Welcome to the home of Noah Brier. I'm the co-founder of Variance and general internet tinkerer. Most of my writing these days is happening over at Why is this interesting?, a daily email full of interesting stuff. This site has been around since 2004. Feel free to get in touch. Good places to get started are my Framework of the Day posts or my favorite books and podcasts. Get in touch.

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Wasting water

Agree or disagree, I love contrarian views like this: “Purifying millions of gallons of water to drinking quality only to have most of it used for purposes that do not require drinking-quality water seems potentially more of a waste than a couple of billion pounds spent on what little water is used for drinking.” As someone points out in the comments, “a study [would need to be done] of how much contaminants in non-potably-purified water can still cause illness via washing, teeth-cleaning etc would need to be factored in.”

Also from the comments: “Bottled water competes with soft drinks, not the mains. What are the comparable environmental and cultural affects of coca-cola, as comapared with water? Coca leaves and kola nuts come from Latin America and Africa – lots of air miles clocked up there, I should think, and I cannot imagine the Coca Cola company pays highly for them.”

February 20, 2008