X-HALE
Bottle or Tap?
Noeleen Maholwana-Sangqu

Judging from the reaction of my lunch companions the other day, I thought I had made the fatal error of either spitting into my food, swearing at the waiter, or worse, admitting that I was wearing a real fur coat taken from a helpless extinct polar bear.But being a really decent person (at least that’s what my late mother told me), I had done none of the above.

Before I venture into the reason for the violent reaction, let me describe my lunch companions. Three women, one male. They were all high-powered executives, extremely hard-working, all own fast, petrol-guzzling cars, all are gym bunnies, all eat only organic foods, and all have strong opinions on pretty much anything and everything.

Now, the source of my companion’s overreaction stemmed from my request for water. Yes, I had declined the waiter’s offer of still or sparkling bottled water. I insisted on tap water.

The waiter did not look impressed with my request, but in a way I understood his frustration. He works on tips, so if I ordered a R20.00 bottle of water, the bill goes up and he gets more money, (that’s if he gets a tip).
While I understand the waiter’s reaction, I just can not for the life of me understand why my lunch companions were up in arms.

Their reaction really caught me by surprise. Enough to say that had the one woman not been wearing a tight skirt and stilettos, she could easily have jumped out of her chair and ripped down the light fittings. The gentleman who has a penchant for wearing pink and white and a touch of make-up was mortified. All he could utter was, “Oh no, oh no.” hat had I done, I wondered,

when everyone had calmed down? The four of them were unanimous in their condemnation. You just don’t order tap water. It is just not the thing to do. “Who says so?” I innocently asked. “Who has deemed it unhealthy, unfashionable and a no-no?” Well, of course, my lunch companions had done all the research, or so they insisted. They went on to sprout some research or other about tap water. “Was the research done in South Africa?” I asked. There came the sticking point. The research had not mentioned South Africa, which I know is rated as having the cleanest water in the world.

My lunch companion’s response was nothing short of embarrassing. But it got me thinking about how we at the southern tip of Africa can misinterpret things to suit ourselves. The result of this misinterpretation leads to more money being spent on something you don’t have to spend money on.

I actually understand their point of view. There are places in the world where you should not drink tap water under any circumstances, simply because the water in those countries is not fit for human consumption.

So why the reaction to tap water here? Well, it’s simple really. A lot of people who can afford bottled water go that route because, firstly, they can, and secondly, it helps them to appear ‘with it’. Perhaps bottled water has become the ultimate yuppie symbol.

I have been drinking tap water for 39 years of my life and am still as healthy as an ox. I have never had a problem, so why should I change now?

Furthermore, I read a scary report the other day, which indicates that because of the huge consumption of bottled water, billions of plastic bottles are now going to the dumpster.

Now, there’s a scary thought. What happens to the billions of bottles once the water has been drunk? I don’t even want to imagine their environmental impact.

I am not for one minute suggesting we all dump our bottled water. I am aware of the fact that the bottled water industry is a job creation vehicle and there’s a huge contribution to the economy. I’m simply asserting that our water is very clean, very fresh and very cheap. We honestly don’t need to have violent reactions to a simple girl who happens to enjoy the simple things in life.