Water Supply
Why would you buy water?
“WATER, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink” may have applied to Coleridge’s Ancient Mariner but is not a problem facing most Americans. Our water problems are mainly, comparatively trivial, problems of affluence. We do not have to drink bottled water – we choose to. We do not have to add or subtract fluoride – we choose to. We do not have to drink imported or sparkling waters – we choose to. We buy water.
However, there are some good reasons for being choosy about water. If we like good coffee or fine tea, we achieve the best result with the best, purest water. We may have doubts about the effects on flavor of adding fluoride to our drinking water so we use charcoal or other filtering systems to address that issue. Our local water supply, while perfectly potable, may be heavily mineralised or carry some undesirable flavor. Again a filtration system may be called upon.
We should drink water with our meals as an aid to digestion and to accelerate the fullness signals if we are on the heavy side of ideal weight. Sparkling water may enhance that effect by adding a little gas to the liquid. We should drink water throughout the day, though how much seems to be an open question – anywhere from as much or little as you choose to 6 or 8 glasses a day. Drinking water will perhaps blunt hunger pangs, will flush the kidneys, and since we are largely made up of water, keep our internal bits from bumping into one another in an unseemly manner.
Foreign Water
When we used to travel to Europe, we were advised that while the English water was fine, 20 miles or so across the English Channel, French water could not be trusted, and so we drank bottled and came to like Perrier. In Italy, we discovered San Pellegrino and San Benedetto. We found wonderful mineral waters in all sorts of European countries including the former Yugoslavia and the countries nudging up to the Russian border. It seemed every little principality had a well or a spring or a melting glacier and a conveniently located bottling plant.
Even the English bottle Malvern water (well, Schweppes do the bottling), to which the Royal Family is said to be partial.
Even if we haven’t traveled to Europe for a few years it seems that someone is doing their best to persuade us to drink European water at premium prices. However, some sense prevails, in that some of the best bottled water available in America is sourced and bottled in America.
There is a wide range of imported and local bottled waters for sale. Some are sparkling, some are not. If you do not want bottled water, there is a huge range of filter systems for faucets, refrigerators, and all kinds of water purifiers.
On our farm, we use rain water as first choice and creek water for second. Both are delightful to drink. We do buy water (Pellegrino), but as often, if we want a sparkling water, we keep a soda siphon in the fridge to put some bubbles in nature’s finest beverage.
You may care to visit our online store and browse the selection of bottled waters included there.
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