Sludge Watch ==> New York Times Editorial - Cool, clear tap water

[Maureen Reilly]

NEW YORK CITY: Keeping cool, clear tap water
18.aug.07
New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/18/opinion/18sat1.html


According to this editorial, Americans have some of the best water in the 
world — a bragging point that seems to have gotten lost lately, even by 
those who take their daily exercise by waving the flag. Perhaps it is 
because the bottled water industry markets their product with waterfalls and 
soothing colors to make it seem like the clearest, cleanest, healthiest 
drink on earth. Unfortunately, that marketing can make tap water seem less 
clear, less clean and less healthy. When New York City did a survey on tap 
water recently, one youth was asked whether he drank from the public water 
fountains. “Yes,” he said, “but I’m going to die.”
The editorial says that the public water supply in this country is generally 
so good that bottlers of several leading brands of water have recently 
explained to consumers that their product originally springs from the tap. 
The problem is that it won’t stay so good without more government help.
The editorial goes on to say that any discussion about public water needs to 
mention the weak link: the pipes from the public system to your home faucet. 
In some cities, like New York, a substance is added to the water to help 
keep metals from leaching from older pipes — theirs and yours. Some health 
officials advise letting the water run for a minute to get the lead out, 
literally. And home filters are mostly about taste, although the some 
experts recommend filtering water for the young, the old, the infirm and the 
pregnant.
Filtered or not, American tap water is a national treasure that badly needs 
a little public respect and a lot of public funding to go with it.