Time to Make the Water... (great blog entry)

[Guest guest]

Time to Make the Water

Remember that Dunkin Donuts commercial where the guy would stumble

into the bakery in the wee hours to start making the donuts so they

would be fresh for the morning rush? It was time to make the donuts…

Now picture me in my bathrobe, hair askew, teeth unbrushed, moving

zombie like on weekend mornings because it was time to make the

water…

" Best Tasting " Does Not Equal " Healthy "

I know folks claim that NYC's water is the " best tasting " water in

the nation. Maybe by some standards it is but that does not mean

that it is healthy for you. I'm not a water expert, but 7 years ago

we had our NYC water tested in a lab and found it that our water

sample, collected directly from our kitchen tap, contained fecal

contamination. Yes, we were drinking, cooking and brushing our teeth

with poop. Plus, our NYC city water contains chlorine which, sorry,

has been shown to be carcinogenic, and fluoride which still

generates serious controversy over its safety. Furthermore, today,

an AP investigation announced that a small amount but a " vast array

of pharmaceuticals - including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood

stabilizers and sex hormones - have been found in the drinking water

supplies of at least 41 million Americans " .

Water Torture

So, we set up a powerful water filter in our back kitchen and every

weekend we would hook up the filter hose to an empty glass gallon

jug and make water. Making water this way is a slow process that

reminds me of old movies about Chinese Water Torture. The filtered

water drips drop by drop into the gallon jug. On a good day, we

could make a gallon in 2-3 hours. On a day with low water pressure

and when the water needs more filtering, it could take 6 hours to

make a gallon. Since we would use this water for all our personal

and cooking needs, we needed 12 gallons of water to get through the

week so our weekends revolved around watching the water and being

ready to switch in the next gallon jug just before the first one

overflows.

Sure, we could have just purchased gallons of spring water every

week but even when you recycle, all that packaging is still wasteful

and plastic bottles leech chemicals into the water. I tried ordering

glass gallon bottled water from Mountain Valley Water service who

would deliver weekly, but then I couldn't handle the carbon offset

guilt of personally trucking in my water. So making my own water was

the greenest and best solution.

When you work that hard at something day in and day out, you can

grow attached to it and so there was born my little water obsession.

By Sunday night, I would have 6 gallons ready to drink above the

refrigerator, 2 gallons in glass water pitchers keeping cold in the

fridge, 6 gallons stored in a special portable kitchen cabinet I

bought at Bed, Bath and Beyond just for this purpose, and in case of

an emergency, I had 12 half gallons in 2 crates in the hall closet

left over from our Mountain Valley Water days.

Old Habits Die Hard

Is this all worth it? I asked that question a lot as my water

adventures started to flood my brain. The no-brainer was that I only

wanted to cook and drink with clean water in the greenest way

possible. But surely there was a better way. So last summer we

invested in a reverse osmosis water filter that is built into the

kitchen sink and has its own separate faucet. It lives under the

sink, constantly makes water and can theoretically produce up to 35

gallons in a single day. Voila! Somebody took my weekend job!

Now 6 months later, I still marvel at how I can simply walk up to

the kitchen sink with a glass in hand and pour myself a fresh glass

of water. It takes me back in time to the days of yesteryear before

we knew that virtually everything around us is toxic and damaging

the environment. It brings me hope for the future that we can find

more ways to live green without having to change our lifestyle

radically. Yet old habits die hard…this weekend, I was cleaning out

the guest room closet and found another 24 gallons of crated water

that I must have been saving, just in case…

http://my.ivillage.com/blogs/emmaspirit/main/2008/03/10/time-to-make-

the-water-1

Link to AP Investigation:

http://news./s/ap/20080309/ap_on_re_us/pharmawater_i;_ylt=Ar

5ubue4TJyZpEYBx6M_S7as0NUE