Drinking water of millions of Americans contaminated with ‘forever chemicals’ - eviltoast
  • z3rOR0ne@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    I lived the majority of ky adult life with a roommate who kept a 100 gallon salt water coral aquarium for almost a decade. One of the most expensive, difficult, time demanding hobbies I’ve ever seen. He couldn’t afford to replace the 20 or so gallon that needed to be replaced every couple weeks to keep the salinity and other chemical levels stable, so we had one of those under the sink RO filters. It always tasted great unless he forgot to change the filters. I worked at a Starbucks for quite a while and they basically just have a larger version of that which is changed out whenever the sensors ping their maintenance hq. Water there tasted the same.

    Plastic bottled water to me is one of the ultimate fuck yous to the planet’s ecosystem that most people could easily stop today. It’s telling that the consumable plastic market is primarily owned by the oil companies, hell it’s one of the many products that can be developed from the refinery process. Short answer is get a metal thermos or canteen and refill it with RO or some other filtered water, get one of those Brita pitchers if you can’t or won’t install an RO, and cut back on your plastic containers as much as you feasibly can.

    • Changetheview@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      My thoughts are more centered on true purity and safety, but it’s usually a good sign if it at least tastes better! As we learn more about water contamination, it seems like a well-designed and well-maintained RO system is a good idea for people who want to help protect their health.

      Single-use plastic water bottles are basically a crime against humanity, especially when used frivolously (drinking bottles filled with tap water of the same quality that comes out of the faucet). But the reusable 5-gallon jugs are a different category, in my opinion. In many places, these large plastic containers are by far the most popular lifeline to safe drinking water. Of course I’d prefer metal or glass, but the logistical challenges and availability make them a problem.

    • Dark Arc@social.packetloss.gg
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      1 year ago

      Agree with most everything you said, except the Brita part… Those things are kind of a joke, lookup ZeroWater. IMO it’s the best RO alternative you can get (it tests better than RO too in terms of TDS … but it’s way more of a hassle and a few TDS aren’t really an issue).