Elizabeth Royte‘s new book is called Bottlemania: How Water Went on Sale and Why We Bought It. I haven’t read it yet, but I gather that it ably summarizes the growing economic and environmental backlash against bottled water.
So maybe the world is ready for the Xziex Atmospheric Water Generator, a tiny machine that makes “fresh clean water from thin air” and encourages people to “say goodbye to bottled water.”
This is certainly an interesting idea, but — aside from the fact that “Xziex” is impossible to pronounce and that its website’s language sounds like a late-night infomercial script — I wonder if it will flourish because:
1. It doesn’t fulfill one of the main conveniences of bottled water, which is portability.
2. If you are dissatisfied enough with your tap water to drink bottled water, will you really be willing to drink water from the air that may be similarly polluted?
On the other hand, in parts of the world where clean water of any kind is in great need, I can imagine that such a machine would be an absolute godsend.
I would love to hear more from readers who know the science, politics, and economics of water.
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T-Bone: As much as I appreciate Penn and Teller calling BS on others, I am dismayed by the fact that the couple seemingly caught on camera being duped are in fact actors; I know, because I’ve directed the guy in a short film and met the couple myself.
I despise bottled water myself, and am love with my Brita. But even so, I’m not afraid to drink out of the tap.
Something of this sort is needed for disaster areas. After a hurricane, the biggest needs are water, ice, food, shelter. But with the water mains down or polluted, a generator and this device (on a grand scale) could perhaps solve the water problem.
So what will we do in water-scarce areas? Put up a lot of these machines into, dare I say it, moisture farms?
Where’s Luke Skywalker when you need him?
Just don’t let the Darklighters buy up all the farms from the small farmers or they’ll start raising prices.
Reuben #8: That’s an excellent point.
The vast majority of bottled water comes direct from the city water main. Even when it says it comes from “artesian wells” or “mountain springs,” it’s the city pumping and filtering the water and then sending it down the main to the bottling facility.
If you buy water from a vending machine, it’s being bottled right next to those bottles of Coca-Cola or Pepsi at the local bottling facility.
City water systems are required to meet stringent federal regulations for water quality. Bottled water, incidentally, is not.
The United States has some of the finest tap water in the world. But the best way to make a fortune is convincing people to buy something they can get for free.
A condenser by any other name …. would cost even less
“Charging a higher price for purified water makes it possible for municipalities to offer a quality of water similar to bottled water.”
To Anna (#5): From your comment, I’m sure you would be surprised to learn that municipal water already has a much higher quality than bottled water. There are pretty stringent regulations on the amounts of different chemicals that can appear in the water from your tap. Conversely, bottled water can essentially be pulled directly from a groundwater source and be given to you to drink. Would you like to guess what types of things nature doesn’t go to the trouble of filtering out from any random water source? Although clearly the bottled water companies do some filtering, they don’t have the legal burden for quality that your municipality does.
Californians seem so addicted to bottled water that if every bottled water drinker in California chose tap water instead, we might run out of tap water overnight.