Water on the Brain Part Two

After writing Part One about water I suddenly came across a whole load of new material, water seemingly popping up in newspapers and magazines at every moment of the day - I don't seem to be able to escape from the stuff! So I have decided to share some more of the sea surrounding this wonderful gift of nature with everybody else, in the hope that it will be shared around in a liquid manner and understood crystal clear!

One of the items that came my way shocked me greatly! It was about the Pesticides found in bottled water in India. I mean not simply one form of pesticide found in one bottle of water but varying types of pesticides found in hundreds of thousands of bottles of water and from different companies. Why? Well, one can gather from the article that I read that the companies in question where simply filling up plastic bottles from the nearest river, slapping a label on them and sending them out to the local supermarket shelf! India itself is going through a bottled water phase with sales rocketing daily, so although the news that their water was formed partly from pesticides it was their own people that where suffering from the drinking of it. Crazy World!

I would also like to pass on the information that this same water was being used to make Coca-Cola and other soft drinks destined maybe for foreign markets and that in some cases the pesticide level found was 104 times the acceptable level! Bit confused about the acceptable level bit, as I would have thought that NO PESTICIDES would have been the only acceptable level to all concerned - but there we have it!

This was happening in India at about the same time as another amazing water event was taking place in another part of the world.

The 13^th annual Berkeley Springs International Water Taste! Wine and Cheese not quite, but a taste nevertheless. I found this event quite hard to imagine - a line of judges with loads of glasses of water and a few saltine crackers on standby to de-numb the palate and to restore sensitivity! Yes, it happens and so far thirteen times!

Each sample tasted is tested for; appearance, odor, flavor, mouth feel, aftertaste and over-all impression! Before reading this article I would have suggested that all water would look clear, have no odor, taste like water, feel wet, leave no aftertaste and the impressions would have all been the same. But I am so wrong or why would they have a water taste at all?

THE JUDGES: Almost anyone can judge water as long as they have a good sense of smell, sight and taste. The best time to hold a tasting is late morning before lunch or late afternoon, before dinner. One-half hour prior to the tasting, judges should not smoke, consume coffee, alcoholic beverages, spicy food or chew gum as they tend to dull the ability to taste and smell. Judges should avoid wearing strong perfumes as it can interfere when evaluating the aroma of water. Judges should not talk to one another during the judging process.

THE PROCEDURE: Judging should take place in a well lit, quiet area away from noise and distractions. Wineglasses are especially good for evaluating water and each glass should be double rinsed and hand-buffed to insure that there is no chlorine residue from washing. Waters should be tasted blind and the judges should not know the brand name or source of the samples. Paper place mats with a number for each glass are positioned in front of each judge. Six glasses per flight works well at most tastes. All samples should be tasted at room temperature. An assistant should pour about half a glass of each sample out of the judges view. Each glass should then be placed on the judges paper mat of the corresponding number.

They do say that taste is subjective, often influenced by a judges childhood experience or through acquired taste but acquired taste or not at the 13^th annual Competition the winners where as follows:

For Municipal Water Montpelier in Ohio (USA)

For Bottled Water Mountain Valley Springs (USA)

Carbonated Bottled Water Horrogate Spa (UK)

Purified Drinking Water Clear Creek Water Co. New Mexico (USA)

For Package Design Stone Clear Springs (USA)

These companies winning the Gold Medal and beating hundreds of other companies in the race, good on them.

I tried to imagine sitting in a room with many glasses of water at my elbow and imagined choosing a winner from the pack! I found it hard but . I must admit I have noticed differing tastes in water (sometimes). Back home in Edinburgh I always loved to drink the water, straight from the tap and into my stomach and it always tasted delicious. Why this was I can not tell but there was never anything better! And then on the other side of the coin I have the bottled water bought at great expense and lugged home that never really appeals to me. I open the bottle, take a sip and then decide that a cup of tea would be nice or a Coke: although that last one reminds me that chemicals could be in the Coke as well as the bottle of water that I have just bought.

