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>Fresh water is indeed a limited resource. Just because you have it in plenty, it doesn't mean that commercial entity is incapable of drying it out thin. I'm n

>Fresh water is indeed a limited resource. Just because you have it in plenty, it doesn't mean that commercial entity is incapable of drying it out thin. I'm not sure you've been to Michigan. They aren't pumping this out of an aquifer.

xapata 9y ago
But the Great Lakes aren't exactly pristine. Pure(ish) water isn't really that abundant there.
- jdietrich 9y ago
  Many of the big bottled water brands are reverse osmosis filtered and UV sterilised - Aquafina and Dasani definitely are, as is Nestle Pure Life IIRC. Water sources with low total dissolved solids are preferable for cost reasons, but it isn't much of a problem if the water source is dirty or brackish.
ineptech 9y ago
Fifth sentence of the article: > About 60 percent of the supply comes from Mecosta’s springs First google result for "Mecosta springs" > The Nestle/Perrier/Great Spring Waters of America/Ice Mountain bottling plant in Stanwood, Mecosta County, began production on May 23, 2002, extracting groundwater from the Muskegon aquifer that qualifies as a source of “spring water” under federal law.
awful 9y ago
I have. Lived exactly there as a kid. Swam, fished, drank it. Had a fort with running water from an artesian well. This water everyone thinks should just be pumped supports vast areas of flora and fauna and wetlands, feeds the great rivers that clean michigan. And removing a small amount can surely dry out vast areas of the thin surface layer of water of that marshy environment. Sure, some can be used, but it is not infinite.
LeifCarrotson 9y ago
They absolutely are pumping it out of an aquifer. So are many Michiganders, like myself. Both for private homes and many, many cities, the normal water source is a well. Fresh water is abundant on the surface, yes, but it's much cheaper (and tastier) to pump water that's been purified by long filtration through the ground than to pull it from a lake or river and process it. This process is sustainable within the state. But even if you include all the vast reserves of surface water into consideration, the ecosystem can't sustain irrigating the southwest. We have plenty of lovely farms up here; stop trying to grow crops where they don't belong!
- tptacek 9y ago
  They are pumping it out of an aquifer, but that aquifer is huge --- about the size of Lake Michigan itself. The first source I found on Google, an MSU presentation, says that the St. Clair River drains 80x the entire groundwater withdrawal of the entire Great Lakes region, and of that withdrawal only 5% is consumed rather than returned to the ground. 5% of 1/80th of a single river's discharge, for the entire region. I think the parent commenter has the better argument. From what I can tell, the plastic is a bigger concern here than the water.

xapata 9y ago

But the Great Lakes aren't exactly pristine. Pure(ish) water isn't really that abundant there.

jdietrich 9y ago
Many of the big bottled water brands are reverse osmosis filtered and UV sterilised - Aquafina and Dasani definitely are, as is Nestle Pure Life IIRC. Water sources with low total dissolved solids are preferable for cost reasons, but it isn't much of a problem if the water source is dirty or brackish.

ineptech 9y ago

Fifth sentence of the article: > About 60 percent of the supply comes from Mecosta’s springs First google result for "Mecosta springs" > The Nestle/Perrier/Great Spring Waters of America/Ice Mountain bottling plant in Stanwood, Mecosta County, began production on May 23, 2002, extracting groundwater from the Muskegon aquifer that qualifies as a source of “spring water” under federal law.

awful 9y ago

I have. Lived exactly there as a kid. Swam, fished, drank it. Had a fort with running water from an artesian well. This water everyone thinks should just be pumped supports vast areas of flora and fauna and wetlands, feeds the great rivers that clean michigan. And removing a small amount can surely dry out vast areas of the thin surface layer of water of that marshy environment. Sure, some can be used, but it is not infinite.

LeifCarrotson 9y ago

They absolutely are pumping it out of an aquifer. So are many Michiganders, like myself. Both for private homes and many, many cities, the normal water source is a well. Fresh water is abundant on the surface, yes, but it's much cheaper (and tastier) to pump water that's been purified by long filtration through the ground than to pull it from a lake or river and process it. This process is sustainable within the state. But even if you include all the vast reserves of surface water into consideration, the ecosystem can't sustain irrigating the southwest. We have plenty of lovely farms up here; stop trying to grow crops where they don't belong!

tptacek 9y ago
They are pumping it out of an aquifer, but that aquifer is huge --- about the size of Lake Michigan itself. The first source I found on Google, an MSU presentation, says that the St. Clair River drains 80x the entire groundwater withdrawal of the entire Great Lakes region, and of that withdrawal only 5% is consumed rather than returned to the ground. 5% of 1/80th of a single river's discharge, for the entire region. I think the parent commenter has the better argument. From what I can tell, the plastic is a bigger concern here than the water.