Leila wrote:

> I've had the good luck to drink either New York City or East Bay
> (Calif.) Municipal water for the last 25 years, and I'm totally
> spoiled. The water in Santa Cruz, 90 minutes away from me, is terrible
> for instance. San Diego water is worse - lukewarm and tastes of
> concrete culverts. East Bay MUD water comes direct from the Sierras and
> is among the best in the country (similar to San Francisco water).
> Meanwhile the local "Dasani" brand water is bottled in Milpitas, a
> suburb next to a freeway near San Jose - Dasani is Milpitas tap water
> put through a filter. Why poeple would spend money on this stuff in SF
> or the East Bay when the water out of the tap is better, I don't
> understand.

It's funny that people bitch and complain so much about the price of
gasoline these days and then they go out and spent a lot more that than by
volume on water. I confess to using bottled water when on vacation because
there seems to be something in water in some places that can cause a bit of
a reaction with my system and I would rather play it safe than spoil a
vacation. I have a distiller at home because I have a problem with my well
and cistern, but when I am in the local towns and cities I have no problem
drinking the municipal water. It's good. I realize it is not that good
everywhere. I have a friend in the interior of BC who pays next to nothing
for water, but the water is hardly pristine. You can see particles in it,
and it has an odd taste. I would be filtering or distilling it for drinking
if I lived there. Otherwise I would be drinking bottle water. If I were
drinking bottled water I would be buying it in 5 gallon jugs and
transferring it into smaller bottles. I am amazed at the people around here
who buy cases and cases of 12 oz. bottles of water.