Water - don't leave home without it

I see my wife leaving the house to go to the supermarket, which is just about a 2 minute drive. In one hand she has the car keys and in the other she's grasping a plastic bottle of water. "Are you expecting to go shopping in the Sahara Desert?" I asked with a grin.

"Yeah, I was wondering if you're going on a safari or if you planned on coming home sometime this week," I said, still smirking.

"Don't be silly," she replied with a frown. "You know how important water intake is."

"Well, yes, food is important too, but I don't see you carrying a couple of sandwiches with you every time you leave the house" I retorted with the slightest hint of sarcasm.

The selling of bottled water ranks as one of the most adroit marketing schemes ever to insinuate itself into the psyches of the American consumer. Undoubtedly, about 30 years ago, some whiz kid came up with the idea of using clever marketing to get premium prices for a product that everyone could get for free in homes, restaurants and office buildings in every city in the country. Europeans had already been buying bottled mineral water from famous spas for some time, after all. In the old days of unhealthy tap water, this might have made sense.

Before we were all lulled into thinking that tap water is dirty, smelly, impure and unhealthy, we couldn't have imagined the day would come when we'd pay for it like soda pop, juice or milk. Moreover, we never imagined that people would become so attached to their water supply that they would never leave home without a full canteen, as their ancestors did when they were slogging through the desiccated prairies in wagon trains.

It all began with the selling of water filters for home use. Network marketing companies became very effective in spreading the message by word of mouth that the "impurities" in tap water were the cause of several maladies. We were introduced to terms like, "reverse osmosis filtration, carbon pressed purification," and "oxygen reinforced sluicing." All designed to sound scientific and just esoteric enough to confuse as well as captivate a gullible public.

It worked even better than could have been expected. The home filtration systems could turn out a liter of water for a few pennies, when based on the cost of the apparatus and the volume of water it "purified" during the life of the system. Soon, however, it became apparent that people on the go would pay even more for a portable supply. Hence, a new idea was born; tell the public that the filtering would be done at the factory and sell the fluid over the counter in bottles. Furthermore, make it appear chic to have a ubiquitous supply of H20 in the hands of a perpetually parched public. Voila! Today, it's a $9 billion business and growing.

On a recent 60 Minutes segment, Andy Rooney lampooned the issue. "One of the most popular brands, Poland Spring water, isn't Polish; it's from Poland Spring, Maine. A pint costs $1.35 in the CBS cafeteria. Now just think about that. There are eight pints in a gallon, so if your car ran on water instead of gas and you had to fill a 15-gallon tank with this, it would cost $162 to fill your tank with water," said the CBS curmudgeon. Mr. Rooney took some of the bottles to a testing laboratory called Yorktown Environmental Services to see what was in them.

"From all the waters I've seen that are bottled waters, and I probably haven't tested all of them, but they are very much dead water…. They have nothing in them. I drink tap water," says lab owner and water expert Al Padovani. In addition, the authority on water said, "The water that you get out of a municipal supply or a well supply has more chemicals that the body needs."

Rooney said he works on the same floor with a staff of about 60 people, and just about everyone has a bottle of water on his/her desk. "It's like a security blanket, it's always there," he said. "And, they carry it wherever they go." He added, "Out by the elevator, there's a water fountain. The water is cooled, very good and the filter is changed regularly. I have never seen anyone drink this free water." Such is the genius of marketing. Keep in mind; we're now being told that our air is not pure. Soon, we may all be wearing surgical masks like Michael Jackson.

Bob Weir is a former detective sergeant in the New York City Police Department. He is the excutive editor of The News Connection in Highland Village, Texas. BobWeir777@aol.com

"...Before we were all lulled into thinking that tap water is dirty, smelly, impure and unhealthy, we couldn't have imagined the day would come when we'd pay for it like soda pop, juice or milk..."

I haven't been lulled into thinking CITY tap water is dirty and smelly. IT IS! And I wouldn't pay 5 cents for a bottle of water.

I'm old enough to remember when public water was first "Chlorinated" and later "fluoridated". That's when I stopped drinking water from the tap.

We moved to the country and for 25 years we drank well water from the tap all day long.

Then, thinking it was time to move to the suburbs and closer to civilization, We stopped drinking water from the tap. And even our grandkids (ages 1 to 7 at the time) would say, "Gram, your water tastes funny and it smells bad too."

We sold the house in less than two years and went back to the country and well water. Of course it wasn't the ONLY reason. But my oldest grandson always comments on the terrible city water in our last house.

By the way, my husband works with boilers in the city. He has to check filters that prolong the life of the boilers. Every week or less, the filters have to be replaced because they're clogged with green slime, and some type of live worms. He'll tell you the smell is absolutely disgusting. And that water supposedly goes through treatment and purification.

I think Bob Weir is a bit gullible himself if he thinks tap water is clean OR pure.

Here's a better article than the one I linked to earlier:

"Drink at Least 8 Glasses of Water a Day" - Really?

