The smell of bottled water

..smells like pollution.

I can't imagine a more unnecessary invention in Europe and North America than bottled water. If some countries are about to ban light bulbs for all I care they could ban bottled water as well.

"According to a recent Fast Company article, in 1976, each American bought an average of 1.6 gallons (6 liters) per year. Today, that average has jumped to 28.3 gallons (107 liters)."

"Bottled water is not healthier than tap. According to Blogging Stocks' Thirst for Profits post, "An NRDC study actually found that 33 percent of the waters it tested 'violated an enforceable state standard or exceeded microbiological-purity guidelines,' ...""

"In addition to not being regulated, many bottled water companies don't have to pay for the water they sell.
Coca-Cola (Dasani) and Pepsi Co. (Aquafina) bottle municipal tap water. So instead of paying 1/100th of a penny per glass of your own tap water, you can buy the same in a bottle for about a $1.25."

"the pay out on a $1.29 bottle of water is: 50% to retailer, up to 33.3% goes to distribution, 12 to 15 cents to the production of the bottle and that leaves about 10 cents of profit for the company."

"The United States throws away 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour."

(Source)

A whole industry based on vanity. At least in my country where clean water is available in every building.

Of course bottled water is better option than a Coke but you don't have to buy either of those. During last two years I've been traveling around Europe quite a bit. Not once did I buy bottled water. I always carry a plastic bottle with me that I fill up with tap water. Spain, Portugal, France, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Slovakia. Never did I crap my pants!

Sometimes I did have headache but that had nothing to do with water. On the contrary. I think a dead rat in my mouth and lack of water were the reason for that.

Water shortage in Spain

To be exact the water shortage is in the Catalonia (Barcelona) region. Here's the news in Finnish. Didn't find anything about it in the international news agencies yet.

Anyway the water situation is really bad over there and it has forced Spain to buy water from France! So now they are getting water from France with several tankers. These tankers have enough water for Barcelona for 5 days. Price of this water? 22 million euros!

I found this piece of news from the archives of BBC news.

The thing is Spanish people don't really like other regions of Spain that much. People in Galicia find people in Catalonia arrogant etc. So giving water to different regions of the country isn't happening just like that.

Could this be the beginning of Water Trading. I'll start calling it WT. Well I guess it's already common in some parts of the world but now it's landed in Europe. I wonder when they will start making tariffs and trading systems for water... Other new term I'll make public at this point is 'WW'. It doesn't stand for World War anymore. It's Water War. (CWW = Civil Water War)

This is getting interesting. I think I'll need a long hot shower. It's a bit cold in my flat and I really don't feel like wearing long trousers and pullover.

Extra reading from New York times.
Turkey is getting dry as well.