In your post reflect on how your thinking has changed about the quality and safety of NYC tap and bottled water.
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| Poland Spring delivery truck on 182 and Amsterdam |
What things specifically made you change your thinking?
Did you find anything surprising? Why?
How does what you learned connect to yourself/family/and community?
What other questions/ideas do you have about tap and bottled water?
My views on bottled water has changed so dramaticaly, at first I thought bottled water was more safe than tap but apparently the companies are only making us waste money to get water that is free at the sink. The companies make the tap water seem to be the enemy. I also hate that almost all the bottled water is not recycled but just sent to india and dipsoed on someone elses lawn, why dont we put more effort into changing the recycleing method and make less waste in the world. For me i always drink from the tap and i seem to hate bottled water, people are only wasting money on water that can be taken from the sink. The only question I have is why doesnt anyone care and make a true change to this world, i will soon, Thats a promise of a lifetime.
ReplyDeleteThis week we were discussing how's tap water and bottled of water is and how they are different. This week i leaned that tap water usually comes from river or lakes. Tap water is a potable water supplied that tap valve inside the household or workplace. Now my mind change differently because now i don't know what to drink because they say that tap water is not good because it comes from the river and lakes etc. This week in class we were watching a video called "The story of bottled water" This video change my mind completely about where water comes from and there's another thing from the video that change my mind completely about water is when they say that in the front of the bottled they have an image that show's a mountain and stream but usually the water comes from the tap. There's was something that surprise me about bottled of water was that about 75% of empty plastic water bottles end up in the trash instead of being recycled. This surprise me because i see that in every bottled of water it says "recycled" so i don't why people don't recycled. Now that i know where bottle water usually comes from i need to tell my families what is the difference between tap water and bottled of water so they can know. I'm still wondering why bottled of water have those images on front that present fantasy images of how water is?
ReplyDelete~Marino A. Ventura(Environmental Science)4th period class
Elmis Rodriguez 6th Pd
ReplyDeleteMy views on bottled water have changed much after this week of environmental science. Before this week I always preferred bottled water over tap because of the manufactured demand that these water bottle companies have devised. They seduce me by telling me their water is pure and have their logo in nature settings to make me believe they are not harming the environment. They scare me into believing that tap water is dirty or worse than their bottled water. I found this amazing how these money-hungry individuals found a way to make huge profit of a necessity of life; water which is free. This connects to me and my family because we use bottled water in our home because we thought it was better than the water we get through the tap. Another thing that surprised me was the fact that when we recycle, our bottles just go to other countries and makes a mess for them. I believed that when my family recycled the bottles we drink that we were doing someone else harm. This week has seriously impacted my family because I have informed them of this and we will stop using bottled water and just get a filter instead.
This week during class, we had a canvass about bottled water and tap water. Through this topic my peers and I learned an abundance of information and secrets of these water sources that we were able to decide which one we preferred better. From the beginning my opinion about tap water was the safest and the cleanest and I didn't change even after the week. That's because this week we shed light that tap water is a better alternative to bottled water for many reasons. For example a bottled water from polar Spring is $2.00 for 20 oz when for tap water you can refill it for any volume for free. Also 47% so nearly half of bottled water is actually tap water, so why pay for something when you can just get it for free at your home? Another thing is that NYC's tap water has been stated to be the most tastiest and cleanest by water experts around the world who have tested water from around the world. What caught me off guard is that the making of the bottles can fuel about 1.3 million cars in a year, knowing this and that you can get water for free from the tap shows me the bottled water is obsolete. Learning this kind of information will help me show my mother how we can save money on water and how we can play a role in boycotting bottled water for the better of the world and are health.
ReplyDeleteMy thoughts about the quality and safety of New York City's tap water have not changed at all because I always thought that New York City tap water is safe, and that is why I drink it. However, my thoughts on the quality and safety of bottled water have changed for the worse. From Elizabeth Royte I learned that bottled water isn't FDA regulated, so it doesn't undergo the series of evaluations and tests that tap water goes through. This means that this water could in fact be of a poorer quality than New York City tap water and that is a shock because I always figured that since bottle water tastes fresh, it has a really high quality. Now I feel great that I rarely purchase bottled water.
ReplyDeleteElizabeth Royte is an expert of all things water related, and it was great hearing her opinion about New York City's tap water. She told us that workers maintain the watersheds that our water comes from, and they make sure that the surrounding area is clean. I agree with her because in class we learned from a booklet on New York City's tap water, that this water meets almost all of the parameters the state tests for. In fact, New York State tests for way more things than the federal government requires. This reassures my belief that our tap water is safe.
Something that changed my thinking about the bottled water industry was that the Fiji water bottling company lost in a water quality and taste test to Cleveland's tap water. This completely changed my view on bottled water because I always thought that tap water is clean, but bottled water is slightly better. When I learned this fact from a video in class I realized that people don't buy bottled water because it's a better product. People buy bottled water because they think it's a better product. The water bottling industry spends huge amounts of money to advertise their products and convince the public that tap water is filthy, and should be replaced by bottled water. However, I still think that bottled water is necessary for emergencies, and relief efforts, but outside of these scenarios there is no need to have bottled water.
Transporting and bottling water places an unnecessary burden on our environment. The plastic that holds the water is made of oil and a mixture of other chemicals. We could be using this oil for something else like gas for cars. The trucks that transport bottled water emits greenhouse gases into the air, that don't need to be emitted because bottled water is unnecessary. I found this surprising because I didn't think of the logistics behind the water bottling industry as a factor in global warming.
What I learned connects to my community because I see many people purchasing bottled water when they have perfectly good water in their homes. People buy huge packs of 24 water bottles and all of that plastic has the potential to end up in a place like India. Portability is not an excuse to buy bottled water because if one purchases a reusable water bottle, one can carry tap water around with them. We should promote the purchase of these reusable water bottles to stop individuals from wasting their money on bottled water, and their investment in a reusable water bottle will pay itself off in no time. Are reusable water bottles made of safe material? Should laws be made to stop the sale of bottled water? Has New York City done enough to promote its own water?
My thoughts on NYC tap water and bottled water haven’t changed drastically after learning information about them both in class this week. I would say that the reason behind this is because I had already known most of the information about tap and bottled water prior to this week, and I already had a firm belief in which one I thought was better and why. However, there were some things that I hadn’t known, like the fact that factories use enough oil energy every year that would be able to fuel a million cars just by making plastic bottles, and that 80% of those used water bottles end up in landfills and burned in poor nations such as India (I thought that the percentage would be lower).
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to tap water versus bottled water, I usually side with tap water. I say usually because in some cases, I know that tap water could end up being worse than bottled water - old pipes in buildings can add in substances such as lead that can be harmful for our bodies. However, I believe that bottled water is worse than tap in general, old pipes or not. Bottled water is surrounded by plastic, which can release chemicals into the water itself. These chemicals include Bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical that mimics estrogen, resulting in a disruption of the endocrine (hormone) system, causing birth and developmental defects, and cancerous tumors. What makes it worse is that we can’t really filter these chemicals out. These were the major reasons why I had a significant change of thought when it came to bottled water. Why would I drink something that would do more harm to me rather than good? Granted, there will be times where tap water is just not an option - it might not be safe. In such cases, if bottled water is the only alternative, then it would make sense to drink that instead. It really depends on the situation at hand.
What I found surprising from this week’s lesson would have to be the fact that bottled water, in comparison to tap water, could end up costing us 2000 times more money. I think this is ridiculous; why would you pay money for water when you can get it for free at your own home? It is obvious that the cons of bottled water definitely outweigh the pros. Bottled water companies use manufactured demand to manipulate us into buying their products, which in turn result in these higher costs. What makes this scenario worse is that many of the people who are being manipulated into buying bottled water don’t know that one-third of the water they are drinking is tap water.
