Once again I am way ahead of the curve:
Yes, Alice Waters has begun serving only tap water at Chez Panisse,
because it's more sustainable (carbon emissions to ship all those
bottles, plus the energy to produce the bottles, plus the waste even
if you recycle). She also got the Berkeley Unified School System to
serve tap water and cups at school. Amazing, huh?
For years I have been drinking tap water - because I lived in NYC,
which has fabulous tap water, then moved to the SF Bay Area, where my
East Bay tap water is also top rated Sierra snowpack.
I used to belly up to the bar at the Algonquin, when I was just a wee
lass (of 26 or so) and ask for Croton Reservoir, as my buddy David
Grinstead, bartender and writer, taught me. I could taste the
difference between Brooklyn and Manhattan water. In fact, water taste
varies by building in NYC - I am not sure why. Newer buildings have
off-tasting water. Not too many New Yorkers refer to tap water as
Croton Reservoir, but real New Yorkers instantly know what you're
talking about.
Twenty years ago and more in Brooklyn, I also subscribed to the local
seltzer service (again thanks to Mr. & Mrs. Grinstead, my neighbors,
who were expert at sniffing out the best deals and tastiest food &
drink). Every week we got an ancient wooden crate of antique seltzer
bottles filled with brand new gassy water. It cost ten dollars a week,
plus a $20 refundable deposit against the bottles. Even the truck was
an antique. It was a real experience.
Then I moved to California. My brother, in Santa Cruz, earned a Ph.D.
in marine geo-chemistry and got a job with the California Water Board,
SF Bay division. I have been hearing ever since about the water here
in the Bay Area. When I was undergoing chemotherapy, I asked him if I
should be filtering my tap water. He said "our water here in the Bay
Area is the best water that has ever been consistently delivered in
human history. If you want to filter the best water in human history,
be my guest." I decided to skip it.
Around Northern California, Dasani water is bottled in Milpitas, which
does NOT get our lovely Sierra snowpack water we get in Oakland/
Berkeley. It's filtered, big deal, but it is MIlpitas tap water and it
tastes wretched. Why people buy it, I do not understand.
In fact, one more reason why I would never leave overpriced Oakland
for the suburbs is: their water sucks. I was just in Monterey. The tap
water is putrid. They are running out of water and draining the Carmel
River.
I am so uncool, out of it, low tech and low fashion; I don't do foodie
one-upmanship, my food is not 100% organic, or vegan, or French, or
locally grown; I don't bother with fine wines because the tannins stop
up my nose and render my taste buds completely useless. But on this
new trendlet, I can preen. I am definitely ahead of the crowd on this
one.
Signed,
Leila the Water Drinker - give me some of that Hetch Hetchy, and make
it snappy!