We were thirsty the other day and wandered into a cute organic foods store on Atlantic Ave. in Brooklyn. As we went to pick out something to drink, we saw that only Fiji brand water was chilled. We decided to buy some tea, but for a moment we considered buying water from Fiji. After all, we were thirsty.
Then we thought about how stupid it was to buy water from Fiji . Not that there’s anything wrong with Fiji, but we don’t need their water. We have water. So when we saw the following quote, we were glad we didn’t buy water that had to be transported from Fiji.
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. Which means it is easier for the typical American in Beverly Hills or Baltimore to get a drink of safe, pure, refreshing Fiji water than it is for most people in Fiji.
Consumerist is all for consuming, don’t get us wrong, but that’s just messed up. You might be a dumbass for drinking Evian (and we’ve done it) but at least the people in France appear to have enough water. If you read the rest of the article the quote comes from, it doesn’t get any better. It does, however, make us feel a little more willing to suffer the inevitable eye roll one gets from many New York servers when one says, “No, bottled water, thanks. Tap water is fine.”
Message in a Bottle [Fast Company via BoingBoing]
(Photo: rickabbo)
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Here in Orlando, the tap water is absolutely horrendous. The first time I took a shower after moving down from Virginia I actually gagged from the sulphur stench.
After awhile you get used to the smell, but it’s still awful to drink. I keep a few cannisters of Country Time and Kool Aid powder around for my drinking needs.
I just moved to NJ a few months ago and i miss my NYC tap water. The water where i live now tastes kindof “dead”. Something about NYC tap was crisp and really perfect…i guess i can drink as much as i want when i visit my parents.
Having said that, i’m not for or against tap water. But if i’m out and didn’t bring any boiled tap water, then i’ll buy a bottle. But it is ironic that the island of Fiji does not have safe drinking water for its residents.
@B: why the fuck should I subsidize the Fijian economy? Why not the Albanians? Lichtensteinians?
@Papercutninja:
it’s new jersey. the entire state is devoid of flavor.
I read that article yesterday (while I was “working”, natch) and it makes a great argument for tap water. I recently switched to a stainless steel refillable water bottle and a Brita. I couldn’t be happier and neither can the recycling guy.
I can’t even believe I once thought it was ok to buy bottled water, much less to throw the bottle away and not recycle it when I was done. Gross!
@B: Read the article. 200 Fijians would be out of work out of the hundreds of thousands that actually live there.
NINE litres of gasoline-equivalent fossil fuels are burned to extract, bottle, and ship ONE litre of Fijian water to North America, which ranks it as the most environmentally egrigious water, and perhaps food product period, in our food system.
Drink hyperpurified local bottled tap water if you must (dasani for instance), but drinking imported water is utterly despicable in this day and age.
Colorado here…
fantastic tap water, no need for a filter, clean and basically ice cold out of the tap..
Check The Environmental Working Group tap water database to see how your community’s water quality rated (click tabs above)
[www.ewg.org]
“Tap water in 42 states is contaminated with more than 140 unregulated chemicals that lack safety standards, according to the Environmental Working Group’s (EWG’s) two-and-a-half year investigation of water suppliers’ tests of the treated tap water served to communities across the country.
In an analysis of more than 22 million tap water quality tests, most of which were required under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, EWG found that water suppliers across the U.S. detected 260 contaminants in water served to the public. One hundred forty-one (141) of these detected chemicals – more than half – are unregulated; public health officials have not set safety standards for these chemicals, even though millions drink them every day.
The Fiji bottles are fabulous. Isn’t that the whole point?
These [www.swissbottle.com]
are fabulous too and they don’t leach DEHA(for those that hang onto the bottle because its pretty) or end up in the landfill for that matter.
Water quality varies pretty greatly from community to community. When I lived in one rental house, we got a letter from our city telling us that the city’s water supply tested high for lead and that we should be cautious. So we started buying bottled water. We couldn’t install an RO filter in the rental house, and didn’t know of any practical alternative at the time.
My father once worked for a bottled water company, so he’d drink the water he got there for free; it never occurred to him to give that bottled water to his dog. One day his dog dropped dead. The autopsy came back with lead poisoning. He’s been a believer in bottled water ever since.
