Bottled Water

At the checkout line with my Dasani water bottle in hand, a stranger commented to me, "Don't you know that's just tap water? And it's killing the environment." For a brief moment, I thought about responding with a comment like, "Really? Tell me everything.", but judging from her appearances, I would be in for a lengthy discussion. I was in no mood to listen the the latest gossip she had heard from watching the local news.

"I know it's bottled water, but did you know that it's made by Coca-Cola and they put in a secret ingredient lfor a mere sip of water like this."

She looked at me in disgust and shook her head, but that shut her up. The truth is that I've known for ages that Dasani and Aquafina were not made from natural spring water. I don't really care. I drink tap water in decrepit countries where the chance of getting something more than just water is a distinct possibility. I'm not afraid of infected water. Evian water appeals to me about as much as a strand of Mikimoto pearls. However, I do like the idea of quenching thirst with chilled water and the convenience of having a bottle when I'm on the go. I realize that it's made from plastic and plastic is destroying the environment, so I try to avoid wasting water bottles, but yeah, I do use them.

What really gets me, however, is the fact that people get on their high and mighty horse after they've watched a three-minute special on the local news exposing the water industry as being deceptive because they use tap water instead of real water, or wasteful because they are destroying the environment with their water collection and bottling practices. Especially with the latter, I don't know why the "water" industry is getting heat when that is a problem that isn't unique to the industry. The woman above, for example, had plastic bottles of other drinks and products in her holier-than-thou shopping cart.

As I drank the ice cold Dasani in my not-as-feul-efficient-as-can-be car, I didn't feel the least bit guilty. I was actually feeling rather relieved that someone out there provided purified tap water in a bottle because it was pretty darn hot in Southern California that afternoon. Yeah, I'm selfish like that.