My family drinks tap water, but because our building is fairly old, we have to use a filter to prevent getting any substances from the old pipes in our water. We don’t buy those gallons of bottled water from the store mainly because we have filtered tap water (which gives us more than just a gallon), and because we want to avoid the cons that bottled water brings. My community is a bit different. It’s understandable that bottled water is positive in the sense that it’s convenient for people when they want or need water. However, there isn’t a day where I don’t see a plastic bottle crumpled in a trash bin or crumpled on the floor. This is where more negatives come in. When plastic bottles are thrown away, it is sent to a landfill. When they are littered, it can end up traveling to our waterways and eventually our ocean. We have to keep in mind that most plastic is non-biodegradable, meaning that they cannot break down. It would be a smart idea for companies to use biodegradable plastic if they want to continue to sell bottled water, but this alternative would still be problematic since it takes such a long time for biodegradable plastic to break down, and when they do, they release high amounts of methane which is extremely harmful for our environment. Reusable bottles, specifically those that don’t release chemicals or are BPA-free, would be a better alternative, since we would be able to reduce bottled water use, and we would be able to refill them at any time.
My openian about the water indestry and also about tap water and also bottel of water. I think that bottel of water is not that save than tap when some times tap water can also be but u need to exsamaded the tap water in my house. One thing is that tap water taste more fresh then bottel of water does because to me bottel of water does not taste like anything at all and to me tap water taste way better than bottel. -whitney
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DeleteMy view of New York City’s tap has shifted from what I had prior thought about tap water. I didn’t perceive New York City’s tap water as safe. New York City has a reputation of having good quality water. It is hard not to be skeptical. This changed after we looked at the parameters that were measured in the water. It was interesting to see that there were state and federal standards. There was no clear cut for determining if the water was safe or not because the data ranges varied from higher than the standard, meeting the standard, below the standard. Overall, I thought that the tap water from New York City is safe. Despite knowing this I still would use a filter to filter my water as an extra safety measure.
ReplyDeleteIn addition my opinion of bottled water has changed subtlety after reading a section of Bottlemania. I found out that bottled water is not something really special. Large bottled water corporations like Coke and Pepsi acquire their water from city pipes, and New York is one of those pipe lines they use. This makes me think that bottled water is not that different than the water we get from our taps. The only big difference is the amount of filtering that bottled water goes through. Bottled water is not significantly better quality than tap water if it comes from the same source. Safety is another factor that does not drastically change, aside from the excess filtering of bottled water. I think to a certain degree too much filtering can have the adverse affect because of the many substances that are added to the water, it may no longer be natural. The bottled water industry is very profitable because it is selling something that is practically free.
What I learned about New York City’s tap water and bottled water is significant because now I am more aware of my water sources. Having this knowledge is important because water is a vital resource and is consumed in mass amounts. Knowing the quality and the level of safety of water is important because it can be harmful. I now feel a little safer about tap water and I should not be worried about drinking it unfiltered. I think that if the community knew the information we learned in class people would save some money. People would spend less money on bottled water and would drink more tap water. Has the quality difference between tap water and bottled water increased in recent years? Can bottled water still be considered natural water or is it artificial water? How does the bottled water industry compare to other drinks on the market?
I’m still sticking with my idea between NYC tap water and bottled water. NYC water tap water has the same quality with bottled water. The only difference is the price that the bottled water contains which is outrageous. There’s no problem with the NYC tap water because we has citizens of NYC, can say we can drink this water. Elizabeth Royte has also stated that the NYC water is always checked and throughout the year it’s checked over 10,000 times. So we should take advantage of the free water. I know that the bottled water might taste good but water has the same taste just different from some bottled water and the price difference. But now that I know that the NYC tap water is always checked I feel purchasing reusable bottled water which will save me money and also item from waiting in line for a bottled water.
ReplyDeleteElizabeth Royte has also given an important fact which many of us as students were asking. Why is the school water seems cloudy? I always had the idea that with cloudy water was a bad sign and would mean for me not to drink it. But the answer was always aside with us. The real reason is that water contains more oxygen. If we think about it, it’s actually a great thing because we need oxygen and having extra oxygen won’t affect us at all. Something interesting I learned this week was in California, there bottles were sent off to India and were burned off there. That won’t affect us but it actually does. The government is wasting money in order for those bottles to be transported to India and burned off as well. It’s also causing more Global Warming because of the smoke, causing greenhouse gases.
With this topic of NYC tap water vs. bottled water, I have made a little investigation. I have asked some of my family members about what would they rather drink. Majority chose bottle water and continued with a why. They all said because of the taste the bottles contain. I kept asking, would you rather pay for water? Then they all changed their minds and would stick with the tap water, reason is tap water is free. With one of my aunts, I asked her would you drink tap water or the water must be filtered? She said it always has to be filtered because she feels safer with it. With that I came with a conclusion that was the most obvious. All these advertisements of bottle water are creating the people to fear of the tap water. With this idea it has created a bigger deficit and global warming. With out these advertisements, it has more jobs available as well, people enjoying the best source for the human beings, water.
Before having these classes this week, I used to drink a lot of bottled water. But now after learning the differences between bottled and tap water, I'm going to start drinking more tap water because whats the point of drinking bottled water. Most of it is tap water,it has more chemicals than the tap water. The tap water is much better for you. I found it surprising that the tap water is much better for us than the bottled water. Because at first I thought the bottled water was better for us just because it looked and tasted better. But now I found out that tap water is better, I'm going to start drinking tap water from now on because its much better for me and I can save money. This has impacted my family because I have been telling most of my family to stop buying bottled water that its much worse than tap water. But the thing is some of them say that they knew this already but yet they still keep buying bottled water. This got me really confused. Now I'm happy because now I know what is better for me and my health. Now bottled water is out of my life, and tap water just took its place.
ReplyDelete- Jeffrey De La Cruz
This week in environmental science class we learned the difference between bottled water and tap water, tap water taste more fresh than bottled water, my thoughts have change after watching a video called "The story of bottled water" . it did change my mind because the water company was seducing me to keep buying bottled water such was poland spring and i also learned that the imagine in front of the bottles water show rivers , mountain and trees and when it said 100% natural spring water, sometime the water come from tap water. i thinlk that now i can tell the difference between bottled water and tap water and by watching the video i think that people should start or learned how to recycled.
ReplyDelete` Nadine Gomez 6th pd`
I used to think New York City’s tap water was repulsive, mostly because I didn't know where it was coming from. I was afraid to drink it, and so I never did, I would only feel safe drinking bottled water. But looking at the measured parameters of our water, I observed that tap water really isn’t all that bad. Although some of the measurements exceed the city’s limits, overall, the water is safe. I believe I will be drinking tap water a lot more for my convenience, besides, a filter can be helpful if you still feel skeptical about that tap water, I have one, and I feel safe drinking the water from my sink as long as it passes through my filter.
ReplyDeleteI found the elements of bottled water interesting. How manipulative bottled water companies can be to get the public to consume their water, when in fact, some of these bottled water companies such as Pepsi and Coke retrieve their water from pipes, including NYC’s pipes, where our tap water comes from. So it is not reasonable to be constantly buying water bottles, wasting money, when you can get the same water at home, for free. Additionally, bottled water is filtered a lot, and with extra added chemicals, it is no longer fresh and natural.
From what I’ve learned, I would no longer buy bottled water, unless of course I’m dying of thirst and my only option is to do so. I do not want to give up my money for something I can get for free in the comfort of my house. I will continue to use my filter at home and refill bottles in my house.
My perspective on tap water did not change, because I always believe that New York City’s tap water was safe to drink. If it was not then the government or state officials would constantly be warning the public not to drink the water. But what did change was my view of plastic water bottles; I never realized how much carbon dioxide is wasted in making and transporting water bottles. Which is also dangerous to us because particles of plastic can get in our water and possibly poison us, which was a big factor that change my perspective on bottled water.
ReplyDeleteWhat I found surprising was that most people choose bottled water over tap water just because they think its better. This really shocked me about how uninformed people are about water, and how much their wasting on bottle water. I would like to change this because the better informed the public is about tap and bottle water the better choices, that could also help our environment by decreasing the amount of bottled water we use daily.
