Not bottled in Cleveland

A long time ago I lived in Cleveland. The Cuyahoga River, which runs through the city was known to be quite polluted. Perhaps shortly after my family left the city Cleveland became infamous because the Cuyahoga River caught fire. The river and the city are much cleaner now.

But it is that reputation that allowed Fiji brand bottled water to advertise, "The labels says Fiji because it's not bottled in Cleveland." The message: You should fear your tap water. Our bottled water (and bottled water in general) is cleaner and safer and more healthy than city tap water. It has been a highly effective message and Big Beverage has been hauling in huge profits in America by charging up to 2000 times what one pays to get water from the tap.

Except the health and cleanliness claim isn't true.

Cleveland was pissed off by the comparison, so tested their own water against several brands of bottled water. The winner? Cleveland tap. A big reason is that city water is regulated by the EPA and the FDA. Bottled water isn't. City water must issue a report about the cleanliness of its water. Bottled water doesn't.

Big Beverage likes to disparage city water because it is fluoridated. While my nutritionist would agree with the implication that fluoride in water is not good, the Big Bev claim does not mean their water is free of fluoride – much of what they bottle is filtered tap water and most filtering processes don't remove fluoride. There is also the petroleum and energy consumption to make all those bottles, and the waste and pollution because so few are recycled.

The prevalence and sales of bottled water show that Big Bev have pulled off a mighty successful scam. It has been so successful that many new sports stadiums are being built without public drinking fountains, forcing patrons to buy bottled water or other beverages. Big Bev has stated its goal: relegate tap water to showers and washing dishes.

What do I drink? Tap water I've put through a filtering system.