One time I went into Subway and walked out with a bottle of Lipton ice tea... now days I just refill it all the time from the tap.. because its a glass bottle that doesn't leach out all the petrochemicals of the plastic bottle into my water. Its great I got a whole bunch in the fridge ready to go. Only problem is the idiots out there that break bottles.. what to do about them.....

I'm not trying to be rude, but if I was publishing articles, I would want to know if I made mistakes.

-1st paragraph: "nany" instead of "many"
-2nd paragraph: "Or you can go to many of the shops that will sell you,”bottled water”." Isn't that saying what the sentence before it is saying? And why does "bottled water" have quotation marks around it? And there's no space between the comma and quotation mark.
-4th paragraph: "you'ld" instead of "you'd".
-4th paragraph: As far as I know, a gallon of gas costs around $4 right now in the States (where they use gallons), which is much more than a bottle of water.

A spell-check program would have caught two of these mistakes.

I know many people are going to say, "Oh, so you don't make mistakes, jarodl?" Of course I make mistakes, but this is a professional publication, and I think at least spell check should be used.

Go into a corner store and you will see that a 500 ml of "bottled water" is at leest one dolaar. That computs two abot 8 dollers a gallen. That/s a hole laut morr then a gallin of gass.

Actually, he said "a bottle of water, which by the way will cost you more than you’ld pay for a gallon of gas". I agree that per litre (or gallon), water cost more, but an average bottle of water costs less than a gallon of gas.

Oh God, not again, the web police, jarodi, are out, if you don’t like the story don’t read it. The Sun has mistakes every day. I guess we shouldn’t read it. Take a glass of water from the tap and sit outside and try and cool down, the heat has got you

Why do they walk down the Street with a bottle of water on the hip, are we in the tropics or just nuts, never seen it 20 years
ago, must be the Climate Change over heating the brains of some, the cause may be
Microwaves from the Cell Phone, it also could be some have to much money, so spend it on Water?

Ben I will have to disagree to a point. I buy bottled water at times not because I believe its heathier but when I just want cold water and not pop or juice or whatever. There are hardly any water fountains sround town and if there are the water is usually warm and sanitation of the fountain is questionable.

As for cost, there is processing shipping and all that. Makes one wonder what the real cost of a coke is.

Jarodi how did I do? Don't forget we are not writing manuscripts here but putting down thoughts and ideas fast and easy.

Trudy, relax. I don't see anything wrong with pointing out a few errors -- I'm sure the Opinion250 staff wants to get it right.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of English teachers who have the same attitude as you and that's why most kids can't spell or construct a proper sentence anymore.

@ seamutt,

I couldn't care less about typos in comments. We're not the ones getting paid to do this.

"Prince George can go virtually a mile further in that the aquifer that passes under this city and gives us most of our water is about the best you can get in this country. You got that right, it is right up there with the best water in Canada. "

Not after the City has added copious amounts of chlorine and fluoride to it.

Pity.

"I couldn't care less about typos in comments. We're not the ones getting paid to do this."
You should start your own blog. Maybe 'spellchek250'. Maybe you could make some $$ and have the satisfaction that everything is spelt write.

I'd rather drink a bottle of water than a bottle of pop when I'm out & about. Ergo, the Vancouver idea is idiotic - let the market dictate what gets sold or not, not some meddling do-gooders.

Hmmm... I'm not sure where you buy YOUR bottled water, (when you do) but we only pay .0003 per gallon here.... maybe it's because we fill our jug from the kitichen tap.... :-/

BTW... I'm pretty sure your City does not add flouride to your water any more.

V

Here is a letter from one of the players in the bottled water industry,
Editor:

I read with interest the column by Ben Meisner in the July 24th edition of Opinion 250 entitled, "Water, Water Everywhere…But Should We Drink the Bottled Stuff?"

Mr. Meisner questions why so many Prince George residents drink bottled water in a community with a supply of potable municipal water.

More than 75 percent of Prince George residents consume bottled water each and every day because it is a portable, accessible and healthy choice. In an independent survey conducted in June 2008 by Probe Research Inc., respondents said they are not choosing bottled water over municipal tap water. They are choosing bottled water over other bottled beverages with higher calories.

Bottled water is proving to be particularly helpful at a time when the incidence of obesity and diabetes are on a significant increase amongst young Canadians born after 2000. Almost 30 percent of them are overweight or obese, are susceptible to diabetes and may be the first generation of Canadians who don't outlive their parents. There isn't another portable beverage that provides the health and wellness benefits to Prince George residents that bottled water does -- and they need encouragement from the Province of British Columbia, the City of Prince George, industry players like ourselves and the media if we hope to blunt the advance of obesity and diabetes in this country. A concerning post-script from the Probe study: About 60 percent of bottled water drinkers said they will revert to less healthy alternatives found in plastic beverage containers if bottled water isn't available.

We at Nestlé Waters Canada strongly encourage Prince George residents to drink more water, whether it's tap water or bottled water. We also encourage the Province of British Columbia and the City of Prince George to work with our industry and ourselves to find ways to recycle more plastic bottles in this community. The current recycling rate in British Columbia is about 70 percent, according to Encorp Pacific. That's good. Could it be better? Yes.We believe we may have a solution. We and our industry partners recently entered into a $6 million, three-year agreement with the Government of Quebec and municipalities across that province to collect and recycle plastic beverage containers and other recyclable materials in public spaces. The pilot program that triggered this agreement resulted in, on average, an 85 percent participation rate amongst consumers and businesses. We would be interested in participating in a similar program in British Columbia.

