agreed. In fact we should be celebrating water bottlers for providing utility for humans by transferring water from where it is plentiful to where it is actually scare, in an easily consumable container.
That's the thing though: people wouldn't have so much issue with bottled water if the container actually was "easily consumable". As it is, bottled water is simply crime against the planet.
As for distribution of sodas, beers and other beverages - given the pattern of their consumption, it makes more sense to have them in containers than to try and make everyone's home connected to "tap beer".
Now, we can continue this topic into realms of packaging of foods and other items, and I'm going to say it up-front: I consider the modern amount of packaging on things to be a crime as well. E.g. pre-packaged meat in plastic containers vs. getting it wrapped in paper by a clerk at the meat stand.
I understand that convenience has value, and I wouldn't personally even care about this if we had a working, efficient recycling infrastructure. As we don't, I do care.
It's practically impossible to recycle plastics economically. The best we can manage at the moment is down-cycling them into low-grade, low-value plastic products. There's an argument to be made for standardised and washable glass bottles with a deposit scheme, although that's unlikely to be popular. If we're stuck with disposable containers, Tetra-pak cartons are probably better over the whole lifecycle, although the calculations are extremely complex and we don't fully understand the environmental cost of a plastic bottle.
There's an economic problem with the supply of water in public places. On a societal level, it would be vastly cheaper for local municipalities to provide faucets and drinking fountains. There'd be negligible economic cost to legislation requiring cafes and restaurants to refill water bottles free of charge or for a nominal fee.
A series of misaligned incentives has created a multi-billion dollar industry out of an extremely inefficient way of distributing water. Foremost among them is the unpriced externalities of the resources used to produce, transport and dispose of water bottles.
It's not a major issue in the broader scheme of things, but it's emblematic of a more fundamental failure in how we respond to environmental challenges.
When these fountains were removed and sometimes replaced as required by the ADA, the new fountains did not work as well. One needed two of them to have them at a low height and a high height. They seem to break often, so one could not count on getting water when one is thirsty. They usually have low water pressure or broken valves so the water comes out at a trickle. You cannot get the water your body wants without bending over awkwardly, your lips hitting the spout, and sucking on a pitiful trickle of water for minutes at a time. It is not the pleasurable experience that drinking water can be. No wonder people started looking for a bottle of water to buy when they were thirsty. I usually carry a bottle of tap water when I carry a pack, but it is more enjoyable to walk around without carrying one. When I do that and get thirsty, most of the time I buy some water, as the there are no working drinking fountains to be found.
> If you never wanted to do something that was a "crime against the planet", we'd all be living in caves.
> You can't avoid it in a modern society
Probably not possible, chemically. But imagine if you could package water and some food calories together and ship it.
So then you'd have to package the edible bottle in a protective layer.
It seems easier to just sell water and food separately.
https://www.fastcompany.com/40403025/this-edible-water-bottl...
In places like Brazil, street vendors sell coconuts for drinking. They cut a small hole in the top and put a straw in when you buy it. Safe to drink and delicious. The container may not be edible, but it's easily biodegradable.
Seriously, it's an acquired taste. But, what's funny is that they've been doing that forever in places like Brazil and the Caribbean. Then, several years ago, they put it in a box and imported to the U.S. etc., and it was like some brand new invention.
But, of course, for each of those bio-degradable coconut husks, we now have a handful of tiny, plastic-lined boxes.
That's entirely dependent on the type (and ripeness) of coconut, or more likely the can you're cracking. Hardly any coconut water tastes 'sickly sweet' from the fresh fruit.
Just a matter of taste.