Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Water Matters


My favorite non-alcoholic drinks are water and coffee. I like spring water, well water, mineral water and tap water if it's cold and from a reliably filtered source. How about you?

The biggest water scam of the last two decades has got to be commercially bottled tap water, though we shouldn't forget that such water is also used in soda and just about every other kind of beverage unless otherwise certified.

A new report by the non-profit Environmental Working Group (headquarters in Washington, DC) indicates that some bottled tap water (Wal-Mart's / Walmart's "Sam's Choice" in particular) is unacceptably contaminated. For more than you may ever want to know about bottled water quality, please see "Bottled Water Quality Investigation: 10 Major Brands, 38 Pollutants. Bottled water contains disinfection byproducts, fertilizer residue, and pain medication" (October 2008) at:

http://www.ewg.org/reports/bottledwater

For alternate perspectives on bottled water, check out The International Bottled Water Association at:

http://www.bottledwater.org/

For mineral water specifically, see http://www.mineralwaters.org/

Drink up, but drink discerningly!

Today's Rune: Initiation.

9 comments:

the walking man said...

So uhhh where does Wal-Mart get its water from?

Charles Gramlich said...

I mostly just drink the water out of our tap. Abita Springs is known for it's high quality water. I only buy bottled water when I can't get to my tap.

Joe said...

I love our tap water. Chicago has really good tap water. I still can't believe the con that's gotten so many people to pay big dollars for what comes out of a faucet for nearly free.

Charles, is that why Abita beer is so good?

Anonymous said...

These kinds of pollutants are in bottled water because they're in tap water, and bottled water frequently IS tap water from somewhere. They are in tap water because they are in the streams, rivers and reservoirs that supply the raw water that becomes tap water. They are in streams etc. mostly because they pass through our bodies and are excreted without being chemically broken down. For similar reasons, they pass through sewage treatment plants unchanged and end up in our waterways eventually after we flush them away (I like the bumper sticker that says "Away? There is no away"). Much more disturbing to me than possible effects on people is what these things are likely doing to the environment itself. 'Feminized' bass and repeated, unexplained fish kills in the Shenandoah come to mind...

-JC

JR's Thumbprints said...

Some bottled water my wife bought was actually New Jersey Tap Water. Go figure.

I recently had Nestle bottled water. I convinced an inmate that it tasted like chocolate. He believed me.

Sidney said...

My father in law had some bottled water that was actually from our town's tap water. Our tap water ain't that good. It was jaw dropping.

jodi said...

Growing up in the north, we had the best well water. Slightly minerally but freezing cold and kind of hearty. I find city water chlorinated and "lite". I get absopure delivered and I love it.

Lana Gramlich said...

Bottled water is downright terrible--not only for it's typical "quality," but also because all of those plastic bottles end up in landfills. What a scam, to sell this crap! I joked when this started getting big that next they'd be selling air. Then I went to pump up my tire &...yep. You guessed it.

jodi said...

Where are you?? Come back. Jodi