Taste is effected in many ways! The source of the water is one of the most important factors and one of the reasons why Scotch Whisky is so famous. The whisky is not popular due to the fact that the Scottish are excellent Whisky makers, more due to the fact that the water they use is of excellent quality and taste. Many years ago a Japanese company started to make Scotch Whisky (using Japanese Water) but was defeated in an International Court and subsequently had to remove that label from their bottles. And the reason why came simply from the fact that the Japanese do not use Scottish Water in their production and thus have no right to use the term Scotch Whisky.

Where the water comes from is thus very important and the best waters found are those that are natural and untreated and that have been running for many miles along enriching river beds or past rock faces underground! These though are not easy to find and so companies tend to go for additives to improve the flavor, appearance, odor, etc before the water is bottled and presented for public consumption. Magnesium for example improves the body and a little dash of potassium sweetens the end result.

One must note that the average water that is now consumed is not in fact only water. Like the New Water in Singapore that is basically recycled wastewater, it must be remembered that it has gone through many a chemical filtration unit, ionization units (radiation to kill bacteria), charcoal beds to improve taste, and other machines and boxes before it is presentable to the general populace. In fact if one where to think about what wastewater may be made up of the thought of drinking it is terrifying! For example, cleaning products from around the house, bleach, window cleaner, soap powder, toilet cleaner, etc! And then the other sorts of stuff, nail polish remover, cooking oils, sour milk, pesticides, turps, etc. The list is so long and endless and all one has to do to find a few more is to log a sinks use for a days period!

This wastewater must be cleaned, disinfected and altered before presentation and a lot of work is done to make sure that the end result is satisfactory and safe, there is no denying that!

On ships and floating platforms the easiest and most cost-effective way to obtain drinking water is to make it. Make it from Seawater using desalination or reverse osmosis units. By simply removing the salt from saltwater we have fresh water! Simple and easy! Ships treatment methods of the salt-less seawater has always been minimal with often nothing being done to the finished product before it arrives in the glass on the table. In certain situations Silver Ions are injected into the water to kill bacteria, a harmless and old-fashioned way that is extremely effective (for hundreds of years silver goblets where used and these per-chance had a second purpose helped to kill bacteria). At other times the finished water is pushed through a charcoal bed to improve the taste or chlorine is added if the ionization unit is not working! And never once did I suffer from the ill effects of the water that was made on the ships that I worked on!

But now and today and having read about India and the Pesticides and what actually goes into water before it is ready for consumption I am confused! And let us not forget that although the Indian Government has now introduced stringent tests and guidelines for water companies they still only test for 32 different types of pesticides. Whilst searching for information on this matter I came across the web site of the National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory and there under the title of Human Health Effects was this:

Puts the 32 tests to shame, doesn't it? And what about insecticides of the world no, I don't think I will go there?

Regardless of these damaging facts it must be noted that water is a necessary part of our daily lives. Without it we will wither away. We can live without food for weeks but only a few days without water. And the amazing fact is that humans and most things around us are made of water lettuce and watermelons for example consist of 97% water and never mind the fact that two thirds of the worlds surface is covered with the stuff! Yes, we need water regardless of all that I have written. As a bit of advice and a general rule of thumb: we drink the stuff because we need it. If you have opportune to choose where your water comes from then go for the one that you feel the best with! If you have further chance to drink that, which is a Gold Award winner from the Berkeley Water Taste, well you are lucky aren't you?

Now that we no longer doubt that water is a required part of our lives it may also be of interest to note that:

One glass of water before bed shut down midnight hunger pangs for almost 100% of dieters at the University of Washington.

And that: sparkling water has to contain the same amount of CO2 it had when it came out of the ground, but it doesn't have to be the same CO2 - they can put back what was lost in processing using any old CO2.

Confused? I am, I must have Water on the Brain!