Posted on 09/24/2010 12:26:18 AM PDT by thecodont
One of the reasons for the explosive growth in the sales of bottled water in the past two decades (the average American now drinks nearly 30 gallons of commercial bottled water per year, up from 1 gallon in 1980), is the disappearance of public drinking water fountains.
In a recent Huffington Post piece and in the book Bottled and Sold: The Story Behind Our Obsession with Bottled Water, I recount the disappearance of public water from major sports venues, such as the new stadium at Central Florida University (built with no water fountains at all), the removal of water fountains by the sports arena that hosts the Cleveland Cavaliers, and the efforts by the University of Michigan at their 100,000 seat stadium to restrict water to a small number of fountains and sales of bottled water from their own commercial vendors.
It is time for a revival of our public drinking water fountains.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/gleick/detail?entry_id=72937&plckOnPage=3&plckItemsPerPage=10&plckSort=TimeStampAscending#ixzz10QewE33t
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
I never stopped using drinking fountains—for reasons unrelated to any current “cause”.
That is OK the guy can keep his drinking fountain. Who really knows what the guy that last drank from the fountain had in the way of diseases and who really knows if that teenager squirted the water out of his/her mouth onto the spout. Haven’t drank from one in years ever since i saw a guy urinate in one.
Oh, c’mon. He was probably French and thought it was a bidet.
“…disappearance of public drinking water fountains…”
There are plenty of water fountains, especially in Government buildings; and they contract for bottle water to be brought into their offices.
I call this crap propaganda and B.S.; Americans do not trust the water supply provided by Government!
And a lot of them have filters inside that are never changed. A niece of mine said they complained about “little white, hard specks” coming out of the fountain at school when they got a drink — come to find out it was disintegrating pieces of a filter that hadn’t been changed in who knows how many years—yuck! I remember as a kid being in a long line after gym or sports only to get a couple of sips of water before being told to hurry up or “leave some for the fish”! I’ll stick to bottled!
I remember the good old days when I saw drinking fountains in the park in Seattle without handles. They had so much water up there that they just let the fountains run constantly.
The article makes some sense. However, as I noted in the SFGate.com comments, it would be more credible if the author did not go out of his way to make a mild slam against the Tea Party.
Scary article from yesterday about a government office in Seattle finding out that its drinking fountain water had been connected to the air conditioning system for the past five years:
[url]http://www.seattlepi.com/local/6420ap_wa_ferry_hq_water.html[/url]
This might also explain why the water in the drinking fountains at the federal court building in San Francisco tastes like rust.
I only drink water when I am in Scotland. And I have never been to Scotland...
Bottled water is a revenue source.
For sports venues, with a captured audience who is not allowed to bring in outside drinks, it's a no-brainer.
Gotta keep generating loot for the owners to pay those multi-million dollar players.
I think the reason people are drinking so much bottled water is that so many people have bought into the idea of bottled water filtering out all the impurities, even though some companies like Aquafina (Pepsi) have been found using regular tap water. Spell Evian backwards, and then go buy their product.
You can make a lot of money in the world if you convince people that by buying your product, it makes them smarter and more evolved than commoners. Just look at the Polar Bear electric car commercial they are putting in NFL games.
I think that I can recall law suits brought against perceived injuries from the use of public fountains. If I were building a public venue, I too would seek to minimize my “Exposure to Torts” risk. Just another aspect of how our public life is affected by legal issues, hard to quantify but you know it is happening.
Let’s see,a sanitary-sealed bottle of spring water or a public water fountain in SF ‘maintained’ by union parks employees. Yup. I’m pining for the fountain.
WOW!!!
The HVAC (heating, ventilating and air conditioning) water has some delicious chemicals added and for the most part just circulates in a closed system.
After two years the fountain water must developed some unique flavors!
A recent lawsuit - settled for $1.2 Million
Auqafina and Dasani (coke) are tap water that has been purified using reverse osmosis. It’s so pure they have to add back some minerals. This is the water they use to make their soda products as well.
I drink bottled water because it comes in a bottle, with a lid. I put them in the fridge so they are also nice and cold. They are handy when traveling in a car or out for a walk.
I stick with the actual spring water brands because they taste better.
The idea of the bottled water being somehow better or more pure etc. never enters the equation. I imagine it’s the same for most bottled water drinkers.
I spent 4 years in West Texas drinking tap and never got sick. People just let everything get in their heads.
I was recently in Rome, and there were free flowing fountains all over the place. Drank from them for a week and was fine. But I had 3 waiters tell me I needed to buy bottled water because the city didnt filter their water. Their bottled water costs about $6 in American money per liter. I can get a 2 liter bottle of Coke for $1.50 in Dallas, but water costs $6 per liter in Rome?
I think I am in the wrong business.
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