Dartmouth Professor Finds No Scientific Evidence for '8 x 8'

Hanover, NH -- It has become accepted wisdom: "Drink at least eight glasses of water a day!" Not necessarily, says DMS physician Heinz Valtin, MD. The universal advice that has made guzzling water a national pastime is more urban myth than medical dogma and appears to lack scientific proof, he found.

In an invited review published online by the American Journal of Physiology August 8, Valtin, the Vail and Hampers professor emeritus of physiology at Dartmouth Medical School, reports no supporting evidence to back this popular counsel, commonly known as "8 x 8" (for eight, eight-ounce glasses). The review will also appear in a later issue of the journal.

Valtin, a kidney specialist and author of two widely used textbooks on the kidney and water balance, sought to find the origin of this dictum and to examine the scientific evidence, if any, that might support it. He observes that we see the exhortation everywhere: from health writers, nutritionists, even physicians. Valtin doubts its validity. Indeed, he finds it, "difficult to believe that evolution left us with a chronic water deficit that needs to be compensated by forcing a high fluid intake."

The 8 x 8 rule is slavishly followed. Everywhere, people carry bottles of water, constantly sipping from them; it is acceptable to drink water anywhere, anytime. A pamphlet distributed at one southern California university even counsels its students to "carry a water bottle with you. Drink often while sitting in class..."

How did the obsession start? Is there any scientific evidence that supports the recommendation? Does the habit promote good health? Might it be harmful?

Valtin thinks the notion may have started when the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Research Council recommended approximately "1 milliliter of water for each calorie of food," which would amount to roughly two to two-and-a-half quarts per day (64 to 80 ounces). Although in its next sentence, the Board stated "most of this quantity is contained in prepared foods," that last sentence may have been missed, so that the recommendation was erroneously interpreted as how much water one should drink each day.

He found no scientific studies in support of 8 x 8. Rather, surveys of fluid intake on healthy adults of both genders, published as peer-reviewed documents, strongly suggest that such large amounts are not needed. His conclusion is supported by published studies showing that caffeinated drinks, such as most coffee, tea and soft drinks, may indeed be counted toward the daily total. He also points to the quantity of published experiments that attest to the capability of the human body for maintaining proper water balance.

Valtin emphasizes that his conclusion is limited to healthy adults in a temperate climate leading a largely sedentary existence - precisely, he points out, the population and conditions that the "at least" in 8 x 8 refers to. At the same time, he stresses that large intakes of fluid, equal to and greater than 8 x 8, are advisable for the treatment or prevention of some diseases, such as kidney stones, as well as under special circumstances, such as strenuous physical activity, long airplane flights or hot weather. But barring those exceptions, he concludes that we are currently drinking enough and possibly even more than enough.

Despite the dearth of compelling evidence, then, What's the harm? "The fact is that, potentially, there is harm even in water," explains Valtin. Even modest increases in fluid intake can result in "water intoxication" if one's kidneys are unable to excrete enough water (urine). Such instances are not unheard of, and they have led to mental confusion and even death in athletes, in teenagers after ingesting the recreational drug Ecstasy, and in ordinary patients.

And he lists other disadvantages of a high water intake: (a) possible exposure to pollutants, especially if sustained over many years; (b) frequent urination, which can be both inconvenient and embarrassing; (c) expense, for those who satisfy the 8 x 8 requirements with bottled water; and (d) feelings of guilt for not achieving 8 x 8.

Other claims discredited by scientific evidence that Valtin discusses include:
# Thirst Is Too Late. It is often stated that by the time people are thirsty, they are already dehydrated. On the contrary, thirst begins when the concentration of blood (an accurate indicator of our state of hydration) has risen by less than two percent, whereas most experts would define dehydration as beginning when that concentration has risen by at least five percent.
# Dark Urine Means Dehydration. At normal urinary volume and color, the concentration of the blood is within the normal range and nowhere near the values that are seen in meaningful dehydration. Therefore, the warning that dark urine reflects dehydration is alarmist and false in most instances.

Is there scientific documentation that we do not need to drink "8 x 8"? There is highly suggestive evidence, says Valtin. First is the voluminous scientific literature on the efficacy of the osmoregulatory system that maintains water balance through the antidiuretic hormone and thirst. Second, published surveys document that the mean daily fluid intake of thousands of presumably healthy humans is less than the roughly two quarts prescribed by 8 x 8. Valtin argues that, in view of this evidence, the burden of proof that everyone needs 8 x 8 should fall on those who persist in advocating the high fluid intake without, apparently, citing any scientific support.

Finally, strong evidence now indicates that not all of the prescribed fluid need be in the form of water. Careful peer-reviewed experiments have shown that caffeinated drinks should indeed count toward the daily fluid intake in the vast majority of persons. To a lesser extent, the same probably can be said for dilute alcoholic beverages, such as beer, if taken in moderation.

"Thus, I have found no scientific proof that absolutely every person must 'drink at least eight glasses of water a day'," says Valtin. While there is some evidence that the risk of certain diseases can be lowered by high water intake, the quantities needed for this beneficial effect may be less than 8 x 8, and the recommendation can be limited to those particularly susceptible to the diseases in question.

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