After a strong storm, some years ago, we lost all of our services for the house. The phone, electricity and water were out of action for two weeks. The thing that we missed the most was that the water stopped coming out of the taps. We were in a very lucky position to have a well a short distance away.
This situation did make me realise how much a good quality water supply is taken for granted. In some cities it is claimed that the drinking water has been in direct circulation through humans and the sewage treatment plants about forty times. Water has probably been passed through living things millions of times, which makes it the worlds most recycled product!
The drinking water around Inishowen is mostly excellent and we can enjoy drinking it straight from the tap. Why then has bottled water become so popular around here? Ten years ago if I suggested that I was going to buy a bottle of water you would think I was a pint short of a gallon. I think one reason for the popularity of the bottles is that manufacturers have convinced people that the water has beneficial properties beyond the water that comes out of the tap. Another clever bit of marketing is that bottled water has been made into an image thing. Like designer clothes and footwear it is now cool to have a certain type of bottle as an accessory.
WATER, WATER, EVERYWHERE
There are nearly 700 different types of bottled water. A staggering 40% of these companies filter their water straight from the tap. I lived near a brewery in England that stopped producing beer and concentrated on bottling water by simply tapping into the mains supply. At the time I thought this was strange, but it is common practice. One of the biggest drinks companies in the world has started selling their own water on a global scale. They source the water locally, depending on the country that they are in. The English supply is tapped from the mains in Sidcup, Kent. (They don’t tell you that on the bottle!) There are no reports of an increase in health properties in the water. Some companies add traces of minerals (so it can be called mineral water) but that makes little or no difference to the benefits of the product.
RUNDOWN OF THE COST
There is very little value, cost wise, in any bottled drink, but even less so in water. It costs 0.03cent to fill a bottle that costs €1, that’s not a bad mark up. The biggest cost for the manufacturer is the bottle, top and label. Millions of the empty bottles will end up as landfill every year as most bottles are consumed on the move and end up in a bin.
ALTERNATIVES
Think ahead when you go out anywhere and take a bottle of tap water with you. There are home filtration systems you can buy if you don’t trust your water supply. Simple jugs with a filter are readily available and there are more advanced devices, which fit straight onto the taps.
If you feel that there is chlorine in the water and the smell puts you off there is a solution. Fill up a jug and put it in the fridge. After a few hours the chlorine gas will have disappeared.
Some people boil the water and leave it to cool; this could destroy harmful bacteria if it was present.
Thankfully we are not totally gullible. A journalist tried to sell bottles of fresh mountain air as an experiment. He priced it at one euro and spent the day trying to convince members of the public to buy it as a pick me up. There was only one taker, a schoolboy who managed to get two bottles for10 cent! There’s hope for us yet.
Environmental.
This situation did make me realise how much a good quality water supply is taken for granted. In some cities it is claimed that the drinking water has been in direct circulation through humans and the sewage treatment plants about forty times. Water has probably been passed through living things millions of times, which makes it the worlds most recycled product!
The drinking water around Inishowen is mostly excellent and we can enjoy drinking it straight from the tap. Why then has bottled water become so popular around here? Ten years ago if I suggested that I was going to buy a bottle of water you would think I was a pint short of a gallon. I think one reason for the popularity of the bottles is that manufacturers have convinced people that the water has beneficial properties beyond the water that comes out of the tap. Another clever bit of marketing is that bottled water has been made into an image thing. Like designer clothes and footwear it is now cool to have a certain type of bottle as an accessory.
WATER, WATER, EVERYWHERE
There are nearly 700 different types of bottled water. A staggering 40% of these companies filter their water straight from the tap. I lived near a brewery in England that stopped producing beer and concentrated on bottling water by simply tapping into the mains supply. At the time I thought this was strange, but it is common practice. One of the biggest drinks companies in the world has started selling their own water on a global scale. They source the water locally, depending on the country that they are in. The English supply is tapped from the mains in Sidcup, Kent. (They don’t tell you that on the bottle!) There are no reports of an increase in health properties in the water. Some companies add traces of minerals (so it can be called mineral water) but that makes little or no difference to the benefits of the product.
RUNDOWN OF THE COST
There is very little value, cost wise, in any bottled drink, but even less so in water. It costs 0.03cent to fill a bottle that costs €1, that’s not a bad mark up. The biggest cost for the manufacturer is the bottle, top and label. Millions of the empty bottles will end up as landfill every year as most bottles are consumed on the move and end up in a bin.
ALTERNATIVES
Think ahead when you go out anywhere and take a bottle of tap water with you. There are home filtration systems you can buy if you don’t trust your water supply. Simple jugs with a filter are readily available and there are more advanced devices, which fit straight onto the taps.
If you feel that there is chlorine in the water and the smell puts you off there is a solution. Fill up a jug and put it in the fridge. After a few hours the chlorine gas will have disappeared.
Some people boil the water and leave it to cool; this could destroy harmful bacteria if it was present.
Thankfully we are not totally gullible. A journalist tried to sell bottles of fresh mountain air as an experiment. He priced it at one euro and spent the day trying to convince members of the public to buy it as a pick me up. There was only one taker, a schoolboy who managed to get two bottles for10 cent! There’s hope for us yet.
Environmental.
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