These days, it seems that you can find a huge variety in the brands of water in any store you go to. Until recently, I never really gave it much thought - that is, until I was bored at work one day and gave the subject some consideration.
My conclusion? This is ridiculous.
Why do we need to choose from over 80 brands of water? Water is not like pop or beer, there is no special recipe or way to brew it; it's simply two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen. I understand that some is purified, distilled, vaporized or whatever they do, but it's still just water.
What need is there to buy an overpriced bottle of water? I don't recognize any difference - water is naturally tasteless and odorless. Maybe it's just me, but water is water. If someone handed me two separate glasses, one containing tap water and one full of Aquafina, it's unlikely that I would be able to tell which is which.
I understand the convenience of buying a bottle of water; you can go into a store on a hot day and grab a nice cold bottle of H2O to cool down and get some fluids back in your system. The problem I have with the water industry is why there are so many options. Why do Pepsi and Coca-Cola need to manufacture more than one brand name of water?
It seems to me that the only thing these companies are concerned with is a higher profit margin. In accomplishing this goal, they put out multiple brands of extremely overpriced water in different types of fancy bottles, and people are dumb enough to buy the stuff.
They have vitamin and mineral water, flavored water, water with electrolytes - what's next, water that gives us superpowers?
If you need vitamins and minerals, take a multi-vitamin pill and wash it down with a glass of tap water. If you want flavored water, drink some juice instead. If you need electrolytes, drink a Gatorade.
Water should not have so many forms and brand names. Unless the water from your tap has a weird color or smell, then it's fine to drink. If you're really crazy about purifying your water, then go get yourself a PUR or Brita water purification pitcher: they cost under $30 and are much more eco-friendly.
The average cost of a gallon of purified water using a Brita or PUR system is $.20, according to Brita's Web site. Compare that to paying over $1 for a 16-ounce bottle of the same water.
By drinking a glass of tap or purified water, it is one less wasted bottle. Water bottles are not always recycled, adding to what is already a huge environmental problem: loading up landfills nationwide with plastic bottles that don't biodegrade.
In America, we are fortunate enough to have clean water - let alone water that we don't have to work or travel for. We simply turn on our faucet and out it comes.
In some countries around the world, their water is contaminated and dirty, filled with viruses and deadly bacteria. Some people do not have the luxury of going to their local convenience store and debating which of the different brands to choose.
So for me, I'm going to stick with my tap water. You might catch me with a bottle, but it won't be some overpriced "special water," claiming to be better than any other water on Earth.
I'm not concerned with anything that may come from the tap, I've heard claims that there are harmful chemicals and other junk in it, but I've been drinking it for 22 years and I'm fine.
We all die of something, but I am certain the cause of my death will not be because I drank too much tap water.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