In closing, Canadians have been drinking bottled water for almost 125 years. They should feel confident that they are doing the right thing from a health and wellness perspective as as well from an environmental standpoint because they absolutely are. And, at 30 cents a litre or less by the case, it's still the most economical, commercially-produced beverage there is -- and far cheaper than a litre of gasoline.

Sincerely,



John B. Challinor II APR
Director of Corporate Affairs
Nestlé Waters Canada
101 Brock Road South
Guelph, Ontario N1H 6H9

How about the effect on the enviornment to produce, bottle and transport this product? There was a report on Global with regards to bottled water and it was found that the cost is astronomical. It was also discovered that the water is really no better than what you get from your tap and that most are about the same quality as what you would get using a typical home water filtration system.

Also, water fountains no longer exist, forcing many to purchase bottled water, which, by the way, is marked up way higher than the sugary alternatives. It really ticks me off when my kids want a drink from the vending machine in a pinch, and a bottle of water is $2.75 whereas a coke is $1.25. Give me a break. Is the well being of the public and offering us healthy alternatives the primary goal of the water companies? I don't buy it - it's to make money, providing a product that we have been brainwashed into thinking we cannot do without.

Just my opinion.

Heres a response to Mr.Nestle..;)
"More than 75 percent of Prince George residents consume bottled water each and every day because it is a portable, accessible and healthy choice."
Know what is more portable, accessible and healthy? Using a refillable bottle and using water from the tap (filtered or otherwise).

"Bottled water is proving to be particularly helpful at a time when the incidence of obesity and diabetes are on a significant increase amongst young Canadians born after 2000."
Hmm So these people have no way to get water but through a bottle...right..

"There isn't another portable beverage that provides the health and wellness benefits to Prince George residents that bottled water does"
Is this guy for real? He's peddling what comes out of your tap. Hey Mr.Nestle you can put your tap water into a bottle to...Man O Man...

"The current recycling rate in British Columbia is about 70 percent,"
Please tell us how much energy is wasted recycling bottles that carry water? Water, the thing that comes out of your tap already..Its a huge waste of fuel and electricity...Ya thats good for the environment...Recycling is the last resort it reducing we need to be doing.

"They should feel confident that they are doing the right thing from a health and wellness perspective as as well from an environmental standpoint because they absolutely are."

As well as from an environmental standpoint???? This guy unbelievable he is relying on the public not being educated enough to realize the production and distribution of bottled water consumes millions of barrels of oil every year, creates millions of tons of greenhouse gases and millions of plastic bottles in our landfill and our water ways year after year after year after year..... I would go as far to say this person is being deceitful, he knows very well how much pollution is created from bottled water.

Nestle has a very bad reputation with how it treats indigenous people and how it treats the environment. Just research it you'll see Nestle is not a fair player when it comes to profits and the environment.

Knowledge is power, don't let MR.Nestle be the one trying to educate you find out what the truth is and not have it filtered through rose colored glasses...Or should that be through profit driven brainwashing..

This is for jaredl

"Hey Mr.Nestle you can put your tap water into a bottle to" that should have been too..

"Recycling is the last resort it reducing we need to be doing"

That should be:
recycling is the last resort it is reducing that we need to be doing. (Hmm that doesnt sound right either, o well jaredl can fill me in...

"This guy unbelievable" "is" is missing..

Ill let jaredl find the rest ...:)

Where can you buy liter of bottled water for 30 cents?
Drinking bottled water isn't going to stop childhood obesity, getting them away from computers and video games sure will though.

Posted by: RRrabbitt on July 24 2008 1:22 PM
Hmmm... I'm not sure where you buy YOUR bottled water, (when you do) but we only pay .0003 per gallon here.... maybe it's because we fill our jug from the kitichen tap.... :-/

BTW... I'm pretty sure your City does not add flouride to your water any more.


Yes the city of PG adds flouride to our drinking water.

Like many others I often buy bottled water because at that particular time, I'd rather drink it than pop or juice.

I also drink lots of PG tap water because to be honest, it tastes pretty damn good. I can't say the same for much of the tap water out there so there are times when I'll buy bottled instead of drinking what tastes like a chemical bath.

Then there is also the water that looks like it came from a pond. I remember looking at a glass of water in a Fort Nelson hotel room one time that looked like it had about a teaspoon of dirt poured in it (this was after a few hours of sitting undisturbed). I drank lots of bottled water up there, LOL :)

I once had a chemical company out of Saskatchewan test our tap water for a chemical bath thing for a business I was starting. They said it was the cleanest tap water they have ever tested in Western Canada.

The worst water I have ever tasted was last year in Abbotsford at a restaurant.
Anything I had to drink that contained water, (including the ice cubes) was completely overpowered by the taste of chlorine.
Absolutely disgusting.

"Yes the city of PG adds flouride to our drinking water."

True enough - I can often smell the chlorine (bleach) when I open the tap. The fluoride is tasteless - during the NDP years the city got a special exemption from the legal requirement to hold a referendum about installing a brand new $ 500,000 dollar fluoridation system and saved itself the 50k the referendum would have cost.

Then it went ahead and spent the half a million bucks.

Recently Kitimat stopped fluoridation after a referendum failed to support continuing fluoridation.

Many health officials in North America are finally coming to the conclusion in ever greater numbers that the ill effects caused by artificial fluoridation far outweigh any perceived benefits.

Western Europe uses ozone instead of bleach and mostly has stopped fluoridation. Cavities in children's teeth have not increased as a result of it.