This is important our community because since it’s made up from immigrants that come from places where the tap water is not as safe as New York City’s. Thus they believe that the water is like their home county; unsafe to drink, and spend their time and money buying gallons of bottled water that is not even regulated the government. Should laws be created to regulate these companies? And how can we effectively inform the public about the safety of our tap water?
At the beginning of the week, I thought that the NYC tap water was fine to drink. Reading further, I found out the NYC tap water is pure. So pure, in fact, that only one chemical is added to our water to further purify it. After this week I think very differently about the whole bottled water industry and about our NYC tap water. For example, I learned from author Elizabeth Royte that water bottles release chemicals after a while, which pollutes the water. This fact immediately made me think about home, because in my house we refill the water bottles in a form of recycling. As soon as I heard this piece of information, I told my mother to buy reusable water bottles and to throw out all the water bottles we are using. Also, as a personal goal, I decided to stop purchasing water bottles because even if I recycle them, they are not really being recycled. Instead it’s being shipped to India to stay in their landfills. I call this ‘flying pollution around the world’. A final question I have about water bottles is a very simple but complex one. Why are we purchasing water, when it is free in our house? Even after this informational week about water bottles, I guarantee that people will still purchase water bottles instead of buying one reusable water bottles and drinking tap water.
ReplyDeleteWater has always been a topic that I never really paid attention to. All I knew is that whenever I wanted water, I had it. Sounds a bit spoiled right? Well, that’s exactly what we are.
ReplyDeleteWater comes in all different forms. Bottled water, tap water, ice water, vapor water; water is available to us everywhere we go. But, do people ever stop to think “Where do we get our water and how?” Author Elizabeth Royte provided my class with inside information on bottled water and its effects on our environment. Many individuals have a fear of tap water. This is because they believe that tap water is in fact contaminated and dirty. Test results prove otherwise.
NYC, as proven by tap water testing, has one of the purest and cleanest water supply in the country. NYC’s tap water has to meet certain requirements while being tested. These requirements exceed the requirements needed on federal level. This was shocking to me because it showed me, through data, that NYC’s water is not something to be afraid of. It changed my perspective of tap water completely. We live in a society where bottled water is looked to be as the “clean” water when put up against tap water. That ideology is wrong. Statistics show that about 40% of bottled water originates from tap water. Isn’t that absolutely surprising? The water that you thought to be so pure is actually the water that you find in your kitchen sink.
I think that with this unit, my class and I have been able to understand and get rid of the scary feeling we get when we think about tap water. Tap water isn’t necessarily bad. The Catskill/Delaware watershed holds all of our clean water. To keep citizens even more at ease, 311 actually provides us with free water testing kits where we can test our water to ensure its pure quality. Tap water is also a lot more eco-friendly than bottled water. Bottled water fills up huge amounts of land with remains whereas tap water definitely doesn’t. I hope that everyone will now have a better understanding of tap water. As for me, I now look at my free tap water in a brighter and more positive light.
My overall thinking has not changed about NYC's tapwater or bottled water. I've always known that NYC's tapwater is excellent for the most part and I've never been reluctant to drink it. Despite all the evidence presented on why bottled water is bad, I probably won't stop occasionally purchasing and drinking it either. The idea of bottled water is just too convient for people to stop buying it.I've never preferred tap water over bottled water and vice-versa and don't notice a difference in taste so I just really don't care where I drink from. A question I have is what is the exact process for bottling water?
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ReplyDeleteBefore learning more about bottled water last year and this year I always used to think that every water we used was dirty or has small particles that can get you sick except for bottled water. But after learning more about water it came to me that bottled water and tap water are basically similar. The one thing that mainly changed my thinking of bottled water was that evidence shows that about 45% of bottled water companies use tap water. In some way I think that that’s illegal because they advertise that they use the purest, freshest water from places tap water don’t come from and yet they use tap water.One thing that I found surprising was that bottled water companies say they recycle their plastic bottles but only some get recycled most of the bottled water get ship and trashed in India. After learning more about water I explained to everyone at home that we can save more if we use tap and filtered water with reusable bottles instead of buying plastic bottles all the time and also tap water taste better in my opinion which is another plus.
ReplyDeleteWell, I used to believe that tap water was dirtier than bottled water and that bottled water was very clean. I think that this assumption mostly came from the fact that we didn’t trust the pipes in our building and we assumed that the tap water was dirty and unsafe to drink because of it. I later learned that the tap water was really just about the same as the bottled water. But this didn’t make me water to drink tap water any more since it still didn’t taste quite the same as bottled water. I also learned more about this after we spoke about it in class. I was really surprised to hear that New York City’s water wasn’t filtered. I thought all water had to be filtered but apparently not. After learning about the truth behind tap water, my trust in it increased. I also used to think that the water in water fountains at the park were a bit iffy-even though I drank it anyway-but it seems like I can really trust that water. I usually drank either though. If there was a fountain nearby then I drank from the fountain, if there was a water bottle nearby then I drank from that. I think of water bottles of having the purpose of convenience more than because it’s cleaner. Then again, I don’t drink water much since I don’t like how it tastes most of the time.
ReplyDeleteAt first, I never really thought about where tap water came from. I honestly used to think that it was sea water that had gone through a lot of filtering which involved getting the salt water out and making it fresh. But I guess the only way to make salt water become fresh water is through precipitation. Anyway, when I learned that our tap water actually came from the mountains I was surprised since I knew that water from the mountains was really fresh. I had heard about what a watershed was before but I didn’t know that’s where our water came from. I was also very surprised to hear that the water went to a reservoir that was out in the open. I thought that our water supply was kept in like a giant tank or something. The fact that our water doesn’t need to be kept clean and that it’s left out in the open is amazing to me. It shows that humans can really accomplish a lot of things. All in all, New York City’s tap water seems to beat bottled water since it isn’t filtered unlike bottled water.
Although discovering that New York City’s water wasn’t filtered, I was also surprised to hear that they put chlorine in the water. I thought that chlorine was only for pools. I didn’t know that you could drink water with chlorine in it. But I guess if you don’t put the same amount that pool water has then its fine. I also thought it was crazy that only 3% is fresh and some of that is frozen so we basically get our water supply from the tiniest amount of fresh water available.
This week has made me realize that some life choices that I, my family, and the community make aren’t that good. Many people are wasteful when it comes to their water use. This week had made me much more aware that we don’t really need water bottles. We can simply use reusable water bottles if we use water bottles for travel convenience. Since my family doesn’t trust the pipes in our building, we should probably get a filter and then we can stop spending so much on buying Poland Springs so much. Of course, we’ll probably still buy it since it does taste good and it comes from an actual spring-as I learned this week. After this week, I wonder, why doesn’t New York promote tap water more? And if it started to do so now, how come it hadn’t started before? Also, why is it that bottled water companies decide to sell things even though they know it’s harmful for the environment? Shouldn’t they be more considerate of the world and less greedy? I also thought that bottled water companies are similar to cigarette companies. They know that in the end, their products will have a bad affect on the people and the world and yet they continue to produce. If you’re a good sells person or even a good company, then you would be able to create products that would benefit the environment, not hurt it.
This week we have learned about New York City’s tap water, and bottled water. I actually feel safe and now I trust my tap water. when I get lazy and don’t want to go in the fridge and get filtered water, I just drink from my tap. I mean I have always had a tendency to drink water from my tap, but have always second guessed it because of the iron pipes and the fear of led in my water if I didn't use the filter.
ReplyDeleteI would say that the 2011 NYC Water Quality report, we reviewed in class really brought to my attention that New York City water is really healthy and safe to drink. I never knew that a report could give out so much detail to the people in our city about our water. It really did surprise me when I read some of the things they check in our water, to make sure it’s safe, like for the amount of led from the pipes, the color of the water, for all different types of chemicals, and percentages of bacteria. It makes feel really good, that I live in a city where water is taken very seriously I mean when the federal and state governments have expectations for our water, you know it’s serious. The report also made me gain more knowledge on the people who are in charge of making sure our water is safe, which is called the DEP. Before this week I knew what the DEP’s job was because I have had my encounters with them in the streets testing our water, but after this week I feel like I have a whole other meaning in my head of what their job in the city is, a more accurate one.
