Purchasing Bottled Water a Waste

Of all the things wrong with this city, the excessive consumption of bottled water by people who have free and liberal access to tap water is one of the most puzzling and troubling.

For the life of me, I cannot understand it. Now, that's not to say I've never purchased bottled water myself - I have; the $.99 1.5L ones at the gas station by my place, more so for the convenience factor than anything - but never the ridiculously priced ($2.79) Fiji or Evian bottles I've seen some people purchase as if to flaunt their social-status when all they're really doing is making the rest of us chuckle at their expense.

Seriously though people, how the heck can any of you justify paying anything more than a dollar (if that, even) for a bottle of water?! Yes it's good for your body, and yes it MIGHT taste SLIGHTLY better than tap water, but tap water is FREE and there has been NO conclusive scientific evidence to suggest that tap water is in any regard dangerous for you, particularly in municipalities like Toronto where there are very high standards for the cleanliness of tap water. I challenge anyone to find me an accomplished scientific journal (that is, not a lobby group) that suggests otherwise.

The cost of a bottle of Evian or Fiji (over $2.39) is simply ridiculous. People pay for pop because you cant get it out of a drain. People pay for energy drinks and coffee cause it doesn't flow out of their facets. Water though, does. And in my humble opinion, spending that kind of money for some perceived yet absent benefit is absent-minded at best.

To those of you who do purchase bottled water regularly: you do know that the money you pay for a bottle of water a day could feed, clothe, satiate AND educate a kid in some destitute country for 2 days, right? And here you are paying for something you can get for free while they don't even have water that is remotely as clean as our tap water.

Wake up people. Of all the stupid expenses out there, this one has to be the worst. Get a Brita facet attachment and you wont even know the difference and will save yourself TONS of money in the long run. Forgoing the purchase of a bottle of water a day will save you about $500 a year! Think smart.