By: d.g.strong

d.g.strong — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 18:18:38 +0000

I am a regular consumer of plain bottled water products. When my finances permit, (social security disability checks leave little for luxuries), I have rented a dispenser and had gallons of drinking water delivered. Daily, I would fill up personal size plastic bottles, re-using the ones I had, instead of buying water by the case pre-bottled.
When money is tight, I will purchase a gallon of water in plastic bottles here and there. I do not hassle with refilling these at the store. I do save the bottles but forget to grab them on my way out. So they end up in the recycle bin. WHY DO I PREFER BOTTLED WATER??? Because the water piped to my Bremerton home is awful!!! I am a neck cancer survivor, the radiation therapy to my face and neck, sensitized my tastebuds, and destroyed my salivary glands. I have to drink constantly, just as a normal person has to swallow. The water provided from the city of Bremerton emits the foul odor of chlorine, like a swimming pool . It also tastes like like one. If the water is allowed to sit out for a while,,,when the chlorine evaporates, the water tastes like metals and dirt. It always had tasted poorly, but now I taste it tenfold. If I can smell and taste the rotten quality of the water, can the city assure me that their product is safe after long term exposure? When my children had goldfish, we used to let the water sit overnight to allow the air bubbles,and the bleach to dissipate,as to not kill the little fishies. My laundry becomes more dingy and gray with each “washing”,unless I add more chemicals to clean the water, both hot and cold. .
If I feel, and truly believe that drinking, and cooking with bottled water is the safest option for our family, I have no problem adding more than my fair share of bottles to the landfills. If I was able to purchase enough for bathing I would do this as well!!
When I can’t afford clean water, I must drink the polluted tap water. I find that using it for iced tea helps me to forget the gallons of filth I am drinking. The boiling helps to clean it, killing the odor, but not the metallic taste. The tea covers the taste of the remaining toxins.
I am sure that there are millions of people in our country, who don’t drink bottled water because it is cool and hip..
People are buying plastic bottles of cleaner drinking water because their tap water is just as bad or worse. Many of us are being forced to choke down what must be “wastewater” for drinking, bathing and laundry…and we are forced to pay for it with our dollars and our health.
Which form of pollution is the greater evil?
Just a thought,
D.G. Strong

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By: d.g.strong