It also came to my attention this week that, I am not the only that feels as though bottled water is a very tough topic to talk about because it does have a lot of pros and cons, and anyone can argue whether its good or bad. I really enjoyed how our guest speaker Elizabeth spoke about this topic because she didn't stay on one side she argued both and I agreed with her on everything she said. The one comment that stuck with me was that re-used plastic water bottles collect bacteria from the moment you put your mouth on them, and that can affect the human body. It made me think of the summer when I used the same bottle of water for like 3 weeks while playing sports, it made me get grossed out. However overall I feel that, now because I know enough about our water system I will help educate my friends and family about using bottled water here in NYC, just because our water is so safe, and most of the bottled water comes from the same place our tap water comes from. This week made me realize that limiting the usage of bottled water and increasing the usage of tap water will help the economy and help stop global warming. One question that is still lingering in my head is, Why can’t we as citizens in this city fight for change in our water system, how about getting rid of bottled water that comes from the same place as our tap, and maybe letting companies like Poland spring proved us with bottled water only. That would at least reduce the bottled water usage here in the city.
My thinking about bottled water vs tap water has changed. i always thought to myself that bottled water was natural made water. It changed my thinking due to the fact that most of bottled water is just tap water with some chemicals. i still think bottled water is safer because it is checked and tested more than tap water is. what i found interested was about the bottle water companies saying that there water comes from pure clean fresh water streams and finding out it comes straight from my kitchen sink. This affects me and my family because if the amount of money we waste on water bottles and normal clean water out if the sink for free.
ReplyDelete-kenneth Rufino 4th period Environmental class.
After reading and analyzing the 2011 New York City Water Quality report, and starting to learn about the bottled water industry through reading works from author Elizabeth Royte, I am convinced that it is safer to drink tap water than bottled water.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was younger, I used to go to the store and purchase tons of water bottles, not caring about the environment and how much I was actually hurting it from a young age. But, a couple of years ago, my family decided to start being environmentally friendly and change things around. We now drink more tap water, and less bottled water. If we’re on the go, and must purchase bottled water, we make sure to refill with tap and not keep on repurchasing it. It is both safer and better for the environment.
Although I already prefer drinking water from the tap than from the bottle, what I learned in class reassured me that I am making the correct choice. At times individuals may think it’s a bit gross to drink water from the same faucet you wash your dishes with, or cook with. But the way I see it, it is better to drink from a place you know than one you don’t. You know that the chemicals being inserted into our tap water is just for our benefit to not get ill with water borne diseases. Whereas, with bottled water you have unknown chemicals which can cause us harm. Besides, the water from our tap comes naturally from the Catskills and bottled water has to be inspected and transported and chemicals are inserted which takes away the purity that the tap water has. Not only that, but you spend so much more money buying bottles daily, where you can get free tap water. And with drinking from the tap you are not causing any harm to the environment. When you purchase bottles, they can rarely get recycled and cause much harm to our environment.
From all the learning in class, I don’t feel really surprised and my mind didn't really change because I already knew that tap water was more favorable than bottled water, but I did feel reassured because I am on the right thinking path. However, I am still wondering about what the future holds for us with the bottled water industry. If more people choose tap water, can they ever just disappear? It makes sense that if people aren’t buying your product you would stop selling it. I also wonder if there is a way that we as students right now can volunteer to promote tap water over bottled water. From my perspective, it would be kind of cool to share our knowledge and give back to our community.
For me now I think diffently about bottle water because all this time I thought bottle water was cleanest water but this week I learn that is really not that is still dirty water because it has chemicals in it that they used to cleanthe water, Like I perfer drinking tap water then from a bottle water. What made me change my mind was that they used more chemicals in bottle water then water from tap, I thought it wouldnt of being the other way around. The only think I found supprissing was that bottle water has more chemicals in it and they still try convinced us to buy water from them saying that is better then tap water when is really not. what I learned connects to me and my family because my family also drink from bottle water alot so they drinking alot of chemicals that are in that water that they really dont know about.
ReplyDelete~Felix Guzman
Throughout my life I had always used bottled water or a filtered to cleanse the bacteria out of the sink water. It’s a fact what the video we saw in class discusses, we are brain washed into think that tap water is dangerous and that bottled water is cleaner and safer. On top of that we believe it taste better as well. Unfortunately, discovering and learning that tap water isn’t much different or better than bottled water hasn’t change what I think about the quality and safety of NYC tap water or bottled water. I have become more alert of it but it has become difficult to process the change in my habits of buying bottled water. I believe it’s in my head, but bottled water taste better to me than tap water in the sense that if tap water was informed to be safe and not drilled into my head that it wasn’t, I would have gotten use to the taste of tap water. What I learned from reading a chapter from Elizabeth’s book was amazing because I never realized all of these companies were making individuals believe that their water was better than NYC tap water.
ReplyDeleteThis information wouldn’t be as helpful as I thought for a person who is used to drinking bottled water. For example, I told my mom about what I had learned in school and that drinking water from the sink is not unsafe and better to drink than bottled water. She responded to me and said, “you must be joking, sink water is disgusting”. I definitely understand her perspective, it’s hard to adapt to something that you’ve thought your whole life was harmful to you. Personally I could never drink tap water, unless I have to from the park, but if am home I’ll drink my bottled water. I do care about our environment, but who said that we couldn’t make the decision to reuse our plastic bottles when we buy them. I am glad I learned what I know about the distinction between bottled and tap water, but it’s going to take me some time to change my habits on how I access my water.
I really like how you put your thoughts and struggles out there in this post. Thanks for sharing.
DeleteDuring this whole week of class in Science my knowledge of bottle water has change in many ways. Now when i see bottle water all i see is a waist of money and more pollution for earth. In class we learned that bottle water is the same tap water we get for free but bottle water companies seduce us to think they water is better because it comes from the company will tap water comes from the sink. Than by having this new knowledge on bottle water i seen my mother buying the 24 pack bottle water and i told her not to buy it because that bottle water shes paying a dollar a day or ten dollars a pack is the same water we get for free from the sink and than after i told her she look at me like if i was stupid and still bought the water. I believe that some one should do something about all this bottle water problem because is just creating more pollution for the earth and more easy money for the bottle water companies.
ReplyDeleteMy thinking has changed about the quality of water in NYC. Now i know that the city's water is safe to drink. I also learned that your apartment tap water might not be safe. If you want to test it you can call 311 and ask for a testing kit. I learned that most bottled water comes from tap water. One of the bottled water company that comes from a spring is Poland spring. I learned that people in NYC do not need to use filters or bottled water because they are just wasting unnecessary money.After what we discussed in class I think differently about tap water. Since it tasted different i believed that the water was dirty. Now i know that it is safe to drink. I also think differently about bottled water because most of it is still tap water even though it tastes different.What made me change my thinking was finding out that most of our water comes from the same place.Something that i find surprising is that some of the water bottles from California end up in India. That is bad for the environment because they are being burned or being buried and it will take a lot of years to decompose. They keep bringing water bottles to the same place and instead they should recycle them.What I learned connects to my family because we did not know much about where our water came from. My family also thought that that tap water wasn't safe to drink. This also connects to my community because people in our community can help promote tap water. That way people wont waste so much money on water when you can have free water.
