Bottled Water vs. Water Filters

(Part II of two articles)

By David Barouh
Linewaiters' Gazette 8/3/2006

Dan's feet are sore, he's yearning
for just one thing more than water,
Cool water.
Like me, I guess, he'd like to rest
where there's no quest for water,
Cool water.

--Old cowboy song

It is said that the introduction of automobiles, which replaced horse-drawn carriages, benefited early urban environments by eliminating the horse manure that fouled streets, caused runoff that fouled water sources and caused dust and air pollution to choke teeming tenement neighborhoods. This irony should not be lost on anyone familiar with the pollution and climate change problems caused by the copious auto emissions being pumped daily into earth's atmosphere.

A current analogy might be our search for good water to drink, the dilemma faced by our old cowboys and more specifically by people buying bottled water thinking it is purer than tap water. A 1999 Natural Resources Defense Council study (NRDC: "Bottled Water, Pure Drink or Pure Hype"), found significant amounts of microbiological contamination among the brands they tested. It also found that tap water is far more regulated and held to higher standards than bottled water.

READ MORE in the Food Coop's Linewaiters' Gazette article archive.

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