Town BANS selling bottled water... Welcome to Amerika, land of the free!

On this bottled water controversy I thought I would toss this in.

UNCONSTITUTIONAL!!!!!!

Doesn't anyone read the constitution anymore?

Article 1 Sec 8. Powers delegated to the Federal Govt.
To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and
with the Indian Tribes;

10th amendment.
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor
prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to
the people.

14th Amendment.
No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States;

This water bill has a major problem. States and local government have no power when it comes to interstate commerce. Product bans and regulations at their level is banned by the 3 previous sections of the constitution listed here. It is a Federal Power. It's one of those checks and balances Constitutional Scholars like to talk about.

also look at this one too.
Mass. Constitution. Article 4.
Article IV. The people of this commonwealth have the sole and exclusive right of governing themselves, as a free, sovereign, and independent state; and do, and forever hereafter shall, exercise and enjoy every power, jurisdiction, and right, which is not, or may not hereafter, be by them expressly delegated to the United States of America in Congress assembled.

[edit on 5-5-2010 by ntech]

reply to post by ntech


Good call. I think its just immoral and leaves the city open to thousands of law suites if there is ever a problem with their water supply.

reply to post by argentus


I have a Berkey light & its awesome..

greatest water filter ever...

[edit on 6-5-2010 by reeferman]

"Water is something we can get from the faucet. You can't turn your faucet on and get soda," said Selectwoman Virginia McIntyre, explaining why other plastic bottles would not be banned.

That reasoning is really stupid.
Either non recyclable plastic is evil or it's not.
Considering that what's in the bottled water bottle is a lot healthier than whats in the soda bottle, should make bottled water the necessary evil. Not the other way round IMO.

Good thing. That water is disgusting.

reply to post by hotbakedtater

Screwed because you cannot boil out ecoli? (in the scenerio you present.)

Didn't quite intend it to come out that way . . .

I was stating it from the standpoint of all the people who panicked and rushed out to buy the bottled water when the news first broke--before they received formal instructions to boil the water. I was not one of those who joined the stampede to the grocery store, as supposedly my area of the city had not been exposed to the tainted water.

Nevertheless, I decided it was probably best to fore-go making a batch of Kool-Aid that day. . .

I don't want to go too far off topic, but I don't know how I survived my childhood!
I was born and raised hillbilly in the Appalachian Mountains. The water that come out of the faucet was pumped from the springhouse. If you ventured down to the springhouse, you would find frogs and salamanders thriving in the stone-lined sump where the pump took it's suction from. That water was the best tasting water that I ever drank.

When I was out hunting or fishing and got thirsty, I would stop at the nearest running water (spring, run or creek) lean down, put my lips to the water and drink my fill. Who knows what critter was rotting in the water a half a mile up the 'crick'?
I am 47 and still kickin'.

Originally posted by butcherguy
As I said before, I drink tap water.

What is funny is the fact that convenience is sooo important to today's consumers.
If consumers were cost-conscious, they wouldn't pay the price for what is at best spring water, at worst water straight from a municipal supply.

Very true. Though I will admit that not all supplies are created equal. I hated our city water till I moved to Phoenix, and now realize it could be fresh melted snow from Sweden compared to Phoenix water. Water companies are huge out there, for very good reason. It runs 110 out of both sides of the tap in the summertime, freaky.

People mention reverse osmosis systems. Again it boils down to convenience.
RO systems have membranes that go bad and need to be replaced.
You have to wash that reusable bottle, just not convenient enough..

They are good if you have a serious problem, you want an RO.
You don't have to have an RO. A carbon system will do. Even a small one that sits on the tap or a pitcher filter. Carbon removes most things.
RO is also very wasteful. I can't remember the odds anymore but it is like 4 gallons wasted for one produced.

Should manufacturers be allowed to sell paper plates, disposable plastic cups and plastic dinnerware?
Don't these items end up in a landfill too?
Where do we draw the line?

Valind point. I think they should be limited as well. But people don't tend to use them on the same volume as bottled water, not that it makes it much better. But considering the amount of landfill space and resources they use, there should be an effort to cut back.
Simply, if people were charged by lb. for waste, they would cut back altogether.


P.S. I have done work for a major bottled water supplier in the US. Not that long ago, they had to flush their piping and systems for bottling spring water because of molybdenum contamination, so even spring water can be bad out of the bottle! ..

Anything can show up anywhere. I don't know the requirements for bottling companies, but depending on state and local regulations, municiple supplies in our area test the water every five minutes.

