Just ran across this article, which speaks of religious groups who believe that bottled water is an improper use of a natural resource.
So, what do you all think? Is bottled water immoral? It’s an interesting question. For me, I guess it depends on whether or not bottling water does seriously threaten the availablity of fresh, clean water to people who can’t afford bottled. I am not convinced that this is a problem or ever will be in the US. In other parts of the world, I am not so sure. Certainly, making sure that the ability to obtain fresh water is provided to the population should be a priority of governments, but of course in many countries, governments do not place such basic human necessities on their list of priorities. So is it the fault of privatization that people don’t have access to water, or does this at least give people an option to obtain it, if the government can’t or won’t provide it?
No, these people are idiots. It’s certainly not immoral. It’s a natural resource, sure, but that doesn’t mean it is immoral to package it and sell it. Unless you pay someone, the natural resource will not be transported to an area to use nor will it be rendered into a usable form. “Water should be free for all,” one of them says. If we were banned from buying or selling water, very few would have water.
Tap water is sold, too, it just costs less than bottled water. Unless these people are using water out of a creek by their house, then they have no logic behind their statement.
Apparently U.S. corporations are buying the rights to water in 3rd world countries, and then, I assume, selling it back to them at a profit? So I’m guessing the idea is that not buying water from these companies would be a form of protest. I didn’t see the documentary, so I’m not sure exactly what their point is.
Third world countries have never had free potable water available, have they? Haven’t they always relied on someone bottling drinking water and selling it to them? I don’t get it.
A lot of places don’t have access to clean water. If corporations are providing clean water to these people, even at a price, that is a very moral thing to do, I think. If the choice is paying for clean water or having no water at all, then I don’t see how you can condemn a company for providing that water.
Renob and lowbrass, this is my concern over movements like this. While I’m sure they are well-intentioned, I am not sure what makes these folks think that if the water is not sold to 3rd-world people, that they will have access to any at all. This was the point I was making about the governments. If private industry does not provide water, and the government does not provide water, who will provide it?
Exactly, Saraheena. Governments in these areas are complete failures. They fail to provide basic government services, so the only access some people in these countries have to water is from unsafe sources. Corporations are meeting a human need. Of course, the rich limousine liberals think capitalism is evil, so they protest. What they don’t seem to grasp is that if they succeed people will be forced to return to their unsafe water sources.
Bottled water is evil and degenerate, and weakens the bodily fluids of the general population.
As General Jack D. Ripper said in Dr Strangelove:" Mandrake, have you ever seen a Commie drink a glass of water? "
Well, the National Coalition of American Nuns can very well and legitimately hold to the conceptual belief that it should * be a sacred duty of society to provide a public safe water supply – and a fine idealistic belief it is. It still is a buck short of a cup of coffee, but then so’s a lot of Christian social doctrine; God says feed the hungry, slake the thristy, nurse the sick, etc. but you may notice he does not (lately) make food, medicine or drinking water appear out of nothing, humans must still work to produce it. And you can legitimately argue that a commercial enterprise in the business of exploitation of an essential common resource should ethically seek to steward it for the greater benefit of all – which is not necessarily incompatible with getting a reasonable return-on-investment. But the idea is that you convince people to do so because it is a good thing in the long run, not that you forbid involving such things as food, water, etc. in fair * commercial transactions. Because, as mentioned, if the alternative to some people getting some water is no people getting any water, then that’s not an answer.
I’d reserve my censure for the governments that do not make the effort to try and provide safe public water; or any who may (in the worse case) be signing away water-resource rights w/o reserving some guarantees for the people, just so they can get new carpets for the president’s mansion.
But it tastes better than my tap water (which is a little high in arsenic too, I believe) and way better than my folks’ well water.
Tap water and well water in the US is not all of the same quality. Some isn’t even technically safe enough for drinking. Bottled water doesn’t corrode the coffee pot either and beans taste way better when cooked in it. And it’s clean.
The premise that people have a right to clean water is flawed logic. Water is a chemical like any other found on this planet and it’s natural purity is not governed by the desire of a bunch of wac-ado’s.
Any rights regarding water purity are limited to manmade pollutants introduced to existing water. That is not inclusive of nature nor does one business represent the negligence of another. There are many places where water exists naturally in a form that cannot be consumed. If private enterprise sells potable water to people in these areas then that is a good thing. It is no different than municipalities who sell water. It is a service that costs money.
I’m sure the Presbyterians for Restoring Creation mean well but the money spent whining could easily be converted to water treatment facilities in areas where breeding has exceeded nominal drinking water standards. It should be pretty easy to sell water at a fraction of what bottled water costs.
Municipal water standards very by location which means you may be stuck with chlorinated water. It’s also convenient to purchase water that is chilled and sealed when on the road. Without the bottled beverage industry that convenience would be gone.
I live in an area that has both an ample supply of water and a municipality that does a good job treating it. It tastes good right out of the tap. That is not the case in many locations surrounding me. It is the first thing I look at when buying a house.
If they did, they’re full of shit. I defy you to come to my house and tell me my tap water doesn’t taste like ass.
And I’ve been places where no, the water was NOT safe to drink, let alone as clean as bottled. A friend’s family had a little house up by Cook’s Forest, and you couldn’t drink the water, or you’d end up with amoebas, or something of that nature. You had to brink bottled water.