comes up as one of the top cities in the world for public water quality. In fact, all of Canada is fine. Why people drink bottled water in Canada is beyond me. We're killing this resource and needlessly driving up the price. I understand bottled water if you are travelling in a foreign country but not in Canada or the US. Tap filtered water in developing countries is the way to go. It's sad, really.

[HeartsOfFire]

I use it as a benchmark because I worked at a gas station for 5 years while putting myself through S.A.I.T.. I got earfuls of complaints for those 5 years as gas crept ever higher and higher towards $1/litre. I always got a chuckle at the customers that would complain about the gas price, yet not blink an eye about buying a bottled water. I would've pointed the irony out too, if it wouldn't have gotten me in trouble.

That, and also because I don't use gasoline at all, so I love to be smug about not having to endure Pump Robbery.

[calumniate]

It's true aquafina (coke or pepsi product can't remember which) is sick. It would not come close to municipal water standards.

[Bring_Back_Shantz]

Originally Posted by Pinner

I Didn't want to quote a big ass picture so I took it out.

While I agree that bottled water consumption is way overblown (if not convenient from time to time), I hate it when a grop throws together a thing like this and just cherry picks their numbers to make their point.

For instance they chose from what I can find to be the low end of the scale for the price of tap water in the US at ~ $0.40-0.80/m3.
Then they throw out $10/gallon for bottled water...okay, sure that kind of makes sense if you go by individual 500ml bottles. But the overall cost is stated as $61 billion from 53 billion gallons sold. That looks to me to be ~$1.15/gal.

An overpayment for sure, but I find it really hard to take anyone seriously when they don't have any kind of consistency in their numbers. Even if I do agree with the overall purpose for putting them together.

[Bring_Back_Shantz]

Originally Posted by calumniate

It's true aquafina (coke or pepsi product can't remember which) is sick. It would not come close to municipal water standards.

Ah, aquafina (Pepsi) is bottled straight from municipal water sources.
And Dasani (Coke), is bottled straight from municipal water sources as well, including a plant right here in Calgary.
So yeah, it actually does come close to municiap water standards, cause it is.

[Tron_fdc]

Originally Posted by Bring_Back_Shantz

Why is gasoline always considered the benchmark by which people judge these things.
Lots of things are more expensive than gasoline.
Milk for example.

Hell, if you want to make a judgement on bottled water being rediculously priced why not compare it to milk? A bottle of say Fiji water, is WAY more expensive than milk.

Pffft. Can your car run on milk? I think not.

Argument over.

[GreenLantern]

I usually buy water bottles just so I can empty them on the street and throw them out.

God I hate the environment..