That all said, I avoid buying bottled water. I am pretty seriously on the reduce end of the reduce-reuse-recycle trend. I now have an RO filter in my house, and fill stainless steel water bottles to take out of the house with us. I only buy bottled water when I find myself unexpectedly needing water and tap water is either unavailable (stopping at a gas station on a road trip), or unreliable. As I said above, some places have really clean water… others don’t. I prefer not to trust strange water. I’ll strive to carry water from my own filter.
On the occasion that I do buy bottled water, though, I would never buy water from Fiji or France. That transportation issue is an environmental and ethical nightmare. I avoid buying Poland Spring or any other national brand as well. Pennsylvania is rare among states in that it actually has testing standards for spring water. There is a license number printed on every bottle of PA-bottled spring water. Thus, if I do buy bottled water, I always make sure it’s bottled in Pennsylvania. It’s both fairly local and reasonably guaranteed clean.
If you think Fiji is ridiculous, the company I work for was in discussions with a Japanese group that wanted to set up pumps off the coast of Hawaii and pump up the water that’s 10-20K feet below the surface. The theory being that it takes so long for the upwelling in the Pacific that this water is “untouched by man”, totally pure. They pitched the idea that it would be the purest water on the planet. Pure BS I’m thinking (won’t desalination kind of alter this?) but the same morons that have fine china on the table with bottles of Fiji will probably snap this up.
Please, everyone knows that the best water comes from Icebergs in the north atlantic. That’s why I don’t drink bottled water. I only drink Iceberg Vodka.
@Prosumerist:
“I still hope they one day faze out flouride.”
1. Why? Are you a fan of childhood tooth decay?
2. It’s phase, not faze.
@Prosumerist:
“I believe most of NYC municipal water is recycled (“reclamed”).”
Your belief is wrong. Straight from the Catskills, baby!
The deep ocean water is a reality and a big seller in Japan. It brings millions to the Hawai’i economy and the stuff is soon to be available in the US.@Frank Grimes:
we had a 3-part report here in San Francisco (SFGate.com/SF Chronicle) about bottled water, tap water debate. a good read… here’s the 3rd part specifically talking about Fiji brand water.
L.A. business tries to make Fiji Water a star
The other two parts are searchable on the site, look up “Lazarus” + “water”
First of all let me state, I am totally in agreement as to the utter stupidity of bottle water in general. While there certainly are situations where I understand it makes sense; i.e. on the run, when the quality of water is subpar and filtration isn’t a viable option (in these cases bulk water makes more sense) Besides being a massive rip off, trucking (over 7 lbs. a gallon) water across the country and the world is a massive waste of energy and produces an obscene amount of carbon emissions for virtually nill tangible benefit. But my comments concern your assertions about Fiji. I have spent many months in Fiji, traveling extensively from urban Suva, to the interior of Vanu Levu, to far flung outlying islands (where rainwater is the only supply) often staying with local Fijians in small villages – and I assure you nowhere in the country will you have a problem finding the ubiquitous (often in the large 1.5 liter bottles) Fiji water. It available virtually anywhere you can by anything for as reasonable as price (by western standards extremly low) prices. And while I certainly don’t contend Fiji is without water problems, I certainly can’t buy the assertion that half of Fijians are without reliable, potable water. This is the most affluent nation in the South Pacific after all – I was curious where this info was coming from?
Holly crap, so many cities with horrible water. Hmm, i think we have better tap water in Monterrey (Mexico), im still getting a filter anyway.
Oh and for those who recicle plastic bottles for carrying water, wash them often, they will eventually grow fungus or bacteria if you just put more water in it.
if everyone’s tap water is THAT bad, i’d think you’d want to lobby for better local water treatment, rather than waste your money on bottled water. i mean, do you bathe in bottled water, too? or do you always come out of the shower with that nice “sewer” stench?
that said, i do really like the fiji water bottles. i got a free fiji water while shopping at some fancy-ass store and i’ve been refilling the bottle (with *gasp* tap water) cause it’s so cute and little and square. and it has flowers and ferns on it, too! that must mean it’s good for you.
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I live in the middle of the state of Virginia (not Richmond). The tap water here actually burns my eyes.
I miss London. Best tap water ever.