Drinking water

March 4, 2009 - 7:02 PM by Jessica · 3 Comments
Filed under: A New Reality, Environment, General, Israeliness

camelbak Contamination scares don’t seem to terrify Israelis, even when it could be affecting their favorite bottled water brands. According to a survey last week for business newspaper The Marker, 62% of the respondents who buy Mei Eden and Neviot mineral water said they’re still buying their brands, even though both companies suspended production last month following contamination worries, due to the drought affecting the Kinneret.

Mei Eden and Neviot are by far the most popular bottled water brands in Israel, but bottled water as a whole is a pretty much a given in these parts, as consumers are seemingly averse to drinking tap water. “Industry observers say that less than one-third of Israelis drink straight tap water and less than one-third filter their tap water using one of the devices on the market. That leaves more than one-third of the population that regularly consumes bottled water.” That’s from a recent Ha’aretz article.

Why? 41% of the poll respondents said their main reason for drinking bottled water is they think it’s healthier. A smaller number, about 27%, say it’s all about taste, and 11% cite it as a habit. A Jerusalem Post story said this on the subject: “The experts’ contention that desalinated tap water is clean and healthy is countered by an opposite perception held by large segments of the population. While there are no hard figures showing how many people don’t drink any tap water – desalinated or not – preferring instead the bottled option, the phenomenon is prevalent, especially in the greater Tel Aviv and Jerusalem areas.”

According to Professor Avner Adin, a member of the Faculty of Agriculture of Hebrew University and a former head of the government Drinking Water Standards Revision Committee, the quality of tap water in Israel is among the best in the world. He has said that he and his family drank it “without giving it a second thought.”

So do we. And ever since my husband picked up some Camelbak water bottles this summer — which can be taken apart and washed in the dishwasher — I’ve become a water-from-the-sink (albeit, filtered water) addict. And they’re BPA-free. So drink up, and save money.

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