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Pro tip for Walden Pond visitors: Stock up on bottled water in Acton before you go
By adamg on Thu, 04/26/2012 - 8:45am
Concord Town Meeting last night finally banned the sale of water in plastic bottles - although the measure still needs final approval from the state Attorney General's office. Next up: A proposed ban on unleashed cats.
Photo by Danny Howard used under this Creative Commons license.
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protip: there are several water fountains around Walden Pond
...and in Concord, too. And there are these things called "nalgene bottles" and whatnot.
Seriously, people: get a grip. Also: unless it's really hot out, or you're running or biking, you do not need to have a litre of water with you, or drink X ounces of water Y times a day.
Seriously
And it certainly doesn't need to be purified or from a spring or any of this crap (a few rare immune conditions excepted).
Yup
And how much of the "spring" water is actually purified or from a spring?
Spend the couple of bucks and get a refillable bottle, which will end up saving you in the long run.
Most of it is just coming
Most of it is just coming from local ground water supply, the same stuff that is coming out of the tap in Fryberg, Maine (one of Nestle's sources for Poland Spring water), for instance. It's such a scam.
Not all local ground water is created equal
We're lucky in Boston that our tap water is pretty good. Many municipalities have hard water (I noticed this in California) or just plain old shitty water (New Jersey). And the city only guarantees the supply up to the edge of the property line. After that, it's the owner's responsibility to maintain the pipes. I've seen enough brown water coming through my tap to know that it is not always wonderful. My current home does not have that problem, thankfully, so I use tap water gladly. Although, they are working on the pipes right now, so I may have to flush them when I get home.
prottip
Around here we call them bubblers.
If there going to ban plastic water bottles, why not ban plastic bottled coke, pepsi, gatorade, etc.
The deposit laws
for one. Second is the almost universe , and good quality availability of municipal waters. Third, the environment damage it's doing.
I'm not sure I agree with an outright ban, but it is amazing how destructive and unnecessary bottle water really is outside of something like disaster response.
Aquapocalypse
Remeber: 5/1/10
I would hate to be in Concord
I would hate to be in Concord on the day the trust fund checks are delivered. The banks must be jammed with people carrying leather water sacks, dragging their leashed cats around.
A Ban On Unleashed Cats?
Seriously?
I read the article. "Terrorist cats". This woman makes it sound as though she comes out to her yard every day and finds herself ankle-deep in bird carcasses.
Cats on leashes? It's about as idiotic a thing as I've ever heard proposed. If I was a cat owner in that town, I'd sneak into her yard and plant catnip just to piss her off.
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
Fluffy kitties kill millions
Fluffy kitties kill millions of song birds every year in this country. If you killed a single migratory bird, the federal government would put you in cuffs and charge you with a violation of the Migratory Bird Act. Yes, it does happen.
News Flash - Animals Kill Each Other
Technically she's the invasive one by feeding wild animals.
Any some of those species are quite invasive - blue jays, crows, and starlings can be quite combative towards other birds.
If she's still got any birds anyhow the cats around there are much lazier than mine were. In their heyday they depopulated one whole neighborhood of birds, mice, voles, squirrels, moles, rabbits, turkeys, racoons, possums, mac users, skunks, dogs, and other cats.
Are they also making sure
Are they also making sure that water fountains, or sinks and cups, will be available for free in all public places?
WTF?
A lot of places don't sell orange juice, but that doesn't mean the government should give us free orange juice.
It's called a water bottle. You fill it in your own damn sink, then you carry it places.
Cripes.
And if it's a hot day, you quickly use up what you brought
So if Concord does not want stores to sell water, I hope there are places to refill bottles. This is a major tourist town.
Concord would just as soon tourists go away
We're talking about a town that once voted down restrooms.
There's a water fountain by Old North Bridge for people from away.
I agree, Ron.
I am not a big fan of water in plastic or bottled water but I do understand that not all folks carry refillable water bottles like myself. So if I run out of water in my water bottle (and don't want to carry three extra in my back pack), will businesses let me fill up on a hot day? Hmm. Methinks I might try this (if the ban is approved) to see how, ah, friendly, the main street merchants are :)
Does anyone with a good memory remember
the throngs of people dropping dead of thirst in the streets, back in the bad old days before every store sold bottled water, you know, 20 years ago or so? It seems to have slipped my memory entirely.
C'mon guys, the whole bottled water thing is ridiculous.
Still have the spigot?
There used to be a fountain/spigot where cyclists watered up on hot days.
Note that you couldn't ban cel phones now that there are no pay phones, either.
The government already
The government already provides very cheap water. They should require businesses to give it to the public without a huge markup.
And while they're at it
they should require the people to drink the water that they require these businesses to provide. And there should be random testing of piss to make sure nobody's dehydrated.
Not all water is created equal
You wouldn't want to drink what comes out of my faucets. Looks like milk from all the sea monkeys or whatever is in it.
MWRA water
routinely wins blind taste tests against the bottled stuff. It's also held to a higher standard of purity and safety and inspected more often than the bottled stuff.
That "milk" is air. let the glass of water stand for 30 seconds and it'll clear.
I'd like
glass to make a comeback.
Silica is about the most abundant thing in the world, and when you throw it on the ground or a landfill it's goes back to it's natural state much quicker.
I'm sure plastic is cheaper, but I'd gladly pay the extra 5 cents for glass to make a comeback for soft drinks and bottled water.
They also need to update the redemption laws to include a lot of other containers in this state. That's probably 1/2 the reason towns are doing this.
The main problem with glass ...
... is that when you drop it, it breaks into lots of little pieces. Which then put holes in bicycle tires and car tires and even some shoes.
Hey Gaffin, you've been hacked
Somebody's posting Onion articles on your page.
I'm no fan of bottled water.
I'm no fan of bottled water. But I still think this law is a pain in the ass.
Concord should focus its environmental efforts on stuff like becoming more walkable by building sidewalks.
Thank you for your support!
Costco announced this press release today:
"We here at the Costco Warehouse in Waltham, MA would like to thank the town of Concord for its recent decision to ban sales of water in bottles. We would like to remind all of our Concord customers that we are less than 8 miles away and will be happy to help you load your water purchases into your giant gas-guzzling SUVs if you have any troubles. Thank you again, town of Concord, for your support!"