ReplyDeleteLearning about New York City's water system not everything is easy there are certain processes that need to be taken in order to take water from certain areas.Through out my life water bottles and filters have been the main source of my drinking water.Main these are my drinking water sourse because I believed the tap water was nasty,in contrary the tap is better than bottled water because it does not contain as many chemicals bottle water contains because of the plastic.The thing that amazed me the most was to find out that many people don't drink from the tap because they believe is not sanitated not lnowing it way better than bottled water.I would change and stop buying bottled water because why buy something you have home for free
ReplyDeleteMy opinion on the quality and safety of New York CIty tap water and bottled water has somewhat changed specifically because of the parameters measured in the Drinking Water Supply and Quality Report.This report demonstrated that NYCDEP checked the water many times and overall almost all parameters were within the NYC state and federal requirements. I found it surprising how many things the water of New York is checked for. I also didn’t know this type of report existed. What I learned can connect to my family and community because if they are afraid of the quality of the water that comes from the tap they can be reassured with this report that is perfectly safe and money does not necessarily have to be spent on bottled water. I also found it very interesting how tap water may actually be better quality wise and also taste wise. Although tap water is proven to be safe I still feel more comfortable using my home filter and I also like the taste of bottled water better even though I am not such a frequent user of them.
ReplyDelete1.I still think the same about the quality of New York City's tap water because I always believe that New York City tap water is safe. I'am still continued to drink form it. However i change the way my I view the bottled water, some brands are using the water in our house and making use pay for it.
ReplyDelete2. One thing that affected my the way I view bottle water is that the company are affecting our environment and they use pictures of natural as their cover for water. The second thing is that they make people believe that they get the water form natural places when they don't.
3. What I found surprising about this week is that we are paying 2000 more of money for water we can get free in our house. The water in my sink is almost the same as the bottle water in the store and we are Paying for that water, I found this fact every interesting.
4. What I learned about water connects to myself because I didn't know I was wasting a lot of my money on water bottles. I also learned that tap water and bottle don't have that much of a different.
5. How much money does water bottle company's make a year?
This week, after learning about NYC’s tap water and the bottled water industry, my thoughts on both have changed, but only slightly. Before learning the facts, I was always a strong supporter of bottled water. Any kind of water that did not come in a bottle, I would not drink. However, after learning about all of the regulations and standards New York State places on our water system and the water supply tests run several times a day, NYC’s tap water is surprisingly safe. It is actually one of the safest in the country. Even though I’m definitely not making a sudden switch from bottled water to tap water, I am going to consider using a reusable bottle more often. I’ll still buy bottled water here and there, but I’ll try to slowly change my habits.
ReplyDeleteMy feelings toward tap water were changed because of the 2011 NYC Water Quality report that showed all of the parameters tested in NYC’s water. New York State actually has stricter standards and tests for more parameters than the federal government. Also, the test proved that the results of New York areas for each parameter were under the state limits, which convinced me that our tap water is cleaner than I thought. With the help of a filter, you can basically get the same quality of tap water as bottled water. Something else that changed my opinion was that some bottled water companies like Aquafina and Dasani get their water from NYC’s tap water and just filter it even more than it already is. In a sense, bottled water and tap water are basically the same; you just pay for water you can easily get from your kitchen faucet.
Something I found surprising was that the plastic water bottles that we consume in the U.S. are sent to countries such as India to dispose of and burn. The water bottles we supposedly “recycle” here eventually end up in the backyard of less fortunate individuals. Something else that surprised me was that the plastic of water bottles is actually produced from a mixture of oil and chemicals. This means that oil we could save or use for other necessities are wasted on water bottles that we can all easily replace with reusable ones, which I thought was really stupid of these industries and government to allow.
All that I’ve learned relates to my community because just as I had, many individuals believe that NYC’s tap water is contaminated with particles and bacteria. I’m sure there are numerous families who spend hundreds of dollars buying gallons of water and packs of water bottles when all they really need is their own faucet and a good filter. Because people are so uninformed and swayed by the advertisements of bottled water companies, they are coaxed into spending 1,000 times more money on things they could actually obtain at a much lower price. I think if more praise is given to our water supply system, this could change for the better in our community. However, some questions I still have are if there are any regulations for the bottled water industry? What has NYC done to promote its tap water?
This week learning and discussing about different types of water has made me changed my thinking of water but not in a big dramatic way. Water to me is a disadvantage we have here in NYC different from other places that don't have the disadvantage to have as much water access as we do. I think because we have so much access to water that we actually don't value water that much as we should I know people were to value it more if it what start to slowly disappear from us. Now that I learned more about tap and bottled water I'm actually mad about the fact of the money I've wasted on bottled thinking it was really clean and good to drink. A good thing to do is to actually let more people know about the truth about tap and bottled water.Although many people wouldn't actually stop drinking bottled water it will still be a good chance to take to let people know. What made me change my thinking was learning that bottled water is tap water and its just be advertised by a water company as something good. This is really surprising to me because I actually didn't expect that bottled water would be bad to drink also. Another reason why I find it so surprising because when I go to Dominican Republic I worry so much about not drinking any water from the sink but to only drinking bottled water while I'm over there. I think in Dominican Republic its better to drink water that's bottled because they really don't have the disadvantage to drink clean and healthy water as we do in NYC. I say this because although I know that bottled water isn't good the water over there is even worst because it can make you sick.Overall I think a project should be done to help people learn more about the water they drink and use in their daily life.
ReplyDeleteMy thinking for NYC’s tap water didn't really change because I already believe the water was very clean. NYS takes very strict regulation in order to make sure our water is safe,clean and tasty for us to drink. NYC take has stricter regulations than the state.I truly think tap water is good and tasty because if the water wasn't why would the State even try give us dirty water.
ReplyDeleteI found interesting how making plastic for bottle water uses enough oil every year to fuel a million cars out of all the recycled bottles 80% end up in landfills or even burned. Even though water bottle companies show us these beautiful pictures of spring valleys and mountains their water isn't really safe or better than tap water. According to “ The Story of Bottle Water” viewer's guide one third of bottle water is tap water. The fact that 80% of plastic bottles end up being burned is surprising like why do we even recycle, if that's not what is happening. Obviously America isn't the only country contributing to this. Not even surprising 1 billion people worldwide don't have access to clean water.
What I've learned is that we as a community should try to recycle and make the best of helping the city advertise tap water. I think NYC and NYS should waste more money advertising tap water more than bottled water. If NYS would do this than more people would actually start to believe how clean our water is because people get seduced us over Poland springs or nestle pictures and believe that water is the best when really some of that water is just regular tap water.
For several weeks I have been learning about water and each time my perception about it changes. In the beginning when I was asked “What is the importance of water?” my only thought was that people need it in order to survive but I did not take time to think that there was ground water, salt water, frozen water, or any other type of water. However, this week along with my classmates I was able to analyze the 2011 Water Quality report and was also able to learn about the bottled water industry based on a video and an interactive discussion with author Elizabeth Royte. In this discussion, I learned a few things. First, I learned about ozone. I had heard this term before but since it did not affect me I never took the time to ask what it was. According to Ms. Royte, ozone is a form of oxygen with a slight smell of chlorine added to our water to kill bacteria. This surprised me because before I thought that fluorine was the most important chemical in our water since it protects humans’ teeth from tooth decay. Furthermore, I also learned that drinking too much water can be bad for people such as causing a condition called hyponatremia which is often referred to as “water intoxication”. This was really shocking to me because I often hear people that I know tell me that I’m supposed to drink at least eight cups of water a day and now I am not sure what the exact amount of water is healthy without getting intoxicated. I also learned that Ms. Royte is a confident writer who had an agent to get her book published and is now interested in proposing that New York needs more water fountains on the streets. Elizabeth Royte cares about New York City water and the way that people should use it rather than just abusing it because of its abundance. On the other hand, compared to the last time, I was asked if I liked tap water. Since my mother raised me buying bottled water and having a filter at home, I said I did not but my answer would’ve been better if I had known the facts about water a long time ago. For example, on a fact sheet in class, there was a statement that said that more than 45% of water in bottles was tap water. This made me question whether the bottled water I buy is actually good or if all along I’ve been drinking tap water and if I have, I will be upset because I’ve been investing in a product that I could have gotten for free. Based on facts and the conversation with Elizabeth I have changed the way I think about water because I feel that these facts are accurate since bottled water companies have not been honest with me. This also affects my family because we’re going to continue to buy bottled water and filters since no public report has been shown and it’s accessible. Unless a report is created, my family will remain biased that tap water is not good water. Overall, I’m glad my thoughts about water changed and still have a question which is what is the specific amount of chemicals added to water to make it as best as possible for its consumers?
