the smedley log - suburban scrawl

Going back to the well

I’ve been cringing over the past couple days at the glut of reporting done on the manufactured controversy regarding Aquafina’s tap water origins. Apparently there are a lot of folks out there who have been operating under the assumption that all bottled water is spring water, whether or not it’s touted as such.

Maybe I’m just that much more attentive to detail than the average consumer, but I already assumed bottled waters like Dasani and Aquafina were from the same sources as public tap water. In fact, I’ve long been under the impression that any bottled water not specifically labeled as “spring water” flows from public water sources. The operative verbiage on non-spring waters for me has always been “purified.”

Having been reared on actual well water, I’ve always chafed at public source tap water. It’s always tasted a bit off to me. So I’ve long enjoyed various kinds of bottled water, whether purified or from springs. Lately I’ve been more conscientious about the environmental impact of the bottled water I drink (thanks to the prodding of someone I respect), but I’m still not at ease with public tap water.

I am working on it, but decent tasting water can be a hard habit to break.

Marketing and selling bottled water is one of the great consumer stories of the last ten years.
Like a lot of other things, I’m old enough to remember the day when we didn’t carry water with us like an urbanized Gunga Din. I suppose we were severely dehydrated in those days, but I can’t recall such a condition.

In addition to the bottled tap water story, I read something recently about how we may be drinking too much water. The 64-ounce a day deal has always seemed a bit extreme to me, but I now find myself downing 80 without thinking about it.
Now, I find I need one of those low-flow toilets.

Personally, for a source of water, I just keep a jar on my window sill and wait til it rains. Mmm-mmm!

It’s amazing what you can get used to. When I first moved to Philly, I couldn’t stand the taste of the water here, I thought it was awful and I barely managed to choke it down. Now I drink it all day without a second thought. In fact, writing this has made me thirsty…

“It’s amazing what you can get used to.”

Isn’t it? When I’m desperate enough, I even drink from the water fountains at work. OK, so maybe they’re not as bad as Philly tap, but they’re not much better either.