Drake University Bans Plastic Water Bottles

The other day I was reading in the Des Moines Register about a story that just made me shake my head.  In the story, it was stated that Drake University in Iowa has now banned plastic water bottles.  In their defense, this was a student led initiative.  While they have banned plastic water bottles, it appears they are giving each student a refillable water bottle and making hydration stations plentifully available.

Yet, I am waiting for the moment when these same people who are so against plastic water bottles, ban all soft drink plastic bottles.  I mean, fair is fair, right?  Of course not!  I know the twisted logic that will not allow this to happen.

Before you think that I am completely missing the point, if you banned all purified bottled water, I would be completely behind you on that one.  To ban water that is carefully bottled and not just purified is short-sighted to say the least.  Of course, it means that you have to do your research and understand how each brand and supplier packages their water.


If you think that all water in a bottle is the same, again you are short-sighted at best.  I know that Disney/Coke bottle their main brand "Dasanti" and it is nothing more than purified water.  It says so on the label.  If you shove this brand or others like it at me, I can hardly drink it because it tastes awful.  However, if you give me actual spring water that hasn't had all the minerals added and been purified and processed, I'll enjoy it like there was not enough of it to consume.

Maybe your next argument will be that water is available everywhere in the public water supply.  Yes, it is, but how many people drink large amounts of it?  Have you ever looked inside a water pipe and seen the filth that is in the pipe?  Have you ever tested the water to see the bacteria levels?  If not, I would suggest you educate yourself on this and begin to understand it because it will be eye opening.

Public water supply also has many chemicals added to it which I am one of those individuals that feels these are not healthy to consume.  Fluoride is one of those byproducts that should not be added to water, but when you get the lobbyists and corporations behind the laws filled with contributions, it doesn't matter what is healthy or not.  The only thing that matters is the money one can make and how the money is used to control legislation.

If you think that I'm making this up about the public water supply, just watch your water throughout the year.  When they do a massive clean in the water systems or add chemicals, you can notice this with your own senses, if you are paying attention.  There are times that I can actually smell the chemicals or observe it eat up dish soap in a instant.  If you want to convince me that drinking water from the tap is good for me, I'll let you prove it to me first.

Aside from the water quality issues, we don't even begin to drink enough water and hydrate our bodies in the way that is needed.  I see so many people who barely drink water in a day and even if they do, it is no where near adequate for what their body requires.  As a society, we are so dehydrated that I don't know how our bodies function in a day.

If you think you are drinking enough water in a day, think again.  Instead, try keeping a glass of water close by without any flavor or sugar added (pure water) and don't stop drinking it.  If you get your body hydrated, you will be able to tell quickly when you don't drink enough water.  The rule of thumb is eight 8 ounce glasses a day.  Most people don't get anywhere close to that!

Of course, there are people who think that drinking soft drinks, ice teas and other sugar flavored drinks actually hydrate them.  In the honest truth, yes you are drinking fluids, but you are forcing your body to work extra hard to make these things into an useable form, that would be so readily available if you just drank water.   Pure, unadulterated water is essential for the body.  After all the body is made up of around 70% water and so if we deprive it of this nutrient, we are placing enormous limits upon our self.

Banning single use water bottles may sound like something that is good, but does that not push people towards drinking less healthy and more sugar induced drinks?  If water is not readily available, people will turn to soft drinks which are not the least bit healthy for a body.  You can villainize water bottles all you want, but if you aren't doing the same to soft drinks, beer, and other beverages than you are not being honest about the issue.

It is sad that we only see one side of this issue while we embrace the junk that is doing our body no good.  It is sad that we do not adequately hydrate our body, while going around and preaching about the horrors of plastic bottles (which is true, but we need to find a balance).

It is sad that the same people who bash the water bottle are most likely going to fast-food restaurants and creating more waste through the packaging than they should. Most likely electronic equipment is being tossed aside year after year, not thinking about what that is doing to the environment.  Yet, these things don't matter as much it seems!  We only focus upon one issue and hold a blind eye to all other issues.

I applaud the students for becoming active and making a change, but hopefully there can be some balance in this area.  Hopefully these students worry more about the sugar in soft drinks and energy shots, than they do about bashing those that drink adequate amounts of water. 




Article Source:  War Against Water Bottles Prompts Sales Ban At Drake

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Blog Post And Images (c) 4/9/13 by Don Shetterly

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