the tide is high.
Ah, yes. It’s that time of year again.
Remember?
The water is growing in turbidity rather quickly. NTUs of less than 1 are the goal, at least.
Our reservoir has 37 NTU. Ack.
That’s not so much okay.
As soon as we noticed the brown water coming out of the tap, we made sure to stop by the market and pick up a couple of cases of water tonight. We didn’t want to be left without drinking water — or with nasty brown boiled water outside of campsite livin’ — if we could help it.
After all, the last time Vancouver went into a tizzy like this, we saw more than a few dust-ups over the Precious Bottles of Health as stores ran out of stock.
(I’ve got a mean right hook… but you know, the manicure.)
We also went to Whole Foods, because the market didn’t sell my favourite bottled water, Fiji.
(I know… I’m embarassed by that sentence, too.)
While I was buying Fiji, I decided to buy a few other kinds, too, to see if there wasn’t a flavour (WHAT? THEY HAVE FLAVOUR) I liked better. And that’s when we decided to have a taste test.
I know.
I know.
Total geeks.
But we did a blind taste test. And that’s scientific.
The cases of water we got were Dasani, so that was the first on the list.
The kinds I bought were Ty Nant, Penta, Volvic, and Fiji.
Here are our notes and our taste guesses:
Turns out:
Dasani sucks.
Volvic sucks.
Fiji is my favourite, Penta is Cat’s favourite.
But anything is better than brown water.
A haiku to finish:
turbidity is
a quick trip to tummy pain
light a match, okay?
December 4th, 2007 at 11:57 pm
Dasani does suck. BUT. It is pure marketing genius, because it is bottled at Coca-Cola bottling plants, and is the same water used to make Coke, just sans carbonation or syrup. AND IT COSTS MORE THAN THE SODA. Seriously, whoever thought up that plan should be at least vice-president of something by now.
December 5th, 2007 at 6:11 am
Turbidity just sounds so bad.
Thanks for doing a tasting - I’m always interested in comparisons.
December 5th, 2007 at 11:18 am
And most bottle waters come from municipal tap services.
Dasani (owned by Coca-Cola) is filtered municipal tap water, bottled in Brampton, Ont., and Calgary. (Pepsi owns Aquafina, which is also sourced from municipalities (again - an Ontario source- not mentioned in the article - but in an article I read in the last two days but can’t find!) http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/consumers/bottled-water.html
A general suggestion is that if you don’t like the taste of your municipal water source, buy a cheap filter.
As a bottled water consumer myself, I buy it for the convenience of portability (yah, yah, a trip to MEC to get a hard plastic bottle would be a better choice - only when your kids actually bring back the container!!).
December 5th, 2007 at 12:13 pm
i almost always drink pellegrino, but do buy a case of the store brand of water every now and again to use bedside during the night.
i have found that bottled waters DO have different tastes.
December 5th, 2007 at 3:06 pm
As has been said… Dansani sucks. Its tap water being re-packaged, as is a lot of the fancy waters. Best bet is to get a filter and get a good hard plastic bottle that doesn’t leach. All these plastic bottles are really, really, really bad news for our landfills and our biology. For reals.
December 5th, 2007 at 3:59 pm
Here you go:
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4GGLF_enUS242US245&q=dasani+tap+water
Dasani = P.W.S. = ‘Public Water Source’, ie: tap water run through a filter.
December 9th, 2007 at 10:37 am
If you really want to be environmentally responsible, you shouldn’t buy bottled water :-) Trust me on this one! You should drink tap water. So it’s an annoyance to have to boil it. True, but it’s more environmentally friendly. And in the long run, better for you too.
XOXO
December 9th, 2007 at 2:19 pm
Raul, I only drink it when the water is bad around here, or when city water where I am is undrinkable. Otherwise, I never buy it. Don’t worry. :)
December 18th, 2007 at 11:02 pm
Fiji Water is the best…and I’m really not just saying that because I live in Fiji :o)