I drink so much bottled water every day that I just had to know - Who was the genuis who thought to bottle water from some outback creek and sell it at a huge market up to dumb city folk like me? And exactly how do those bubbles get in Perrier anyway, or any other carbonated mineral water. And more, what the hell is "mineral water" anyway. What exactly is in this mineral water, apart from the obvious?
The fact is, if one drinks as much bottled water as I do, and we're talking upwards of six huge bottles a day (if I have my way, Evian, if it's a bad day at the local market, Poland Spring or Dasani), I really ought to know who the hell came up with the idea of bottling a natural resource and turning a profit. I mean, it's really pure genius. I can just see some guy or gal in the middle of nowhere sitting by the edge of a local spring or mountain stream and thinking, "Shit, I'll just put this in a bottle with a pretty picture of trees on the front and sell it as 'Mountain Water'or some such, and dumb urbanites will buy it."
But was it that simple? I didn't know, and so I set to find out.
In 1798, the term "soda water" was first used. Bathing in natural springs was considered a healthy thing to do and a fun pastime. Scientists belived that the naturally occuring bubbles in the springs, caused by Carbon Dioxide, were the source behind the medicinal and curative qualities of the water. Before this though, drinking water with lemon juice and honey (which is amazingly good hot if you have a cold, flu, or sorethroat) became increasingly popular. It was a company in Paris that patented the elixir: Compagnie de Limonadiers of Paris. The lemon, honey, and water juice was sold all over Paris and soon became popular worldwide. I'm quite sure, though, that somewhere back in the middle ages, someone had put this very same combination together - they just hadn't thought to handletter flyers and brand it. Fools.
By 1767, an Englishman by the name of Joseph Priestly found a way to put the bubbles in water and keep them there. He was the first to make carbonated water that was drinkable and like that one would find in nature. Meanwhile, other chemists fiddled around with various minerals and whatnot, including sulfuric acid and chalk and made "mineral water."
Article comments
1 - Joe
Do you think that the result of Evian spelled backwards is merely a coincidence?
2 - mike hollihan
I drink Ozarka bottled water; non-mineral and non-carbonated. It's a natural spring water from Texas that tastes great with a very slight sweet finish. Really great when kept just above freezing!
http://www.bottledwaterweb.com/bott/bt_220oznats.html
3 - srp
Good catch about Evian backwards. Funny. I usually find things like that; I think drinking the stuff everyday completely blinded me to what is patently obvious... thanks for pointing that out.
4 - Eric Olsen
Great research and presentation, thanks! Looks like the answer is tap water filtered through Pur or whatever - that's what we do because it's much cheaper - glad to know that's the healthiest also.
I have a cousin who has been a bottled water exec his whole adult life (quoted in this article) - cool guy.
5 - wguru
As for the safeness of drinking chloronated municipal water, I'm confident that city's in general are penny pinching as they nearly always do and fortunately for us are not keeping the amount of chlorine per the FDA's guidelines, ie; the more chlorine that kills bad things also creates even worse things, eg; medium to highly chlorinated water contains I forget their names (maybe 'DPB's, etc.), but basically their cancer and toxic substances that result from chloronating water (even though there are chlorine resistant protozoan parasites such as Giardia lamblia and Cryptosporidium parvum), most City's from what I read, generally don't test for them and/or the cancer and toxic substances, except in their reservours and then only periodically. City's rely on us as guinea pigs that tip off the CDC with hospital reports of the most serious incidents and for those of us not more sensitive to these things, form what i read, little to no research and testing has been or is planned). Again, as for that type of water treatment and how many city's treat our water in the other recommended ways, some of those being more costly and yet safer (chloramines, chlorine dioxide, ozone, and ultraviolet radiation) but even though in 1974, the EPA began setting guidleines and suppsedly they monitor municipal and commercial water, we all know how well our government agencies actually do what they're supposed to, ie; little to no authority, unable to monitor and audit even themselves, let alone others. So drink what you will or what you have to, but I'd recommed purifying even bottled water (which at least reduces the particulates and many carcinogens that escape detection and removal).