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Tap water for delegates

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EU delegates coming to Stockholm during the Swedish presidency of the union won’t have to spend time thinking about whether to choose still or sparkling water, since everyone will be served tap water at conferences and dinners. The aim is to show that the water quality is actually very good, and to save CO2 emissions. To give it a bit of glamour anyway, the water is served in designer bottles.

In 2007 Swedes drank about 248 millions of liters of bottled water, which was a doubling compared to ten years earlier. According to a study made by a consumer organization transports and production of bottled water amounted to 34 000 tons of carbon dioxide. But since then the sales of bottled water has started to decrease, and around Sweden several cities have decided that no bottled water will be served to the civil servants and during official activities.

Sara Jeswani - Sustainability

July 24, 2009

  • Pol

    As i mentioned earlier and i don`t know how is it in Sweden, the problem is also in infrastructure, so i would certainly double check that water. Personaly, i started to drink bottled water some 10 years ago, when one day huge amounts of purple particles exited the pipes and accumulated in boilers (probably after some urban repairs). Some older houses (100 years or so) have also problems with slow, unobservable releasing of lead particles, from which the pipes are made of. …

  • Sara

    Health risks can of course be the case when pipes have not been maintained properly, and changing old pipes is of course costly. But to care for a good water infrastructure providing everyone with clean drinking water must be a good priority, don’t you think?

  • Pol

    Absolutely. But the problem is in control, because no one can guarantee what is in the pipes. It would be very, very helpull if every house would have an integrated system with central display / interface from which you could automaticly know how much you spend and the quality of it (water, electricity, gas, internal and external quality of air, etc.). But such sensors for complete and continuous analyisis of water (for affordable price at least) very probably still do not exist.

  • Kojjan

    man purse ha ha…..

  • http://lostinstockholm.com AblackSapphire

    Japp! Swedish men fit this to a tee. Love your scientific analysis!  Definitely like Swedish men over American men since most do spend some time grooming and smelling decent (though hey, tunnelbanan-goers no need to fill the train with your Boss cologne!)

    Perhaps I have been in Sweden too long but I do like the Easter egg colored pants. 

  • http://www.amerikanska.tumblr.com Kelly

    kate i must tell you that i absolutely love your blog. my swedish boyfriend and i are starting our/my visa application process and its AMAZING to have this as a resource. this past summer i spent with him in sweden and i must say your evaluations of everything are spot-on :) i
    must say that im deathly afraid of the winter. any advice is welcome!
    check out my summer blog here: http://www.amerikanska.tumblr.com or please dont
    be afraid to send an email to kdarby@gatech.edu. I couldn’t find your email on here so that is why i posted this.
    happy regards,
    kelly

  • Anonymous

    Hilarious and spot on! And then there are the rare beasts like my husband who’s happy with just a loose tee shirt and a little roomier (still relatively lean though) jeans.

  • http://www.transatlanticsketches.com Kate

    Haha, I know. Cracks me up. 

  • http://www.transatlanticsketches.com Kate

    I’m with you, Veronica! After being in Sweden so long, I’ve started to find American men, well, a little sloppy! At least in general… huge exceptions exist, obviously.

  • http://www.transatlanticsketches.com Kate

    I can’t say that I really feel one way or another about the Easter egg colors, but I had a friend visiting me who grew up in DC and identifies a little more with the South. She was in heaven. Everywhere we went, there was an ongoing commentary: “OMG, red pants! Red pants galore!” Pretty hilarious :)

  • http://www.transatlanticsketches.com Kate

    Hey Kelly! Thanks so much for the note and for reading my blog! I’ll definitely check out your blog. Feel free to email me if you have any questions at kate@transatlanticsketches.com. Good luck with the application!

  • http://www.transatlanticsketches.com Kate

    Thanks, Lola! I have to admit, my boyfriend doesn’t really fit the mold above either. He doesn’t even have a special hairstyle! No wonder he ended up with an American…

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