Water Water Water

From a weird incident in California, to the ranting of David Suzuki, the world is going crazy over water.

I had heard that you can die from a water overdose, but I wasn't sure that you could do it without some heightened level of perspiration. A few marathon runners get sick from diluting their bloodstream at almost every major marathon, which is why a lot of marathon organizers are promoting sport drinks now.

Bottled water: the bane of every municipal environmental engineer. Several of my colleagues refuse bottled water, especially when they go to municipal meetings. I agree; it seems hypocritical to be served bottled water while at a meeting in a water treatment plant. Suzuki is right, our water is cleaner and safer to drink than it ever has been, especially after disasters like Walkerton and Milwaukee. The MOE and the EPA in the US have way more stringent limits for the controlled chemicals and bacteria that come out of your tap than the bottled water companies have to follow. As stated in this wikipedia article, a lot of bottled water is in fact municipal (tap) water that may or may not be further purified (Dasani, Aquafini and others are examples of "purified" tap water).

I really like the initiative that some municipalities have taken in selling their own bottled water to raise awareness. The level of purification that happens at the municipal level, and the amazing quality of water that you get out of your tap virtually for free, is taken for granted by most North Americans. I can't find any articles to show you, but the Region of Halton has a portable water bottling machine that they take around to community events in the summer. They hook it up to a fire hydrant, and bottle and sell the water for cost. I think it's like 4 cents a bottle.

Now that's not to say that the water out of your tap will taste perfect. There will almost always be minerals and organics in your water, some of it picked up along the distribution system of pipes that lead to your tap. And then there's chlorine. Without it, we'd be living in constant fear of disease. But some people don't like the taste or odour of it. So get a Brita filter. The activated carbon in your Brita will remove 99% of the chlorine in your water. Just remember to clean you Brita jug every once in a while, or at least rinse it with chlorinated tap water. Because without the chlorine, you're no longer getting that protection from viruses and pathogenic bacteria - who knows what might be growing in there after a couple months.

I enjoy knowing at least a small amount about drinking water as a result of my career. I'm just scratching the surface. Who knows what I'll have to say about all this in 5 or 10 years?