About twenty years ago, I was working as a bar manager in Rochester NY at the now defunct Red Creek Inn. One of the advantages of being a busy establishment is that sales reps often give you tons of samples of new products, or established ones, in order for you to carry their product. 

 One afternoon I came in and the sales rep was peddling Evian water form France. The restaurant had some highbrow clientele and the rep thought Evian would be a good seller. We already carried Perrier, a sparkling mineral water, and we were making cappuccino before it became fashionable, so carrying Evian was not very much of a stretch for us.

 In 1993, we sold Evian for around $4.00 a bottle. I figured at that price it must be special so I chilled up a bottle and tried it later that evening along with a few co-workers. After we took our first sip, we looked at each other quizzically wondering what the fuss was all about. I said to my co-worker, "its water in a bottle, why would anybody pay good money for water in a bottle?"

 Of course, that was well before the bottled water market took off. After awhile I even jumped on board, forgoing my diet cola and drinking bottled water instead. I was convinced that bottled water was the only way to go because water from the tap must be contaminated with yucky things, therefore buying water in a bottle made sense. Little did I know that much of the bottled water I was drinking came from the tap!

 Just when I am fully weaned of tap water, two new reports are released saying that bottled water may be worse that tap water. It turns out that since bottled water is not subject to the same regulations as tap water, it may contain more contaminants than water coming out of my faucet. I should have guessed that, since I am sure Mexicans are not advised, "Don't drink the water" when they come to the United States.

 Of course there is still a dilemma because even though reports suggests bottled water is not as safe as tap water, there are other reports that say tap water is not safe because it may contain trace elements of pharmaceutical drugs. I guess I have to decide whether I want drugs in my water or contaminants.

 The whole thing reminds me of the time when there were many reports that said eating eggs was bad for you because of the cholesterol and so many people stopped eating eggs. Then another report said eggs were good for you and they became the "incredible edible egg." I never really stopped eating eggs. 

 Pork was a different story. I was fully convinced that a slice of bacon would shut down my arteries and avoided it for years until I found out that pork was "the other white meat." Since Chicken was "the white meat" and I ate lots of that the surely pork was all right since it was "the other white meat."

 The whole situation makes me want to quit eating and drinking, but all the reports say that it is not healthy to quit eating and drinking. At least that's what they say now.