ReplyDeleteAfter the class discussion and water tasting between tap water and bottled water, my opinion about tap water has slightly changed. Before I thought that the taste of tap water had an unusual taste that I didn’t like. After knowing which water was tap water I was surprised because it actually tasted like water. I realized that buying bottled water is expensive. It can cost 2,000 times more than tap water. What helped change my mind was the fact that I was wasting necessary money on water I can easily access in my house. Something I found surprising was the fact that all the bottles that are being “recycled” aren’t really being recycled. They are sent to India where they just get rid of them. What I learned helps me realize that as a community we should use tap water most often knowing that NYC’s tap water is safe and drinkable. Additionally, I know that it will be hard to adjust to drinking tap water and I wouldn’t feel comfortable drinking from it because I will still thinking that it’s not completely safe.
ReplyDeleteDuring this week of class I have learned about the difference of bottles water and tap water and now I think different about the both of them. My views on bottles water has change and now I find tap water safer than bottles water. The reason why I think this is because I learned that most of the bottled water companies use tap water and there water gets bacteria from the plastic of the bottle and also it losses taste through out time. Also a specific things that made me change my mind was when Elizabeth Royte came in to speak to the class and talked about water bottles company's on how they use tap water and are basically hypocrites because they are trying to tell people that tap water is nasty and not healthy when it really is and they use tap water to fill up there plastic bottles which I found really interesting. I found this very surprising because they are promoting there water and saying that tap water is not healthy and is the enemy when they are really using tap water and people are not noticing that they are just wasting there money. What u learned connect to my self, family and the community because my family doesn't like drinking tap water and learning about how safe is tap water makes me try it which I actually have been drinking it for 3days now which makes me want to make my mother drink it but that will be mission impossible. Also this community has to learn about how safe is the water from the sink which is they city job to promote more tap water and make people realize that there just wasting money when they could get free healthy safe water. My question I have is why tap water starting to get promoted now? And why is bottled water allow to put tap water?
ReplyDeleteThis week we learned about the quality of New York’s water. To be honest I was very surprised to find out that New York inspects more aspects of tap water than the federal government. It made me wonder, if our water is more naturally clean why do we inspect it more? Is it because New York cares more? Or is it that New York’s water isn’t as clean as its reputation says it is. Then after monitoring my water consumption for one day I realized I drink more tap water than filtered water and I actually prefer tap water it’s colder and feels fresher. After seeing the video on the bottled water industry it made me think that it’s amazing that they built an industry on it I personally don’t buy bottled water but I do find it very extortionist of the water companies and find it very curious that in times square, one of the most populated places in New York there is no access to free water so if one person is thirsty in Times Square then they have no choice but to buy the water in the bottles. Then again when I look at the company I cannot say that I’m surprised. Being in America a company founded on capitalist ideals it is only logical that the bottled industry will try to expand. However re-useable water bottles may soon put an end to the bottled water industry so ultimately it would help the environment and help the environment’s path to recovering. After learning the lesson I realized how much my family buys water bottles every day my mom drinks a new bottle of water for fear of their health being affected by their tap water so it started to make me think of how much damage to the earth my family is doing and I hope to change habits like that so they could drink from re-usable water bottles to lower our carbon footprint on this earth. Maybe one day the infrastructure of buildings will be updated and New Yorkers will feel safe to drink their tap waters from their buildings without the fear of health damaging minerals in their water.
ReplyDeleteDuring this week in class we have been learning the difference between tap water and bottle water. I learned that most people rather drink bottle water because they are worried if tap water is clean or not making them buy bottle water. After reading and watching video about the differences between tap water and bottle water it has changed my mind in which I am going to start drinking more tap water and buy my self a bottle so that every time I can refill it instead of buying Bottle water. I am not going to buy no more bottle water because most bottle water is tap water so why waste money on water that you can get free from your house. I also am not going to buy bottle water because it is also affecting the world in which they dont recycle and all the bottles are being thrown away in India. What i found suprising was that in the video we saw they said that they dig up the bottle in the ground and that they throw all the bottle to India. I found it suprising because i thought that they had a special place to put the bottles. This connects to myself because i really don't buy water bottle unless im really thirst I usually drink from a water fountain or from the water from my house.
ReplyDelete- jesus guzman 4th period science
As a result of Elizabeth Royte's visit and our analysis on the 2011 NYC Water Quality Report, my thinking of NYC tap water and bottled water has not changed. As a youngster, I always thought tap water was not pure, yucky and had a completely different taste than that of bottled water. On the other hand, since I have been a long-term fan of bottled water, I was not aware of its disadvantages. Depending on the size of the bottle and the brand, bottled water can vary dramatically in price. Another disadvantage that bottled water has is that it becomes waste after the water is gone. A large percent of water bottles end up in the trash, wasting the energy and materials it took to make them. One thing I learned this week was the methods that water bottle companies can use tricky antics to get customers to waste their money and purchase bottled water that is less safer than tap water. Now that I'm older, I have better views about tap water. I sometimes drink it when I'm too lazy (as always) to get water from the fridge. Tap water benefits the average person in terms of pricing (perhaps) and time. In addition, tap water is tested yearly for lead and other bacteria- by law. Bottled water may be safe when is out of factory, but as transportation, sun exposure, and mishandling can make it even much worse than tap water. What I have learned this week helped me think of how I can be more sustainable in terms of buying bottles of water daily when I can just buy a reusable one and fill it everyday with tap water. One question I have about bottled water is...
ReplyDeleteWhat type of information is required on the labels of bottled water?
In my point of view my water views hasnt really changed because water from nyc is very good and is safe to drink. Even though i would prefer bottle water its more harmful to the enviorment because it hurts our planet. Some things that chanaged my way of thinking was how much of bottle water is really being recycled and reused. Only 25% of it is really being reused and the rest goes in to landfils or go into incenrators that with the melting plastic hurts our atmoshphere. In my opinion water all taste the same especially since its from our water system and just been cleaned a bit more like water aquafini the water . In my opnion everything is the same and it doesnt really make a difference whether or not i drink water fro the fossit; cause i got a filter; or from bottle waters that is almost the same as the water from the fosit.
ReplyDeleteRafael Ballenilla
ReplyDeleteEnvironmental Science
Mr. Fox
11/18/12
This past week in Mr. Fox's Environmental Science class, we have been analyzing the safety and fundamentals of NYC tap water and bottled water. In addition, we had the author of Bottlemania, Elizabeth Royte visit our class. She spoke to us about the safety of tap water and the controversies about bottled water. I always questioned the safety of tap water because I always thought it was dirty since it transports through pipes. But, after watching the video this week about water bottle companies, I learned that tap water is extremely safe and some countries are aware when their tap water isn't, therefore they warn tourists or current residents. In addition, I never thought that bottled water had its negatives. Bottled water companies use methods such as seducing people in order to buy their products and waste unnecessary money when they have fresh tap water at home. With that being said, water bottles are usually not recycled which piles up bacteria which can be a threat to the environment. When I found this out I was surprised and I began to think that bottled water may not always be the best idea when we have a lot of resources to get fresh water from. As the use of tap water gets promoted, the more people will start drinking it and not waste their money. The fact that people are concerned with the neglecting of tap water makes a good point because it shows that people actually care about a healthy lifestyle and the environment. What I learned connects to myself because I tend to waste a lot of money on unnecessary products- including water, knowing that I don't need them. I have access to tap water at home meaning it is no excuse to buy a new bottle of water everyday. One question I have about bottled water is how long does it take for one bottle to be created, and also who in particular checks bottled water?