See in my line of business, problems crop up from illegal activity, to stuff that wasn't regulated before that causes problems decades down the line. You just don't know. No water supply is 100% safe.

reply to post by FalselyFlagged


I think maybe some of your anger is misdirected. There are quite a few things that could and should disturb you about the world, I don't know if this should be one of them.

Much love to all...

Originally posted by FalselyFlagged
reply to post by hotbakedtater

 

Water bag = colostomy bag. In the United States of Amerika you should not be required to carry around your water or die.

That's why we invented money, so that you can buy things that you want. Or buy things that you NEED, like water. If you don't want to buy it, then don't.. But why should you limit the freedoms of another person?

You don't value the free market? You don't value the constitution?

I can't buy a gun at the convenience store, either, even though the Constitution says I have the right to own one.

Simmer down already. Your sweating hysteria may dehydrate you.

reply to post by NightGypsy

I see and thank you for clarification.

Well, I sorta of see both your point and the towns. With that said, why is banning water bottles considered fascist, but allowing corporations to transport water in toxic Chinese plastic, from half way around the world less fascist?

You might say, well, they make a profit, they market, they're entrepreneurs so they should be able to do business as they see fit.

But we fail to see the violent and toxic nature of the industry.

Consider Fiji. It really comes from there.

So rather than going to your sink, you opt to buy a plastic bottle made in China, that is flown to Fiji, to be filled with local fresh water (on an ocean island no less) where a dictatorship stops the locals from having water rights at the behest of corporate interests - all so that chic people can have a unique square bottles full of toxic water with a pretty blue-pink logo and see and be seen with the "image" of Fiji water.

Because, when you boil it all down, the main point is the image, not the product...but that is a bigger story.

In the end, acts like what this ban did infuriate people who see this as a rights issue...but what about our rights to clean, LOCAL water???

Multiple times I have bought a bottle of water and then filled up a glass of tap water. I drank both and concluded that bottled water tasted better. By better I mean more refreshing and clean. The tap water to me just tasted funky and should not be a source for drinking water.

Funny how in one thread, I read about tap water being chemically poisoned with flouride among other things and should not be drunk. Then in this thread, I read people's posts stating that why buy bottled water when you can get free water from the tap. By the way, whoever thinks that drinking tap water is free is slightly mistaken.


To each his own I guess.

reply to post by FalselyFlagged

When you change to oil in your car, you should be allowed to dump your filter or used car battery after changing it...

Oh wait... That's illegal, you have to recycle them?! The Communists have already usurped our freedoms, and have been doing it long before Obama or Carter!

The water bottle thing is really no different. Why would you want to drink out of a plastic bottle that will emasculate you?

Hormone-Mimics In Plastic Water Bottles Act As Functional Estrogens

ScienceDaily (Mar. 27, 2009) — Plastic packaging is not without its downsides, and if you thought mineral water was ‘clean’, it may be time to think again. According to Martin Wagner and Jörg Oehlmann from the Department of Aquatic Ecotoxicology at the Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, plastic mineral water bottles contaminate drinking water with estrogenic chemicals.

www.sciencedaily.com...

[edit on 5/9/2010 by clay2 baraka]

reply to post by clay2 baraka


So pass an ordinance on disposing of the bottles. Don't ban the bottles all together.

Welcome to Amerika, where you can go buy a gun, but can't legally buy a bottle of water to drink... Or for survival supplies.

Originally posted by FalselyFlagged
reply to post by clay2 baraka

 

So pass an ordinance on disposing of the bottles. Don't ban the bottles all together.

Welcome to Amerika, where you can go buy a gun, but can't legally buy a bottle of water to drink... Or for survival supplies.

You and I both know that passing an ordinance mandating the recycling of plastic containers is a false choice. It is completely unenforceable.It's like regulating recycling bubblegum wrappers...

The world got along just fine years ago without plastic water bottles and would be fine without them again. They are a bloat on our landfills and have questionable chemical properties (did you read the previous link).

As for the survival aspect.. I have 15 gallons of emergency water supplies on my back porch... And the water doesn't come in pretty little plastic bottles... It also costs less to refill, (unless you want to go filtered)...

reply to post by clay2 baraka


Your analogy is flawed then because an ordinance to ban dumping oil from your car is equally unenforceable.

But you didn't see them banning oil changes at your own house, and only letting a oil shop do it!

Can you really think that banning water is a good idea? What if there is an emergency? What if you leave your house and forget your colostomy bag at home? What if your thirsty and want to buy something to drink?

What if you have a boxed lunch event / seminar where bottled water is provided for the guests? Should that be illegal? Should only Coca-Cola be legal to buy so you can give to them?

What if a politician comes to town? Do you think their security would like them drinking tap water.