Am I ruining your trout stream by buying bottled water?

[Obtuse Angler]

I came to a startling half-realization the other day. I was enjoying a bottle of mineral water when a guy came on the radio advertising for Georgia Mountain Water. He said the water is "from a private deep-rock source near Blue Ridge."

Gulp. Spring water "from a private deep-rock source near Blue Ridge" sounds like water that ought to be in a trout stream instead of a bottle. I'm feeling major guilt here.

Has anybody heard anything on this point? Do bottled-water companies suck trout streams dry?

[huntfish]

http://www.georgia-outdoors.com/ubbngto/smile.gif http://www.georgia-outdoors.com/ubbngto/smile.gif Not sure but I do know that one of the bottle waters comes from the Hooch below Atlanta. http://www.georgia-outdoors.com/ubbngto/frown.gif Read the labels and hint: It's usually the cheapest.

[jeffg]

Evian is .....naive spelled backwards

While fishing the Nantahala at Frostbite, used ye ole water purifier to fill up the bottle...and man was that water tasty!!!!1



[This message has been edited by jeffg (edited 02-20-2001).]

[BigJosh]

I sure hope your kidding about the water coming out of the hooch below Atlanta, because I grew up in Columbus, GA and am painfully aware what washes downstream out of this wonderful city. 2 words E Coli.

[Windknot]

Josh,
Rumor has it bbell ties an e coli bacterium on a size 64 hook for use south of town.
http://www.georgia-outdoors.com/ubbngto/smile.gif

[BLACK KNIGHT]

This is exactly why you should drink beer.

[Frequent Flyer]

Windknot,

that's hillarious!

[tomlaub]

Well....time for a geologists' perspective.

Yes, Sir Black Knight, beer is the answer!@!

But belying that fact.....there are MANY feeder streams over a HUGE amount of square miles coming into the 'Hooch drainage....so if there are actually folks using a spring to fill bottles...I doubt there are species at risk!! The real issue is that many of the "bottled" waters are nothing more than ground water pumped out of wells (perhaps in the mouintains), sent through reverse osmosis machines, ozonated (to kill various colon upsetting bacteria) and then labled as "Mountain Water"....so drink up, guilt freee!!



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[Tommy O]

Hunh?

[Obtuse Angler]

Laub,

I wasn't really concerned about extincting the rainbow...more about damaging streams. From that perspective, is my concern still unfounded?

[AthensTroutBum]

Mr. Laub:
Please keep the intelligent replies to a minimum around here. The right answer would have been, "No, a man can do what he wants on his own da-- property...And if that means killing all the fish and using a Zebco 33 and having 20 automatic weapons and wearing only T-shirts with the old GA flag on it...then there ya go!!!! Anything else would be Communism!!!!!!!!!!!"

Remeber to always break gramatical rules, use lots of !!!!'s and ????'s, and the more misspellings the better.

Oh yeah, (and seriously) if you want to know how to fish, ask huntfish. He is amazing.

...just trying to help you out
Kellen

[tomlaub]

I'm sorry if I left the last note obtuse!! ....I'm working on a more detailed answer...I'll post it soon.

[tomlaub]

I have to admit being a bit confused here as to what is actually; appropriate, humor that is tolerated, detail that is appreciated or desired, passionate or corporate ho-hum, should I include a string of e-letters that is unintelligble humor except to a few, fries or onion rings?...etc.....O well...live to learn is the only way.

My father never loved me.....

Signed, Sigmund

ps....I will post a detailed resonse for Ob. Angler on the water issue, probably tomorrow. It's actually a **** good question that deserves a good answer.



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[AthensTroutBum]

whoa, Tom...researching a subject before spouting off on it? That doesn't happen here. Just ramble, it works better.

Kellen
What do you think this is, some kind of TU Chapter? http://www.georgia-outdoors.com/ubbngto/smile.gif

[Obtuse Angler]

Thanks for the attention you're paying to this topic, Tom. I hope you still can tell me that even from the stream-depletion perspective, there's nothing for me to feel guilty about.

[Obtuse Angler]

Oh, and by the way, let me correct myself. It's not Georgia Mountain Water that comes "from a private deep-rock source near Blue Ridge." It's Cohutta Springs Water.

[Obtuse Angler]

ATB,

Are those posts supposed to be slams on me? If so, why? I don't see where I deserve to be attacked for posting a thread voicing concern on environmental issues. In fact, I don't see where anyone deserves to be slammed for posting anything on this board (except some of the stuff that's in the tasteless-to-obscene range). Most of the people you're calling stupid are fairly well educated. They're not stupid just because they disagree with you.

[Gray ghost]

Hey Huntfish I have seen that brand its called the Ecolian right . http://www.georgia-outdoors.com/ubbngto/smile.gif Hey whats wrong with Automatic weapons, Zebco's and T-shirts with the real Ga. Flag. Yeeee Hawwwwww Welcome to Georgia boys and pass the grits and Jack Daniels. http://www.georgia-outdoors.com/ubbngto/smile.gif

[BLACK KNIGHT]

Thanks OA. Tolerance is apparently a one way street for some.

[Obtuse Angler]

tom,

About anything is allowed here. Humor is fine. It's good to make it absolutely clear that you're being facetious if you poke fun at someone, but other than that, I would even say humor is encouraged!

As to detail, there's a kind of tradeoff: If your posts get too long, people might not read them. But as to this question, I promise you that if a geologist will give me some depth of detail in response to a geology-related question that I have posted, I will read every word of it.

Thanks for your help.

[Obtuse Angler]

Oh, and as to those abbreviations and inside jokes, I guess that's alright. I don't do it, but I guess it's just a judgment call for each member to make on his own.

