CSNbbs

Quote:Water is good for you! So the more water you drink, the better. But as you fork over a buck or two for a bottle of water, consider this: Most bottled waters are just filtered tap water without any proven health benefits, reports USA Today.

That hasn't stopped us from chugging it down. The Beverage Marketing Corp. says sales of bottled water rose 9 percent in 2005, and this is a trend that infuriates environmentalists. After all, a natural resource has been commercialized. Still, there is no equally reliable way to measure how many of us are drinking tap water over bottled water. "We don't have anything to indicate whether tap water consumption is going up or down," Jack Hoffbuhr, executive director of the American Water Works Association, told USA Today. "We do want people to know tap water is every bit as safe as bottled water. In fact, it's tested more."

That's not to say that bottled water isn't safe. It is. But most brands do not contain fluoride, an important ingredient for dental health that has been added to tap water. And beware the newest bottled water product called "water beverages" that contain not only water, but also artificial sweeteners and calories. Examples are Pepsi's Propel Fitness Water (10 calories) and Capri Sun's Roarin' Waters Fruit Flavored Water Beverage (35 calories).

I watched a taste test of bottled water one day a few years ago on one of the morning shows, I can't remember which one. They had five brands of bottled water up against New York City tap water. The tap water won every taste test. They also had them tested by some company, and the tap water's purity was better than three of the bottled waters, and equal to or slightly less than the other two, but not enough to be significant. And, of course, the tap water was free.

I keep bottled water in my refrigerator at work, but it's more a matter of convenience and hospitality (I offer it to prospective students and their parents when they visit, and the nearest water fountain to my office is in ANOTHER BUILDING!). But, I purchase the local store brand, which sells for $2.50 for a 24-pack case. It sits right next to some of the "designer" bottled waters, that failed the taste test, that sell for $2.50 a six pack.

On another note, I watched a story on ABC World News Now yesterday about the new trend of selling bottled OXYGEN, for people who live in cities where the air isn't quite pure enough. Jeez. It goes for $70 a bottle.

Yeah. They're selling flavored oxygen too. P. T. Barnum was right.

It's called, "post consumerism".

When people have greater purchasing power, and market saturation of damn near everything, people will buy the most ridiculous junk just because they can.

I call them, "Americans." lmfao

UAB Band Dad Wrote:Yeah. They're selling flavored oxygen too. P. T. Barnum was right.

D@mit, that's my idea!
I saw the water flying off the shelves years ago and said people would buy air. I knew I should have moved to Waikiki and taken zip lock bags out on the beach, sealed them up, shipped them all across the country, and sold them for $20 a hit.

It has a yellow tint to it...........