Honestly, hearing new information about bottled water, I’ve now decided to buy fewer water bottles. The ideas that made me change my mind were that the water that’s in the bottle is 45% tap water and that the plastic is made out of oil, which affects the water inside the bottle. Those facts actually surprised me because I’ve always thought that the water inside the water bottle was filtered water. I also never thought that the plastic from the water bottle would affect the water inside the bottle if it was re-used several times. Once I heard this new information about bottled water, I felt that I should’ve informed my family with the facts that I learned during my Environmental Science class so they can reduce the amount of water bottles they buy every day and notice that we actually have free access to water anytime. These bottled water organizations definitely tried to buy and convince us to purchase their water bottles with their images on the water bottles and they actually caught us. I also thought that when water bottles were being recycled, the water bottle organizations would actually re-use the recycled ones, but once I saw the video in class, all my imagination were proved to be false. I feel is if I should start drinking tap water, but honestly it’s difficult to jump from bottled water to tap water from the sink. I’m working on that slowly, but from now on, I’ll be using a reusable water bottle that I can fill up with my filter at home.
ReplyDeleteAfter everything that I've learned this week I don't really think about my water choices because basically the bottled water that we think is so pure is basically the tap water that we have grown to believe is dirty and disgusting. I personally think that it is wrong for bottled water companies to advertise how pure their water is when really its the tap water that we can easily get at out homes. Nothing made me change my thinking about water. I really don't like the way tap water tastes because it leaves a after taste in my mouth, but when i drink bottled water i get no after taste. Maybe after i do the lead testing on my tap water i might change my thinking. I find it surprising that with bottled water there is no after taste and with tap water there is. I also find it surprising that it is legal for bottled water companies to false advertise in a way, because false advertisement on almost anything else is illegal. This connects to my family because I have a 3 year-old niece who sometimes drinks tap water and it wouldn't be good if she, or anybody else in my family gets sick. I wonder what I should do of I find out that my water contains lead. What are the effects of lead in your water? How sick do you get? Is it possible to get lead sickness from bottled water?
ReplyDeleteKendra Mercer
Period 6
Once upon a time, I was just a teen living in “The Hood” and I decided to buy water every single time I was thirsty. Then everything changed when Elizabeth came to our class. I totally changed my opinion on the product I bought (and sold at the store my family owns) everyday, it went from “I need this when I’m thirsty” to “I’d rather just wait till i get home”. This is a change of opinion that i did not expect from myself because I usually don't change my ways of living because of a class presentation but this was an exception because it was something that affected me just as powerfully as it would affect humanity. This change was generally sparked because of the facts that were used during class and the things on the fact sheet really made me do further research on the topic. I found the percentages and specific data that we learned about to be REALLY surprising because the number are so overwhelming to a point where there are nearly unbelievable. Why does the bottled water community go so far to prove a point that’s already been proven wrong?
ReplyDelete-Wilson Ortiz
Before if anyone asked me which water I'll prefer, either tap water or bottled water, I would quickly say bottled water without any hesitation. After class on Wednesday my whole perspective changed. Now if anyone ask me that question again I will say I prefer to drink tap water. In class on wednesday, the fact sheet really touched me. Those facts consisted of things out the ordinary and made me believe bottled water was a scam. One of the facts that really surprised was when it said that bottled water has more man made chemicals than tap water. This made me changed my view because I all my life I surmised that bottled water was healthier and cleaners since it would go through filters but I thought wrong. Secondly, the fact sheet said that 45 percent of bottled water was tap water. This is clearly a big scam of business man just trying to make money. They tend to charge large amount of money when we can actually get it for free from our homes. Thirdly, bottled water has caused a large impact on our environment and has increased global warming. Instead of all the empty bottles being recycled, they are going to other areas taking people's space and are being served as landfills. All this that I learned has made me realize that tap water is not nasty/dirty. Tap water is actually the whole opposite of bottled water. Is affordable, fresh/pure and clean. With the lessons I've learned, I hope and I will try to change my family's perspective and then influence others to change their perspective on tap water. I'll do this by explaining to them the fact sheet and also giving them a little test of tap water and bottled water without them knowing which is which. If we persuade and influence others, our earth will be more sustainable.
ReplyDeleteMy opinion has not changed for NYC tap water; I always knew it could be trusted. What has changed is my opinion of NYC bottled water, I trusted it more than tap water but now I know it is not safe for the consumer or places like India were most of the plastic gets burned off. My opinion started to change, well become skeptical when we first started talking about the matter and looking at NYC parameters for water quality. Then when hearing about visitor coming to talk to us and having questions about bottled water and tap water also made my awareness rise. What really changed my mind was when talking to my piers about Elizabeth Royte, a book writer about bottled water companies. She mentions how tap water is always constantly monitored before arriving to our homes and being used which gives me a sense of comfort compared to bottled water which does more good than harm. In order to produce the plastic for bottled water a lot of energy is used and not to mention the fact that the plastic itself has some chemicals that can affect the water.
ReplyDeleteCurrently I see in my community lots of people buying bottled water and I imagine half of them don’t know the problems behind the product they are consuming. During the hot days of summer people constantly buy bottled water to keep hydrated and some buy more than other. The fact is they don’t really need that they can easily buy a container and filled it up in their homes and constantly refilling it without having to buy bottled water. Now one may argue that they are promoting business which would lead to my lingering question but it is really not a factor of why they can’t get a container and simply filling it up. My big question is what would happen economically if bottled water is banned completely? What would this do to job availability in the United States and can we really afford to change right now or do we keep bottled water to make more money?
I was skeptical about NYC’s drinking water before Elizabeth Royte came and informed us, but now I am a believer. Tap water and bottled water are the same water both pure and fresh and I feel a little more secure that the DEP is taking care of our water system. Bottled water has changed my perspective on how safe it is to drink it because researchers have stated and searched around the 1990s, chemicals and bacterias were found in bottled water. I found it surprising because the advertisement campaigns pleaded that their bottled water is known to be the fresh and cleanest. We the people are fooled by the rich famous companies/industries propaganda. Bottled water isn’t the freshest like so they say. All the water that the companies are selling is actually tap water. Tap water in NYC is known to be the freshest water that streams down from the catskill mountains, I need to get adjusted to drinking water from the tap because i’m so used to drinking and filling up my water bottle from my brita pitcher. Chlorine, Fluoride, Phosphoric acid, and Sodium Hydroxide are added to our drinking water. Chlorine disinfects any baterias or anything in contact with the water that might contaminate it; fluoride helps prevent tooth decay; phosphoric acid creates a protective film on pipes that reduces the releases of metals such as lead; and sodium hydroxide raises the PH and reduces corrosivity which reduces lead exposure. Fun Fact: Drinking too much water is not healthy like we would think. “The condition, called hyponatremia but more frequently referred to as “water intoxication,” causes blood levels of minerals and sodium to plummet. It can lead to brain swelling, seizures, coma, and then death” (Royte,36).
ReplyDeleteThis week was a week where I learn a lot in environmental science class. I am glad to say that I have become inform about NYC tap water. Now I have a reason to justify why I don’t buy bottle water. This week’s classes have changed my views on bottle water drastically. They have changed because this week I learned that tap water is way cleaner then what most people think. I learn this is true because the state laws on NYC’s tap water are way stricter then those at the national level. After NYC’s water was tested the water did not come nowhere near to breaking the NYC water laws. I also learned that NYC is always spending large amounts of money trying to improve NYC’s water conditions. I was all ready a person who drank tap water on a daily basis but after this week it seems like something I am going to keep on doing very often. I learn that bottle water is not as clean as the companies make it seem like. It’s all propaganda they try to sell you bottle of water by using nice images of lakes and cold mountains. Also what changed my mind was that I try my best to be good to earth and we learn that water bottles are not being recycled and that they are very bad for the earth. The plastic material that’s being produced in factories is being dump in the world without being recycled. Something that surprised me was the amount of people that drink bottled water just because they believe tap water is dirty or that it could actually get them sick. This information that I learned this week affects my family and my friends because with all these new facts that I learned I would inform on the reality of tap water and bottled water. My goal is for them to inform their friends so that maybe one day we could stop the multimillion dollar water business that affects our pockets and also affects the world. Also we could teach the people of NYC that they have one of the cleanest tap water in the nation.
