Introduction
Yes, most of us drink bottled water these days. In recently hearing Lewis Black's rant on the good old days when good water was available in your homes, I was reminded of a time when water wasn't super-purified and so on and so forth during our grandparents' times. While it is not such a bad idea to take care of your health in drinking bottled water or even ordering them in cans as some households do, it's strange to find that the most freely available natural resource known to man, is now being charged for, thanks to ever growing response to consumerism.
There's no doubt that my grandad & grandmom would have found this to be absurd. But with no intention of taking digs at people who go about their everyday with a big bottle of water at their disposal, one can only wonder what happened to the 'good water' that we used to get at home for us to resort to buying bottled water these days.
And ever so often, when one visits the towns (especially in my country, India) people around there still draw water from wells for drinking and washing.
Well Water
The idea of drawing water from a well has been immortalized through the years with countless references in literary works spanning several centuries, and this quaint way of getting water (where water is drawn by using a bucket and some rope) for all your needs still exists today.
Wells are classified into three types: dug, driven and drilled wells of which the latter is used most prominently in rural areas where water supply is not provided by the local government.
With these differing methods that exist in digging wells, it is also obvious that not all wells are of the same depth (due to the varying levels of the water table differing from location to location), the amount of water and the quality of water that is available.
The Pros/Cons of Drinking & Washing with Well Water
Drinking well water these days is a risk. Period. And with the 'universal solvent' [Read: water] needed for primarily of drinking and washing on a daily basis, it is imperative that one uses well water especially in rural areas that is clear, tasty and safe to drink.
Yet the biggest problem with wells today is contamination due to activities (sometimes industrial in nature, along the lines of the plot line of 'Erin Brockovich') even if they are located a mile or two away from your home. Of course, it all depends on the depth of the water table and how this source of contamination gets there.
Other sources of contamination include storage sheds containing hazardous materials to human health if consumed, gardens, septic systems, roads and underground storage tanks.
With the existence of arsenic, iron and managanese among other minerals present in well water, a common solution is to treat the water by 'softening' it, and this is an expensive process. One definitely cannot rule out the contamination of this cheap water source by microorganisms as well.
Apart from this danger is also the problem of salination and the presence of methane both of which can affect the water quality available.
In Closing
Methods to purify well water are available which require treatment of water as well as maintenance of the well while also ensuring that the area around it is kept clean among several other pointers that need to be kept in mind that will greatly improve the quality of water. The bottom line being that it is not necessarily the best option available for drinking or washing, so Jack and Jill should look for other sources of water if one consider his and his family's health a priority. Yes, Mr. Lewis Black, even if it means bottled water…
867 views