[AthensTroutBum]

I am not trying to slam you at all, Obtuse Angler. My tone was in response to something else...you seem to be pretty cool http://www.georgia-outdoors.com/ubbngto/smile.gif

Kellen

[tomlaub]

Well let's see if this helps...I doubt the source Blue Ridge vs. Cohutta would change this post. I'd be more than happy to be corrected, but I went back to the books to make sure I was as accurate and necessarily brief for this venue.

From your description: "from a private deep-rock source near Blue Ridge" This implies to me, water that is pumped from a sub-surface aquifer...i.e. a drilled well. Except in rare cases (really shallow aquifers) this is water that would not be counted on to sustain surface flow that would support feeder streams. A major portion of the on-going flow in feeder streams (not counting immediate rain run off) comes from water that is absorbed in the top foot or so of the forest floor and slowly drains via gravity within this layer towards a stream. A portion of the water that is held by the forest floor and some in the streams feed these aquifers (by percolating downward, referred to as "recharge". These significant underground waters are found at differing depths depending on the structure of the geology below the surface. It can be a few feet (as near coastal areas) or quite deep (can be hundreds of feet or more). The bottlers of the water that you buy are most likely drilling into significant aquifers that would be found at some depth. They would have to supply a large amount of water for commercial viability. So...in the long and long of it, I really don't believe that by pumping water from these aquifers there is any general risk to the stream flow that trout depend on. I hope this is a bit more succinct and better addresses your question. Drop me an email if I still missed the point of your question or you want more info…this is a very big picture issue that I’d be glad to explain outside of a NGTO post

All the best…..tomlaub


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[Obtuse Angler]

That does me. Thanks.

[AthensTroutBum]

OA, BK:
It's cool with me- my posts were just inside jokes between Tom and I, not rips on any of you guys...
I have high respect for both of you guys, no joke! (You too BK, even though you are from S.C. http://www.georgia-outdoors.com/ubbngto/smile.gif)

Kellen
(everybody step back and have some more of the aforementioned grits and JD)

[Obtuse Angler]

Okay, ATB. Thanks for clearing that up. Sorry I didn't recognize it as a joke.

[The Owl]

ATB has trouble with his aim at times. I'll paint the bullseye on my brain a bit bigger !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! <---(How's that?)


The real joke was the email.

Owl

[AthensTroutBum]

C'mon Owl, I'm a "liberal" and therefore am not used to handling deadly artillery like you. http://www.georgia-outdoors.com/ubbngto/smile.gif And my email to you was not a joke-you really don't bother me THAT much http://www.georgia-outdoors.com/ubbngto/wink.gif

Kellen

[The Owl]

Discernment is a gift, that sometimes provides a level of humor that boggles the mind.
In other words, I can see through it.

Owl


[This message has been edited by The Owl (edited 02-28-2001).]

[RoyC]

Getting back to the orginal post....the Georgia General Assembly changed the laws dealing with labeling water such that Atlanta tap water, when filtered, can be label as spring water. I think it was during the 1999 session that the law was changed. Of course, this does not mean that corporate america would misslead us, however, they were undoubtly the ones pushing for the legislation...


RoyC

[tomlaub]

I was talking about this issue with my brother that is also a geologist (and works more directly with these issues)...He tells me that last summer he drove by an area that was not in the hills that had a recognizable name of a bottled water on the site...There were 2 gigantic well heads pumping water into those gigundo chromed trucks (look like milk trucks)that would haul the water away. Undoubtedly the water goes to a bottling plant where it is filtered, ozonated and the like before being sent out to stores. This is the MO for virtually all bottled water. It is probably better than tap water. But who knows anymore? Ground water pollution is getting to be a real problem. Organic chemical pollution of aquifers is something we'll all have to fear as the problem grows. And hopefully we'll develop better technology to avoid this stuff getting into the drinking water supply. Huntfish works a lot on these kind of issues as well. Maybe he'll chime in....

[BLACK KNIGHT]

Know the source. I bought a bottle of water at the golf course once, took a drink, it tasted like crap. So I look on the label for a source..........municipal water supply of Miami. http://www.georgia-outdoors.com/ubbngto/frown.gif

[The Owl]

Dew. Might kill ya, but never tastes like .....er.........um......crap. http://www.georgia-outdoors.com/ubbngto/wink.gif


Owl

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Try the NEW "Fish", 104.7 FM.

TheOwl@georgia-outdoors.com

[huntfish]

http://www.georgia-outdoors.com/ubbngto/smile.gif http://www.georgia-outdoors.com/ubbngto/smile.gif http://www.georgia-outdoors.com/ubbngto/smile.gif

[tomlaub]

'Ay laddie.....that 'ya did!! http://www.georgia-outdoors.com/ubbngto/smile.gif

[AthensTroutBum]

Yes!!!!!!!Dew rules!!!!!!!!
There is nothing that cannot be accomplished if you have Dew!!!!!

Kellen
(same for PBR http://www.georgia-outdoors.com/ubbngto/smile.gif)

[Sic Puppy]

I don't drink water, 'cause fish f**k in it.

[green]

xxxx

[green]

I was at the hooch last summer south of Roswell Road brige. Parked right next to the river was a guy draining his radiator. I said hey man people like you are what killing this river. He said it was just water in his radiator as I floated on by.

[captfredfish]

Hey Windknot,
Can you Email me a recipe on bbell's E. Coli fly? I've looked everywhere for it...I don't want to have to order one of those expensive Orvis "Pathogen" selections...thanks

cff

[Windknot]

captfredfish,

bbell's recipe for E coli nymphs is:
.
.

and for duns is:
.
.

Sorry. Even the recipes are itsy bitsy things.

[Hopper]

Isn't buying water kinda like walking around with an air tank on your back?