Bottled water just a raw deal

By LUKE MORITZ

Chances are, as you are reading this article, you are holding a bottle of water in your hand or are at least able to see someone who is.

Bottled water has become an exceptionally popular item in today’s American fast food, fast times society.

If you were to ask to buy bottled water from any kind of store 50 years ago, you would get a very strange look from the person in front of you. If they happened to have a bottle of water and were to give it to you, chances are it would be carbonated water.

The idea of bottled water is actually kind of silly. The worst offense in this scam is the high cost we are forced to pay for bottled water.

Paying $1.50 for some plastic filled with the most abundant liquid on Earth is a little unreasonable.

Other than the huge profit made by the bottled water companies, the bottle itself probably makes up the greatest portion of the cost.

The other big part of the scam is the labels on these bottles can be slightly misleading.

If you look closely at a number of different brands, you will notice some of them have different descriptors identifying them. From spring water to purified water to mineral water to drinking water, we are given our own ideas of what is in the bottle.

We have images of isolated springs in the mountains where the water is collected and then brought to a processing facility. Here, any remnants of impurities are taken out before they are bottled and brought to a vending machine near you.

This is not always the case. “Spring water” does come from a spring somewhere, but if it were processed too much it would need to be called purified water. “Purified water” is often just municipal water, that has been processed enough to take out the impurities.

“Mineral water” obviously is required to have minerals in it, and “drinking water” can contain things like magnesium oxide.

We may think we are drinking nothing but the purest of water, but the odds are high that something fun is in there, too.

Of course, bottled water has its advantages; we all need our eight glasses of water a day, and bottled water makes this more convenient. Also, if you are like me and from a place like Hanford, the city water leaves something to be desired.

I recommend drinking water, but save your money and get your water from a different source.