After the quality of the water is checked and improved by treatment if necessary, the water is pumped through water mains to the user or is filled into bottles and sold. The two classic sources of drinking water is groundwater or surface water.

Deciding if there is contamination in drinking water is not always easy, since there are “emerging contaminants” which are not regularly tested for or whose long-term effects on human bodies are unknown.Ī second criterion of drinking water are its sources. Certainly there shouldn’t be contaminants in drinking water. If you think about the water you drink, the first thoughts should be about making sure that there is enough water available and about making sure that the water that is available meets certain quality standards. Let’s call this second story “Global Water”.īefore getting into the two stories of Local and Global Water, Elizabeth sets a few terms which need to be made clear when talking about drinking water: Drinking Water As the story of Local Water unfolds, Elizabeth tells a second story, the story of drinking water supply in general. Subsequently, this company fills the water into bottles and sells them for huge profits leaving the town with a number of problems. In that town, a private company (more info here) wants and gets drinking water from the same source, the same aquifer, as is used for public supply. Let’s call one story “Local Water”, because it is about the drinking water situation in a small town in the state of Maine, USA. Consequently Elizabeth Royte tells two interwoven stories in Bottlemania.

Please feel free to check out her excellent blog “ Waste Water Whatever” on current water-related issues, as well as the website accompanying the book.īottlemania is a great and comprehensive even though brief introduction to the problems related to drinking water supply in general, and to the problems related to bottled water in particular - according to the Times, a somewhat current problem.

The title of the book reviewed is “Bottlemania” ( hard copy, paperback ) and was written by Elizabeth Royte who was so nice to provide me with a copy of her work.

Bottlemania by elizabeth royte