Say it ain't so Aquafina.

i interned at a soft drink company one summer, which meant taking the obligatory field trip to a bottling plant. there, they took us to a room that had all the syrups that are used to make the different sodas. when it came time to show what they did for the bottled water, some dude held up a sack of crystals, the stuff they use to purify the water. but we never saw where the untreated water comes from. wonder why.

 

Bottled water vs. tap is one of my biggest dilemmas.

I'm fully aware that bottled water is susceptible to scam, but I buy it anyway out of the hope it is filtered better and has fewer chemicals.

Anyone who thinks they are so much smarter by sticking to straight tap water--with its added chlorine and flouride--is being fooled just as badly as any bottled water buyer. Fluoride is one of the biggest scams going, in fact. If it's so great, I dare anyone to drink a nice tall glass of fluoride and report the results here. Good luck.

I do feel bad about the plastic and transportation required for bottled water. If I owned my own home, I'd buy a pricey water purification system, but I don't, so I live with the guilt.

 

Jack, don't tell me you're one of those people who thinks flouride in the water is a government conspiracy.

 

Government conspiracy? Never heard that one. I'm just talking about plain unhealthy.

Go to the link below or do a Google search if you don't like that one.

http://www.fluoridation.com/

 

Oh, yes, I know all about the alleged problems with fluoridated water. But I also know many conspiracy theorists have had field days with it as well.

http://www.greaterthings.com/Lexicon/F/Fluoride.htm

 

That's why God invented water coolers at work. You take a bottle to work every day and fill it up when you get there and before you leave. It's a never-ending supply of free water.

 

There is a small outdoor kiosk near here that sells purified drinking water for 35 cents a gallon. Bring your own container and fill up. It's allegedly filtered through some reverse-osmosis system, and it doesn't taste like our horrid tap water.

That's what I do, 8-10 gallons at a time.

 

I used to do that at Wal-Mart for like 33 cents a gallon. But now I share a fridge with two others, so there's no room. But we have a Brita filter on the faucet, so I try to fill up a 20-ounce bottle or two before work.

 

Unless you draw it from the spring yourself, don't expect your water to come from anywhere else but a municipal water source.

 

People that are afraid of tap water should be put to sleep immediately.

My ex and her roommate both used to refuse to drink anything but bottled water because "the tap water is nasty." We lived in one of the most prosperous suburban counties in the whole country. If there was anywhere in the nation outside the very tip top of a Rocky Mountain peak or the very deepest part of a Minnesota stream that was guaranteed to have good available water, this was the place. Nevertheless, "it was nasty" because it came from the faucet and they paid for it once a month rather than $1.50 per 20 oz. It was a well off part of the friggen' United States, not a third world country. There was nothing wrong with the water.

I'm sure there are problems with tap water some places, but 99.99% of the time it's all perceptions, even the Brita filters. (No one that has one will believe me, but I highly doubt you'd ever know if the thing broke, just so long as it kept putting out water.)

Bottled water, filtration systems, all that shit just leaves those marketing and manufacturing companies laughing all the way to the bank.

 

One last story: one of my friends spent a summer selling those expensive vacuums door to door, not the Kirby's, but something like that, a $2,000 deal.

It was always interesting the people dumb enough to buy the thing. He would get leads to big fancy houses in the best parts of town, and those people never bit. Meanwhile he sold dozens to run down houses and trailer homes. According to him, one sure sign a sale was looming: a "We just bought the 'Joe Schmoe water filtration system'" sign in the driveway.

 

Ms. Slappy will buy bottled water, even though we have filtered water through the fridge. Strangely, she will partake in the ice but not the water, even though they come from the same source.

I'll buy water because I'm thirsty for it, not because it's trendy. But if I have the choice, I loves me some Aquafina...