Bravo to all you OC'ers and enviromentalists

[Moonliner]

Good show to all you OC'ers out there. You are one of the first in the nation to recycle waist water (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/27/us/27conserve.html?ex=1196830800&en=31b07f93027bcff8&ei=5065&partner=MYWAY) back into drinking water.

But on Nov. 30, for millions of people here in Orange County, pulling the lever will be the start of a long, intense process to purify the sewage into drinking water

A lot of the green initiatives are really just feel good smoke and mirrors but this is a real step in the right direction. I hope many more such plants will come online around the country and around the world.

[Alex]

I'm in favor in theory, but too many Americans already stupidly mistrust their tap water (their are local trouble spots but generally American tap water is the cleanest in the world) so this won't help. If it pushes even more people to using bottled water with its accompanying wastes and pollution could it be a net negative?

[Moonliner]

I'm in favor in theory, but too many Americans already stupidly mistrust their tap water (their are local trouble spots but generally American tap water is the cleanest in the world) so this won't help. If it pushes even more people to using bottled water with its accompanying wastes and pollution could it be a net negative?

Which is why they are putting the water back into the water table rather than directly into taps.

[Alex]

According to the article the reason they are doing that is because putting it directly into the taps is illegal.

But since the reasons most people won't drink tap water aren't particularly reasonable I don't think the fact that this one isn't reasonable (even if it were directly into the tap line) is going to save it from the PR problems when all (most) people know is that toilet water is (eventually) coming out of the faucet.

PS: I'm leaving the "waist water" typo jokes to Kevy. Or have I, by posting this inoculated against them?

[Kevy Baby]

PS: I'm leaving the "waist water" typo jokes to Kevy. Or have I, by posting this inoculated against them?Yep




Damnit

[wendybeth]

Tori wants to know how old you are, Kevy.

[BarTopDancer]

Tori wants to know how old you are, Kevy.

He's *this many* [holds up 5 fingers] today!

[Morrigoon]

Well Alex, stupidly or not...

I trusted my tap water, but hearing this grosses me out.

[Alex]

Well, if it helps put you back on an even keel, keep in mind that all of the water you've ever consumed has at some point had the pee, poop, or decaying flesh of some creature in, on, or near it.

Fortunately, the same thing that makes homeopathy bull**** (water has no memory) makes this something that needs not be worried about (assuming that the water is properly treated on the way out).

[Gemini Cricket]

I like the idea, but why do I have this feeling that one day we're going to hear a story about how someone at this plant forgot to press a certain button and Mrs. McClatchy in Irvine made lemonade for her bridge club with piss water?

[LSPoorEeyorick]

It's not a button, though, it's a complex series of filters and reverse osmosis, which can't particularly be bypassed or "missed." (My brother is a chemical engineer who specializes in water filtration.)

[Gemini Cricket]

It's not a button, though, it's a complex series of filters and reverse osmosis, which can't particularly be bypassed or "missed." (My brother is a chemical engineer who specializes in water filtration.)
Well, that's good to know. :)
I guess I don't have a problem with that. They used saltwater converted to freshwater at the Monterey Bay Aquarium while I worked there. It tasted the same...

[Alex]

Plus,while there have to be fears of procedural breakdown with any system like this, U.S. municipal water providers have an amazing track record of providing extremely clean healthy drinking water.

Huge parts of the country drink water that prior to going into the drinking system are exposed to all kinds of environmental contaminations (all those fish eating, pooping, and dying up in the Hetch Hetchy reservoir, for example). The industrial waste that goes into the Mississippi at Minneapolis is to some degree in the water when it is sucked out of the river at St. Louis for drinking water.

[blueerica]

No matter what environmental things we may or may not end up doing, most OC'ers will be freaked out. I'm with Alex the topic. While some people may be doing things, the prevailing attitudes will render anything nil - or so has been my experience of the last 12 years. Furthermore, I'm consistently disappointed in Southern California and California in general. They bitch and moan about environmental issues, but few are willing to do anything on their own about it. When my gums start flapping about being a better environmentalist, it won't be before I am a better environmentalist.

[Ghoulish Delight]

If they're going ahead and doing it, then it will be an improvement. If it were up for vote, then I'd agree that most people's paranoia would prevent it from going through, but the vast majority of OC residents likely won't ever know that they've started doing this, so I don't think there's much chance that a sudden decrease in use of tap water will result.

[Cadaverous Pallor]

All I know is, the tap water in NYC was better tasting than most bottled water I've ever had. If they can make our water taste like that, no matter where it originally came from, many more people would be on board.

[Gemini Cricket]

All I know is, the tap water in NYC was better tasting than most bottled water I've ever had. If they can make our water taste like that, no matter where it originally came from, many more people would be on board.
I had the same experience with NYC water.
Hawai'i's water is pretty good.
But I think the water I had in Lone Pine, CA was the best tasting water I've had. Rumor has it that the city's water comes from the same well Crystal Geyser uses... :)

[blueerica]

Interestingly, I've all three of the aforementioned waters and yes, they are quite tasty straight from the tap!

[BarTopDancer]

There are several brands of bottled water that are just filtered tap water.

Aquafina and I think Dasini come to mind.

[Not Afraid]

Next time I visit friends in OC I'm going to ask for a glass of peepee.

[Kevy Baby]

There are several brands of bottled water that are just filtered tap water.

Aquafina and I think Dasini come to mind.Most are that way.

Personally, I drink bottled water because of taste - not worries about what may or may not be in the tap water.

[Morrigoon]

Aquafina (Pepsi) and Dasani (Coke) are just soda companies bottling tap water so they don't lose business.

[Alex]

Really, for the most part the only reason to drink bottled water is convenience. While there are exceptions, blind studies have shown that most (not all) people who say they don't like the taste of their local tap water can't tell the difference between it and bottled water when blindfolded.


What I like is the theory (not enough support to say it is correct) that tooth problems are on the rise because people are drinking to much bottled water and not enough fluoridated tap water.

[LSPoorEeyorick]

Aquafina (Pepsi) and Dasani (Coke) are just soda companies bottling tap water so they don't lose business.

Well, they're not bottling straight from the tap. They're purifying, in both cases, with reverse osmosis.

[Morrigoon]

Correct. Better filtered than usual tap water. Which is something. Given the choice though, I'll go for Arrowhead, which I believe is spring water... slightly different origin.

Bottled water is to tap water what franchises are to restaurants. A way for the consumer to have a reasonable idea of what to expect from it in terms of taste/quality/etc. Not that it's necessarily better, but it's consistent.

[Kevy Baby]

Correct. Better filtered than usual tap water. Which is something. Given the choice though, I'll go for Arrowhead, which I believe is spring water... slightly different origin.Surprisingly, I don't like the taste of Arrowhead water.

[€uroMeinke]

When I get sparkling tap water, I'll put the bottle away.

[wendybeth]

We have fabulous water.:cheers:

[€uroMeinke]

We have fabulous water.:cheers:

But does it sparkle?

[wendybeth]

Yes. It's crystal clear, sparkly clean water, from an underground aquifer that is supplied by mountain run off. We are very lucky. Now, why we let Burlington Northern build a refueling station directly over it is beyond me, but there you have it.

[Ghoulish Delight]

But does it sparkle?
Crap, for a brief moment I thought you were making a South Park reference. I thought someone engaged the improbability drive!