Conspiracy theories are fascinating and the bread and butter of tabloid magazines and TV. This series explores these theories in a logical and scientific manner.
It seems that the latest craze among the unenlightened organic food enthusiasts and other new age believers is that drinking tap water or even bottled water is bad for you because it contains chemicals like fluoride. This raw-water-movement movement has reared its ugly head in California, which seems to give birth to many conspiracy theories about the fact that the government is trying to poison us or mind control us or make us all sterile.
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The bad news is that back yard entrepreneurial charlatans are popping up to sell bottled raw water at exorbitant prices, at least 30 times the price of bottled water and 1000 times what city water costs. In some cases these bandits are stealing the water from private properties. The rubes who buy this stuff are being taken to the cleaners and risking their health to boot. The main reason for this is that there is no regulation for this bootleg water. The unfortunate victims believe the hype and misinformation that these raw water purveyors provide as a means to gain unknowing customers. They claim that tap water is treated with fluorides (I've written about this previously) and prescription drugs that will make the drinker sterile or mentally impaired. They also claim that their raw water contains good pro-biotic bacteria. This craze has created a furor among health experts and venture capitalists. The health agencies point out that raw water runs the risks of infection by sepsis and parasites, not to mention other more sinister infectious agents. The venture capitalists are mad because they didn't think of it.
There is no doubt that this new craze has generated a lot of interest among people who want to live off the grid, which is why it's easy to understand the reason that Californians are so excited by it. The cost of everything, including water, is extremely high in that state. However, paying $20 for a gallon of raw water doesn't sound very economical. However, California isn't the only state where this is being done. Maine and Oregon are two states with a thriving raw-water business.
I could imagine that there are some people in countries where water quality is a big issue who would be happy to have raw water from California. Actually, there are 63 million Americans (that's a fifth of the population) that are drinking unsafe water that doesn't meet EPA standards, and many of these live in California.
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My take on this is that drinking raw water is not new. People have been drinking from wells and natural springs for a very long time. There is nothing wrong with that. My objection to this idea is that the people selling raw water are not regulated and there is no way to know if what you're buying is truly safe.
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Municipal water supplies are not all that safe either. The Flint Michigan case of leaded water is one example of this. Most municipalities treat water to remove dangerous bacteria and filter it to remove chemicals. These processes are subject to testing so that the water they deliver to the public falls within safe standards. There is some truth in the fact that tap water doesn't contain probiotics or 'good' chemicals, but they are for the most part safe to drink. My advice is to know what you're drinking. Don't take anyone's word for it, especially some get-rich-pirate selling it.
For more on this you might want to watch Stephen Colbert's Go Fund Yourself video on YouTube. He pretty much sums it up in a rather dramatic manner.
