Water

One of my sons favorite words is water. He says it about 100 times a day. One of his favorite activities is playing in water, in the tub, in the kitchen sink, at his little table in the kitchen where he pours water from cup to cup, to the floor. Another favorite is puddles, and it is a good thing that he loves to wear rubber boots. In fact his name was River for the first few hours of his life, until our parents said, "You can't name a baby River!" To which Mike and I, still in shock from the miracle of birth and life, said OK, we'll call him Elias River.

Whenever he sees the river, he heads straight for it and wades right in. Last summer he was swimming in the bow, at night, and he was only a year old. We couldn't keep him out of it. I love the water as well, having spent most of my childhood in a swimming pool, and the first ten years after I graduated as a swimming instructor/lifeguard. 

Which is why I take water so seriously. There was a time when I would buy bottled water, mostly because I was too lazy to bring my own bottle with me. Then, I saw Dr. Vandana Shiva speak about water here in Calgary. Slowly, things started to shift for me. Why are we paying for something that is free? We live in Canada, we have clean water that comes right out of our taps yet we pay dearly for bottled water, and the truth of the matter is that most of that water comes from the tap! It is no cleaner than what comes from the tap, in fact it is most likely full of bacteria. How well do you think those bottles are sanitized? What about the giant water cooler that holds it? Who cleans that? Recently, a local water business was shut down, the reason? They weren't sanitizing the bottles, there was unacceptable amounts of bacteria in the water, and they weren't even supposed to be bottling water on the premises. 

Another problem with the bottled water industry is the amount of bottles that are produced. Most of those bottles end up in a landfill where it takes 400- 1000 years to break down, that is a long time. 

My dad is very wise. When I was a kid and I came home from school feeling yucky, he would ask me "did you drink any water? What did you eat?" He refused to eat food that was cooked in a microwave, and he never drinks bottled water, only tap water.

Today, if people tell me they don't feel well, I ask them if they have drank any water, and what they ate. I don't even own a microwave, and tap water is my main source of hydration, although I do have a filter on my tap. It's from aquasana and it takes out chlorine and other stuff, I just got it at Riva's Eco Store. (If you haven't been already, GO! It's a great store.)

My point, after all of these rambling thoughts, is this: break free of your bottled water addiction! Buy a reusable water bottle (MEC sells stainless steel ones for $10) and fill it with tap water. Don't pay for things that are free!