Well if you're not going to ban it in ONE area, how can you fairly ban in it another. While for some it's a necessity, others it's pure preference, and you can imagine the fire that'd light under some people if they were being denied something they viewed as their RIGHT to buy or have, while others were allowed to have it just for the fact that they're too poor to repair their area. They'd feel as though they'd be being punished for not living in an impoverished area with bad water! It's just NOT logical.
I have to disagree.. I don't see how banning bottled water would be looked at as a punishment.. If people really need clean fresh water from their safe-enough taps, they can just get a filter or boil the water and drink it like that.. People should be able to see the difference between necessity and want and I think this is a good example of that.
Well there are several ways to do this without meeting the problems you speak of. First of all, letting the government distribute the water in those areas which are in need of bottled water because their tap water is not drinkable. This is not as hard is it may sound. Also, it would be only a temporary solution while the government take care of the repairs that may be needed. This cost could be paid with the money that the selling of bottled (regular) water brings. And for those who belive that the government would lose $ from the taxes of bottled water: the money would be spent on other things. It wouldn't just dissapear into thin air. Not to mention that poor people in areas with bad tap water would have more money to spend on food, bills etc. It would simply be better for the economy and the people.
i've never heard about banning bottled water? what are they gonna do arrest you if you are in possesion of bottled water. lol. that would be a weird 1 phone call, Me:Mom im in jail. Mom: FOR WHAT?!!? Me: Possesion. Mom:My sons a druggie. Me: No mom i had bottled water. Mom: OH MY!
The government barely distributes things well as it is. Most of our welfare systems are a wreck, so I can imagine how they'd botch up something like this. And the government has NOT taken care of the problems in the first place, let alone do it while they're attempting to ban bottled water SOME places/distribute it in others. I mean, I don't know about you but I certainly think cleaning up our country's horribly deteriorated living conditions trumps the importance of banning bottled water. If they can't do it simply to do it, how are they going to do it while trying to do another thing on TOP of that?? And somehow I feel like, the price the citizens are paying for their bottled water is not going to cover the costs of probably millions of dollars to get all the pipes replaced and ALL the water filtered. I really feel like that is going to be WAY more than the West Virginians are paying for bottled water. One of the women I knew there who was a major worker for trying to clean up the community and help the most impoverished BARELY made any money HERSELF. It's EXTREME poverty, and they just cannot be burdened by a looming ban or changed conditions concerning their NECESSITIES when they can barely make ends meet as it is.
Actually, Americans buy more bottled water than both beer and soft drinks. But still you're right, the money from the selling of bottled water wouldn't be enough to fix everything right on the spot. It would take time. However, what I'm trying to say is that the water could be cheaper and the profits would go to fixing the pipes. Another solution would be to also include a loan, making every household being able to borrow money from the government for half the price of fixing the pipes, with the government paying the other half. If this would have happened where I live, I would just have said that they should raise the taxes until every pipe is fixed, but since Americans don't like that kind of stuff, I feel that something similar to what I've proposed would be quite useful. The woman you know would: 1. Get more money left over from buying cheaper water 2. Get her pipes fixed I don't see how this would do her wrong.
It's not PERSONAL pipes though, it's county-wide. They don't have like their own personal backyard pipe that they've not cared about enough for it to erode. It's a county-wide problem, and the fact of the matter is, most of the households live up 2 or 3 mile long roads up into the mountains (called "hollows") where they have to rely on the county pipes to get the water up to them. So even then, say they have this 'loan' option-- THEN the households would have a burden of a loan to pay back to the government in order to get their county to fix the pipes! I don't know how much it would cost to get ALL the pipes fixed throughout the county, but I'm sure it would be ENOUGH to end up being a burden on the households. Now, while it's a burden for them to have to BUY bottled water, I'd rather have to buy bottled water than have loan payments. They have BIGGER problems to worry about, and really wouldn't NEED another burden, as it wouldn't immediately solve the water problem (it will take years to COMPLETLEY filter the water), and then would present ANOTHER problem (the repayment of the loan). And an aside: Not all people can even afford the bottled water-- a lot of people collect run-off from a few natural springs scattered through the area. While this itself isn't really THAT clean, it actually is surprisingly CLEANER than the water coming through their taps.
Think of all the empty bottles in landfills all over the place. I agree that the packaging should be biodegradable - that's a better way to help the environment than simply banning it.
Well the loan was just an additional option, it wasn't required for the solution. Even without that part, they'd still get cheaper bottled water and the pipes would be fixed in time. It's still much better than having to buy expensive bottled water and just wait for nothing to happen.
Well, I mean there have been steps in the community to clean up the water supply and a few communities (the bigger ones obviously) have seen some improvements, but I mean, while I was there doing community service we were only allowed to drink bottled water, or water from CERTAIN sinks (that were connected to PERSONAL wells)... So, things ARE happening, it's just slow because of the lack of funds and movement by the government. And like I said, many people avoid as many expenses as possible. We were 'taught' this by having our supervisors give us 12 dollars to buy supplies to cook dinner for SIX adults at a local grocery store. :\ I just don't think it's a NECESSARY step at this moment in time, as there are MANY places throughout the country that are just as impoverished and ignored.
I'm all for bottled water, I love it, I drink at least five bottles a day. Some places need bottled water if there is an emergency as well. Bottled water is great, I love it, I've lost my taste for non-bottled water. Two thumbs up for bottled water!
Wouldn't it be a neat idea if we could fill up our old bottles and just send them to places that need them? that way we are just passing it along
Whattttt?!?! To me, this is absolutely ridiculous. I only drink bottled water, tap water is full of unhelthy stuff. There's fluroide, chlorine, and other cleaning things in it, to clean the water from teh gunk in the pipes. Speaking of the pipes, we were told by the guy who installs the pipes to run the water for at least an hour before using it in drinking or cooking. Pipes are made with lead, and when water sits, the lead settles in and mixes with the water. Also, tap water has a disgusting taste, even after it goes through my Brita filter. Which, if anyone has ever seen a used Brita filter, proves how disgusting tap water is! Brown and black gunk-ugh! If these states really want to save the environment, there are TONS of other, better ways. Not burning charcoal for energy, for example. Or giving deeper and more tax-backs on hybrids. Or setting up wind farms/geothermic plants/solar farms/hydropower plants/etc.
Biodegradable? I'm not sure that would be possible for bottling WATER, after all. About Poland Spring not being recyclable in states other than Maine, I'm pretty sure that's false. I don't live in Maine, and I recycle all my PS bottles with no problems. Perhaps you're getting mixed up with the fact that you'll get 5 cents if you redeem your empty bottle to the Poland Spring company in Maine?
Well it doesn't really matter to me. My water machine or whatever its called is so slow, it takes like 20 seconds to fill up the cup, but the tap is much faster it takes like 3 seconds to fill up the cup. So my opinion is based on HOW FAST CAN THE WATER GET INTO THE CUP.