ReplyDeleteThis Week we have been seeing the numbers on the tests the government do on the water. The Federal government inspects the water all over the nation. The pamphlets we look at in class shows that New York City's water is safe to drink but not completely safe. One fact I learn is that New York State checks for more particles in the water then our own government does. I thought our water was worst then bottle water but actually it is not,and some water companies use tap water that some cities provide and sell it to the consumers. There was a couple of things that change my mind about bottle waters. Of course I thought that the plastic water bottles we use is recycle. But actually not all of the bottles are recycle but they are actually being dump in land fielded junkyards or burned. Releasing greenhouse gasses that contributes to global warming.Then in our class we had a survey. We drank two different cups of water and was ask witch water was better. Most of the class pick the cup filled with Ny's tap water over the
ReplyDeleteDeer Park water. In my opinion the tap water was way better.
My Family would drink filtered water or buy a gallon of water instead of drinking straight from the faucet, and in my grandmas house she would buy packs of water bottles and drink it around the house. I usually take some bottle water or a gallon of water to the park or purchase it. Rather then drink the water fountain. With my actions am not destroying the world but with at least a million of people doing the same thing am doing is certainly damaging to the environment. Instead we can drink from the sink and purchase a reusable bottle that we can refill.
In all honesty I was never really someone who would go and buy a bottle of water mainly because it seemed like a waste of money since I could get obtain free water from multiple places. I won’t die if I didn’t drink a bottle of water right then and there and because of this I could always wait until I arrive home to drink some, not so great tasting but still free, water. With out the information that I’ve learned in class this year I may have continued living that bottled water would be better than tap, which isn’t the case at all. Now that I know better I am better accepting of the tap water that I drink at home even with it being pre-boiled. The only thing that I really hate about the tap water is the taste; sometimes it tastes like vinegar and sometimes like chlorine, but overall it is rare when the water tastes like nothing, which is the way I like it. My way of thinking hasn’t really changed, but fortified. Now I know for sure that buying a bottle of water is like giving away free paper and therefore I should buy a soda or juice as way to put the money in better use. Knowing that tap water is just a clean as bottled water if not even cleaner is great news not just for me, the cheapskate, but also for the community, especially after experiencing a hurricane with such an impact. Several people have experienced the wrath of hurricane Sandy first hand and are financially insecure. Having to constantly buy water bottles is a hassle and can consume a lot of money so just knowing that tap water is clean water can relieve some people since they have one less thing to worry about.
ReplyDelete1 and 2. Yes, it makes me think differently because now I figured out that bottled water is actually tap water. Also, the water that flows through our pipes & into our faucets and shower , a lot of element are either added or removed in order to make our water safe for us to use.
ReplyDelete3. The thing that I found surprising was an element that's added to the water before getting to our pipes and faucets is healthy for out teeth.
4. What I learned connects to myself and the ones around me because everybody drinks water bottles no matter what the reason is we all do at one point. And when I learned all of this it made me think of me & the people around me drinking water from water bottles and what their digesting.
5. People should just not buy bottled water because its the same as tap water from your house. What are water bottle company's going to do if people stop buying their water?
This week did not really change my mind about bottled water because I was already not a big fan of it. In my house, we have a filter just because I think it makes the water taste better but I already knew tap water was safe in NYC. Everyone in my house also has a reusable water bottle because it is silly to pay for water that I get for free at home. However, I still learned a lot of things about bottled water that I didn’t know before. I didn’t know that some companies are actually just selling tap water or that some bottles don’t even get recycled, they’re just burned or put into landfills. That was really shocking to me because people are actually wasting their money on water because some companies think it is okay for them to lie about where their water comes from, but that isn’t okay. People shouldn’t have to pay for water that they can get at home for free. I don’t like the idea of bottled water but I can still see how in some instances it would be helpful. Like if you forgot your reusable water bottle and you’re thirsty then of course go ahead and buy bottled water, but buying bottled water should not be something you do frequently. Also, the fact that the bottles are not even being recycled is pretty nasty. I do not want our water bottles to be thrown into the earth or to be burned and cause more problems for the earth. Our planet is already in a lot of danger and we’re making it worse just by buying bottles of water. I always thought a bottle of water was harmless, so I had no idea that it was such a huge contributor to global warming. People always complain that being green is too expensive and that reducing the effects of global warming would cost too much money, but there are little things like not buying bottled water that are expensive at all. In fact, it saves you money. More and more people need to start realizing that just because bottled water comes in pretty packaging does not mean you are getting better water. In the end, using tap water will not only save us money, but also save our planet.
ReplyDeletethis week in class i been learning about water and how we get are water. Now i think differently about tap water because NEW YORK CITY tap water is pretty clean and people can drink from it and and how some water bottle brand sell tap water or uses tap water to sell in stores. Another thing is that this really change my mind about drinking tap water because some one came in this week to speak about our water in NYC and some one from my classmate ask her if NYC tap water is safe to drink and she said yes. This connects to my family because my family dont like drinking tap water they filer it and then drink cause they say you can get really sick from drinking tap water. A question is how NEW YORK CITY keep the tap water so clean.
ReplyDeleteELLISON LUGO
At first I thought that the water bottle industry was a much safer route when it came to ingesting water. Now my whole perspective changed because of how many regulations New York City has on its water. What surprised me the most was the fact that a majority of top brands use New York City’s tap water, filtrate it, bottle it and sell it for 2000 times the cost of how normally it costs. Another fact I learned was that 60% of all bottled water is sold in the state it was manufactured in the first place, which in our case will be bad because water distributed in the state will not be checked by the FDA, which is a sign that it is hard to tell if it is bad to drink or not.
ReplyDeleteThis week was very interesting to learn about because I was able to learn that water in New York City is much safer. This is true because water in New York has some parameters and regulations that must be followed in order to be considered drinkable to humans. For a majority of these tests, the water passed as only pH was higher than federal levels. This data could vary from building to building because they are different ages. Adding on, in my opinion my family relies on tap water, but we use a filter because we never thought that the water in New York would’ve have been so clean and pure compared to what companies like Pepsi distribute.
What really impacted me was that the trash that the water bottles were making. Much of the trash and unused plastic travels to foreign countries which over time, accumulates into piles harming the ecosystem because they take hundreds of years to degrade, and as well release chemicals that other animals might ingest, which kills them and eventually affecting the food cycle for many.
This week in class what I discover was the real hidden truth about Water bottles, We first began with a blind test. We tried an A sample and a B sample. We had to choose which we thought was tap water and which was bottle water. What shock me was that the one that everybody thought was tap water was really bottle water and vice verse. The taste of what was really water bottle was odd compare to what really was tap water bring more fresh. I also learned that water bottle is being bought with a rate of five million bottles per week, that's only With in seven days!! What grab my attention the most was the real truth on what water bottle companies are doing To get people to buy their water bottle. They Seduce , mislead and scare us. They do this by putting in the water bottle an image of a beautiful natural where they claim the water comes from but really it does not. They also tell us information such as "Tap water isn't good for us". This is misleading us to the wrong information which really our NYC tap water is very safe and great to drink. I say instead of wasting your money start. Using tap water and use a reusable bottle for when heading outdoors. I really don't drink water so It don't effect me but to people who live around my area this information should count a lot. People who live around my area have in their trash many bottles and not recycle. This leads to landfills in other countries like india. So everyone should stop and think and try to solve this madness.
ReplyDeleteyes because now that i learned that if you drink bottle water is the same thing as you drinking tap water so what is the point of buying it. what made me think of this was that the bottle of water goes to sea and is killing the habitat from animals. I found that all does bottle are still in the water. That we need to stop buying bottle of water because is tap water. When do you think they will stop selling bottle of water and start drinking tap water?
ReplyDeleteKevin Nunez