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we are all pretty well fit and health-conscious where I work. I've noticed this year most are carrying these metal jugs. REI and other sports stores sell them. It could be because micro-plastics prevailed in a recent study in something like 90% of plastic bottled water. I finally gave in a bought a metal jug but it's so awkward that I decided not to use it. We have free filtered water machines at work, and at home I live in an area where water is quite good from the tap. I used to use Brita, but really there's no use for such hoopla. I was one of the kids drinking from the waterhose and so far, so good. I think uptight people who worry about such trivial things will cause more harm than drinking from the tap. Let me suffix it to say IF you're in a civilized first world country and state.
also, it doesn't help that Phelps came out and stated he drinks his weight in water....most of us are not THAT athletic but wannabes abound. Too much water isn't always a good choice. Sometimes it dilutes the good nutrients, and you don't want that to happen. Drink when thirsty, not out of fear.
California. We all recycle. Religiously, one might say.
We were shocked when we took possession of our Arizona home recently and found there isn’t a green waste barrel. Quelle horreur!
Maybe there is a lot of recycling in CA, but overall the vast majority of disposable water bottles end up in landfills. Only 23% are recycled. Recycling gets a lot of good press but is often not that effective. Recycling involves lots of labor, lots of transportation costs with added carbon use, lots of water for washing and preparing the used plastics for reuse, and energy for reprocessing. It might make more sense and be more ecologically friendly just to burn the used plastics.
No, but it does prove how effective advertising really is.
What advertising? Mine is a used Kombucha bottle.
I would argue that drinking more water is improving our general health. The first time I met someone using a water bottle was back in the 80's, a woman who had been a weight watchers member and had lost a lot of weight.
Water is the substitute for unneeded liquid or solid form calories. Mostly I see normal weight people with water bottles though, not overweight folks.
I think carrying water around has actually peaked in popularity. Some of that is because people don't want all the plastic waste - so unless you want to drink tap water and fill up a reusable bottle that has to be cleaned it's much more of a pain.
My tap water tastes horrible so I can see why people would pay for bottled - but I won't pay $1+ because it's easy to get bundles of 36 and pay maybe a dime or less. Still more than tap but at least it is palatable both tastewise and to my pocketbook!
Finally, someone who gets it. Well water in many parts of Michigan are contaminated with some really nasty chemicals due to zero EPA enforcement from the 40-60s. And now water regulations in place since that era are being rolled even further back by the current EPA. Because of this, we have had our wells heavily mineral/salts/metals tested, and though our well in the north has great water, the well in our southern residence, -though not contaminated with chemicals- has organics. We installed a treatment system for that which works really well, so water is clear and doesn't smell but it makes water taste kind of 'flat' or 'stale'. Connecting to tap water here is not always of benefit, and in places like Flint and who knows where else, often runs through lead pipes which isn't great. And it not just Michigan. When we lived in Colorado, our well had 150x past the safety limits for Uranium U238 and 1500x past safety limits for Radon. I drank it for >10 years thinking that since it passed potability requirements, it was safe. It wasn't. I could easily eventually develop cancer because of this. As far as I know, other than potability, there are no heavy metals regulations in place there, and we didn't know about it until we sold our house, and the incoming buyer insisted on testing for them. It cost us over $10000 to solve the well problem before we could sell. This is why we tested here.
For us, bottled water is a good health choice. Our total water cost, drinking+other runs about $9-$12 per month, and despite taste, our well-water is clear, clean and works for everything else. Much cheaper than the $70 per month tap charges in the cities. How many people here actually know the makeup of their drinking water?? Not likely many, so it is interesting to see comments from those that haven't taken the time to have metals testing done on what they consume.
I used to always carry a small thermos of milk or sometimes, coffee. Do they even make thermoses anymore? The kind with the glass liner.
Can't stand the flavor of plastic so no plastic water bottles.
Yes, thermoses are still available. If anything, the new ones can be lighter and more efficient in keeping the content hot or cold.
My favorite is Zojirushi SM-KHE48PT Stainless Mug. You can get it in 12oz or 16oz. It keeps my iced water cold and hot coffee hot for 10 hours or longer. I have replaced my reusable water bottle with the Zoji mug. It fits nicely in the water bottle holder of all my backpacks and travel bags.
Back to the original topic, I don't know where the OP's lives but I have not seen many people toting and sipping water bottles both in humid NY area where we lived for 26 years and in our current dry Idaho location. If anything, I find that younger folks are less likely to keep hydrated than older folks. I remembered going for long walks in hot Panama with my daughter and nephew few years back. Both of them refused to bring along water bottles. I warned them that I would not share mine but ended up giving them few sips when they looked too miserable!
Regarding the OP's question of whether anyone carry water bottle 30 years ago, my recollection is that I used to see people toting Coke or other soft drink bottles even 2 liter size ones! We have always carried water bottles with us when travel long distance or hiking. We kept the water in canteen or small plastic coke/juice containers.
I had refrained from participating in this very long thread because I thought it was silly to 'debate' about people's need to hydrate. People are so different in their physiological needs, levels of physical activities and live in different types of climates. IMO, it is ridiculous to think that people should have the same hydration need as yours. I chuckled in reading comments that carrying water bottles being a status symbol. It may be so years ago with expensive and fancy Perrier water but certainly not with Poland or Walmart label spring water! I finally post in this thread mainly to answer the question about thermos then decided to offer my 2 cents on the subject ;-)
I agree that water bottles are not good for the environment but they are certainly convenience. I rarely buy water bottles except the few times when we traveled and somehow lost our water carriers. The few commercial bottles which we are using are the ones which we got while at social events. I reuse them as many times as they last. I don't get the comments about reusing water bottles being unsanitary. We don't throw our dishes out after one use at home so what's wrong with washing the bottles with soapy water then rinse them? BTW, we only use the reuseable water bottles as backups to our thermos.
I also want to comment about the availability of public water fountains. A quick google search confirmed my observation that they are getting harder and harder to find. The few remaining ones which I have tried are usually in filthy and neglected conditions. With so many bad news about public water contamination, I totally understand the reluctance to drink public water.
This keeps my ice water cold all day. Like 8 hours. We work all day, and drink water in the car. Best money I ever spent. And while my choice was this top, they have other styles.
When I was working my company gave us all insulated bottles for water or coffee. It was rare going into a meeting and not seeing everyone having their bottle with them. Drinking water throughout the day (especially in a office with dry air) was encouraged.
Now that I'm retired I carry a steel bottle (like a hydro flask)with me in the car when running errands. I put a couple of ice cubes in it in the morning and fill it with filtered water. If I go to a restaurant for lunch they will fill the bottle for free when I leave. I can go through 2 bottles during the day more if its hot out.
Working out or golfing require multiple refills.
If you don't want to drink water while you're out an about don't. For me I won't leave home without it.
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Solly says — Be nice!
