Ramblings

Bloviating: to you, from me. Chide me if you will. algot@runeman.org

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Sat, 20 Jun 2009

Dumb Water

Smartwater is the name on this bottle. It has minerals in it.

Tapwater is the stuff I drink. It has minerals in it.

This bottle was on display at my local pharmacy. They would not stock it if it didn't sell. I regularly see people lugging jugs of similar water out of the supermarket. Paying higher per gallon prices for water than for gasoline or heating oil seems a little silly to me in general. Here in Natick, Massachusetts, it seems idiotic. We have some of the finest fresh water available anywhere. Sure, Coors has Colorado Rockies water and they are proud of it, too.

I actually do understand buying a bottle of water when you are driving on a trip somewhere. Maybe you don't like soda, or don't want coffee. And you didn't plan ahead to take a bottle filled at home before you got in the car. On a long trip, well...Being thirsty is a drag.

I guess you could be excited by the "vapor distilled" part of the label, but you would have to have failed middle school science class for that. I am unable to get my head around the thought that distilling might, in some peoples minds, not involve converting the liquid H2O (that means "water") into vapor and then condensing it back to a liquid. That's what distillation is. During the process, of course all minerals and such are removed from the water, so the minerals of SmartWater need to be added from some source, maybe a 55 gallon drum of some powder that can dissolve in water. I didn't take time to read the label for the actual minerals they added to this bottle, but I am absolutely certain they did it in some huge vat or tank.

I guess, mostly, I just resent the implication that my glass of tap water is dumb water or that I am dumb for drinking it.