I have a confession to make.  I drink tap water... not even filtered tap... I mean straight from the bacteria-laden, germ-swimming, prescription drug-filled municipal water source.

When I tell people this, they make faces as if I had just told them that I eat fresh cow paddies... "you mean, you don't even use a filter or anything?"  they would say as their faces contort to show their obvious disgust.

Nope, I used to use those Brita filters, but I just got tired of waiting for my water and of the guilt for not changing the filter every two months.  I hated that little sticker reminding me that I should have changed the filter back in November.  I have enough people telling me what to do on a daily basis.  I don't need a guilt trip from a water pitcher.

I used to tell people that I could taste the difference, but really, if someone held a gun to my head and said that he'd shoot if I was wrong in my guess, I'd probably be dead... and a little confounded on why anyone would care about that enough to resort to firearms violence.

I mean, I can taste the difference between two different vintages of my favorite wine, but I honestly can't taste the difference between a cold Dasani™ and tap ice water.  And here's a thought, if you ever drink anything with ice in it, guess what, they didn't make that ice out of Pellegrino™.  I can guarantee you that.

Today, in the U.S., we probably have the cleanest water in the history of mankind.  People used to drink water just downstream from where their sheep went to the bathroom, and humankind did not cease to exist.

I think we're just all buying the hype from the bottled water companies, plain and simple.  Twenty years ago, when it wasn't as fashionable to drink only bottled water, few did... and no one complained about the taste, and we didn't have masses of people dying from "tap water poisoning."

I also can't justify spending hundreds of dollars a year, driving to the store to get, and wasting energy and resources on plastic bottles (recycling is not "free."  Massive amounts of energy is spent doing it) on something that is otherwise virtually free AND comes directly to my house.

I think (hope) someday in the future, people will look back at this time and laugh at us for being so duped by the bottled water companies.  Back in the 70's people bought "pet rocks," which was basically a rock in a box, marketed as pets.  I mean, how stupid was that... paying good money for something that could just be found around your house for free but was just packaged nicely and marketed shrewdly... oh, wait...  nevermind...

EDIT:  And in the irony of ironies, yes, I realize that because of keywords in this entry, I have a Fiji water Google ad under this entry... oh, the horror of becoming a shill for the bottled water syndicate.  I guess we should all "drink the Kool-aid"... or at least "drink the insanely expensive water that travelled thousands of miles by boat to get to you."