It burbles and gurgles, streams and swirls, flows and floods. That’s what water does, and there’s no mystery in it.
Here’s the mystery: Why did we decide it was OK to pay $2.50 for a bottle of it? It is, after all, available at the nearest faucet, no extra charge.
Well, it’s natural spring water we’re buying, right? Truth is, we’re not even very discriminating about where we’re buying from. One of the more popular brands of bottled water seen on the streets of Chicago is tap water from … Atlanta.
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has had his troubles of late. But on the subject of water, he looks like the wisest guy around.
San Francisco gets its tap water from the pristine Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite National Park. But the city government has been spending nearly $500,000 a year for bottled water, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Newsom’s edict: Let them drink from the tap.
He has issued an executive order that says city funds may no longer be used to purchase bottled water when tap water is available. The mayor pointed out that the city can buy 1,000 gallons of San Francisco tap water for the price of 1 gallon of bottled water. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa made a similar move in 2005. Los Angeles city agencies may no longer buy bottled water for employees.
“God tipped the country, and all the fruits and nuts rolled west,” the late columnist Mike Royko once wrote. California might seem nutty at times, but when it comes to the price of water, it’s becoming the land of common sense.
