my latest paranoia: water bottles

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Permalink Reply by Bosque Bill on January 8, 2008 at 10:11am

Seems like nothing is simple, is it? As the author of the article said, reusing the bottle a couple times is probably not a big deal

That being said, most people have no thought to the environmental consequence of buying bottled water instead of using our healthy, government inspected and regulated tap water. There are no requirements for testing bottled water, but I digress. Bottled water generally is shipped far from the consumer, so besides the energy needed for packaging and handling, hydrocarbons are burned bringing it to the store shelves... and water is heavy to move.

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Permalink Reply by Robyn on June 7, 2008 at 8:05pm

I've lived in too many ABQ houses in which the tap water looks like it's full of sea monkeys.

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Permalink Reply by Scott on January 8, 2008 at 10:04pm

I did a right up on my site with a link to Kleankanteens which are a solid alternative. There is so much waste associated with bottled water, as Bosque Bill refered to. I have not come to a conclusion on the science of health hazards and nalgene bottles, but in the mean time my kids drink from Kleankanteens. Of course, they will probably have issues from the filtered tap water from the fridge as most filters do not filter arsenic and fluoride. I have been drinking from Nalgene bottles for years and well....ok .....bad example. :)

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Permalink Reply by Phil_0 on January 11, 2008 at 12:48pm

Yeah, we were sort of freaking out about this at my house last summer. Nalgenes are pretty much indispensable in my line of work (I'm an archaeologist), so the potential for contamination from them is pretty scary. I have some friends who have tried to make a complete switch to glass and/or ceramic containers, but we're not quite ready to take the plunge yet.

The kleankanteens site is interesting...here in town, the Co-op sells metal-lined canteens in at least 0.5 and 1 liter sizes, as well as metal-lined coffee cups. They might be worth checking out if this is something that worries you.

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Permalink Reply by Bosque Bill on January 11, 2008 at 1:14pm

This has gotten me to thinking "What is the bladder and tube in my CamelBak(tm) made of?" I tried looking on the product and also on their web site without finding anything about the plastic used. I did discover that they are using nanosilver as an anti-bacterial agent in the plastic... which is a whole other topic for discussion.

Anyone know what a CamelBak is made from?

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Permalink Reply by Scott on January 14, 2008 at 6:44pm

Nalgene is made from a Polycarbonate plastic. Most hydration packs are made from rubber or flexible plastic. I did find a North Face bladder made from Nalgene, but I could not find many others. I also did not find any articles relating to the dangers of Nalgene bottles. So....to answer your question...maybe.

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Permalink Reply by Laura on February 8, 2008 at 12:22pm

I used to live down the street from Theo Colborn -- she was one of the scientists who pioneered the study of endocrine disruptors (and was one of three authors of the book, Our Stolen Future). She was very anti-Nalgene (and anti-fleece, too).

You can check out the site http://ourstolenfuture.org/ to read more about the issue. I think they keep it pretty up-to-date with new studies and information.

Uh, all this said, I still use Nalgenes, though I don't let my kid drink out of 'em.

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Permalink Reply by Deanna Nichols on March 3, 2008 at 2:02pm

Stainless steel water bottles are my answer. I hope I don't find out there is a problem with them!

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Permalink Reply by sophie on April 19, 2008 at 4:52pm

Julie H has just posted to Duke City Mamas about this. She's looking for local sources of glass and metal baby bottles, sippy cups, etc. Click over if you can help her out!

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Permalink Reply by andrea on April 28, 2008 at 2:34pm

i love my nalgene bottle and recently saw on the news that they are potentially harmful.

damn shame...

we tried converting to stainless steel but those suck because they only hold small amounts
of water and i need LARGE amounts to get through my day.

if the recycle code on the bottom is a '7' or higher, it contains the harmful chemical that i cannot-
for the life of me- think of what it's called. i'll try and find a reliable link soon.

my nalgene bottle has a big fat '7' on it. waaa!

**edit: bisphenol-A is the chemical...
you can read more here:http://www.thegreenguide.com/doc/ask/nalgene

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Permalink Reply by Kamarie on June 10, 2008 at 5:37am

It's just amazing... you try and do the right thing, and every time you turn around, there's something else bad about that. We do have Nalgene bottles in our home, but now I'm paranoid to use them. I read somewhere (God knows where) a couple years ago that limiting your intake of drinks from cans or metal is good because certain chemicals (natural) in the aluminum and various other metals is linked to a lot of Alzheimer's studies.

Around here, we reuse the same plastic bottle from ___(brand name here)__ until it becomes so unusable it must go in the recycling bin.

It's not a perfect solution, but it seems like nothing is.

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Permalink Reply by Severine on September 4, 2008 at 1:41pm

I was told the claims that Aluminum causes Alzheimers was bunk- that it turned out the Alzheimers study samples were stored in Aluminum foil. doh!

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