Many people in southeast Saskatchewan are appreciating clean tap water for the first time in their lives. In my lifetime, clean water has always been an instant convenience, save the odd camping trip. That's how many people under the boil water advisory are responding to the situation - by using and conserving water like they do at the cabin.
I never truly appreciated the ease in which we could get potable water in our homes at the flip or turn of a knob until it was no longer available, yet I didn't even drink water directly from the tap when I had the option. I use a Brita water filter at home and drink from a water cooler at work. Not that there was anything wrong with our water when it was drinkable, and I wasn't opposed to drinking it. It's just a matter of taste I suppose, or lack thereof in this case.
I recently heard an interesting theory that had me drinking water straight from the tap more often. It was suggested that people should attempt to get their drinking water from a number of sources, if possible, to increase their chance of getting the right mix of minerals from the water.
I got another lesson about water consumption when I toured Amsterdam recently. While buying yet another water bottle (travellers go through a lot) I asked the young woman behind the counter to recycle my empty bottle and she said that they didn't recycle bottles. I was quite astonished to think that this progressive and environmentally conscience city (they have a free bicycle system and ride them everywhere) didn't recycle.
She responded somewhat defensively that no one but tourists buy water. Apparently the Dutch fill their own bottles with water from the tap. I told her that if it was good enough for them than it was good enough for me and asked her to fill my empty bottle. By now her young co-worker had joined the "stupid, wasteful tourist conversion" and happily filled my bottle from the tap. "It's the same water" the girl told me quietly as she handed back the bottle.
I can't be sure that this teenaged barista knew anything about where the bottled water they sold to tourists came from, but it's probably not that far from the truth. In fact, I since discovered that bottled water doesn't undergo as rigorous tests and standards as our tap water and sometimes it's simply bottled tap water. Maybe the young Netherlander was on to something!
However you take it - bottled, filtered or tapped - our water is a valuable resource that should be respected and conserved at all times, not just during hard times.
