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Summer is for...

... drinking spring water from the source

Evian drinkers, you don't know what you're missing!

This particular spring flows on Mt. Pulag, above the line of vegetable gardens and human habitation. In all likelihood, it is unpolluted, although I know of no study on the life cycle of chemicals and their possible presence in the watersheds and aquifers of Pulag. The only empirical evidence I can offer about this spring is that my personal water supply was taken from it over the course of three days, without the use of puritabs, filter pumps, and without boiling the water, and I was fine!

The water from this spring was ice-cold and tasted oh so sweet and refreshing! All of us who drank from the spring swore that we felt revitalized as the water coursed through our bodies!

Nowadays, instead of regarding a found water source as something to be grateful for, we regard it as something dangerous. Isn't there something wrong with this reaction? It's not the reaction itself that is wrong, but the long process by which we got ourselves here. Why have we come to this? There are fewer and fewer places where we can drink spring water without fear of ingesting deadly chemicals, pet amoebas, or traces of human waste. This makes the existence of potable spring water in our mountains something to treasure and something to be proud of!

When I was a child I used to imagine that it would be a nightmare-ish world to live in if we had to buy our drinking water. Now I take it for granted that I do buy our drinking water on a regular basis. Water, the seeming lack of it whether potable or not, has always been considered a problem in Baguio. Are we part of the problem, or can we contribute to a solution? Potable water is a right, not a commodity, and if we already have it in our environment, why should we allow the risk of losing it?

I'll stop now, before I set off the Preachy Alarm, but this isn't the last thing I'll be saying about this!
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Comments

resty said…
Hi Padma, in these times of bottled water, fuel belts, camelbaks, I wouldn't dare drink spring water unless in emergency situations.
21 May 2008 at 07:57
padma said…
But Manong Resty, this is not just any ordinary, possibly life-threatening, spring water. This is PULAG spring water! It tastes sweet and to drink it uplifts one's spirits better than any softdrink or alcohol ever could. This particular water source is located above the line of vegetable gardens and human habitation, so it is untainted by chemicals and domestic waste. I've added a paragraph to my blog on drinking spring water, because as you've pointed out, in some instances drinking spring water can be quite risky.
24 May 2008 at 15:45
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