Sunday, August 17, 2008
Tap Water: Cleaner, Fresher, Better, Cheaper
Today's such a hot day - and I've been drinking practically gallons of water to stay hydrated - that I figured I'd post locally what I've posted about at my political blog on occasion: don't buy bottled water, drink it straight from the tap. We're lucky to enjoy some of the best tap water anywhere - the Quabbin Reservoir is consistantly named among the best in the country. Tap water is more heavily regulated than anything you'll find in a bottle, plus the fact that buying just one bottle of water would pay for all the water you could drink for an entire year if from the tap.
Don't worry, you don't have to sacrifice taste or quality: Swampscott's tap, as with nearly all of Massachusetts, is cleaner and better for you. Heck, when you drink bottled water, you're usually drinking tap water anyway: bottled water plants suck up our tap water, distributing it across the country. It's actually an environmental disaster. The bottles themselves use large quantities of oil to produce (to make the plastic) and the bottling plants consume water that local communities desperately need.
Furthermore, the filters these companies use take out the good stuff in our water (minerals our body wants), while our tap water keeps those minerals while adding things that we need to remain healthy and strong. Not to mention, the bottles themselves can fester disease: water that stays bottled and stagnant, instead of constantly flowing in our pipes, is actually a good breeding ground for bacteria.
Bottled water is one of the most successful marketing jobs done ever. It's become an industry that makes billions - by getting us to pay for something we could be getting for free. We've been convinced that the tap's bad for us, or not cool and hip, or something to be sneered at akin to how many feel about public transportation (a whole other topic for a whole other post). Suffice it to say, if you're worried about being cool and hip, go buy a cool and hip water bottle, and partake in the pipes that connect us all, defining us as a civilization, where all we have to do to quench our thirst is pull a magic lever that fills our cups as often as we need. Tastes good.
Lastly, my favorite comic's views on the matter:
The annual cost of drinking water only based on the commonly recommended 8With rising gas prices and the inflating costs of nearly everything, from bread to milk to heating oil, if anyone's looking for somewhere where they can save a few hundred dollars a year to offset the difference, look no further than switching to the tap.
glasses of water per day intake (1/2 gallon x 365), would be:
- $0.84 for Tap water (that is, 84 cents)
- $27.38 for Filtered Tap water (on-going basis)
- $91.25 for the least expensive bottled water tested
- $1029.30 for the most expensive bottled water tested
Don't worry, you don't have to sacrifice taste or quality: Swampscott's tap, as with nearly all of Massachusetts, is cleaner and better for you. Heck, when you drink bottled water, you're usually drinking tap water anyway: bottled water plants suck up our tap water, distributing it across the country. It's actually an environmental disaster. The bottles themselves use large quantities of oil to produce (to make the plastic) and the bottling plants consume water that local communities desperately need.
Furthermore, the filters these companies use take out the good stuff in our water (minerals our body wants), while our tap water keeps those minerals while adding things that we need to remain healthy and strong. Not to mention, the bottles themselves can fester disease: water that stays bottled and stagnant, instead of constantly flowing in our pipes, is actually a good breeding ground for bacteria.
Bottled water is one of the most successful marketing jobs done ever. It's become an industry that makes billions - by getting us to pay for something we could be getting for free. We've been convinced that the tap's bad for us, or not cool and hip, or something to be sneered at akin to how many feel about public transportation (a whole other topic for a whole other post). Suffice it to say, if you're worried about being cool and hip, go buy a cool and hip water bottle, and partake in the pipes that connect us all, defining us as a civilization, where all we have to do to quench our thirst is pull a magic lever that fills our cups as often as we need. Tastes good.
Lastly, my favorite comic's views on the matter:
Labels: advocacy, town life, water
# posted by Ryan @ 9:22 AM 
