This morning the Mount
Washington Green Club held a water-tasting. We compared the tastes of
three bottled waters (Evian, Fiji, and Deer Park) with Mount Washington tap
water in two forms (straight from the tap, run through a filter). Each
water was labeled only with a letter, so we did not know which water we were
tasting until scores were given and the comparison was completed. Here are
the results (high scores represent the best taste):
Evian - 28
Deer Park
- 30
Mt. Washington Tap -
17
Mt. Washington Tap
(filtered) - 39
Fiji - 29
The Mt. Washington tap water
that was run through a water pitcher with a carbon filter received the highest
score. Deer Park water, which is locally bottled, received a
score slightly above that off Evian and Fiji, which are bottled in very
distant locations. Unfiltered Mt. Washington tap water came in
last.
So for the best tasting
water (and probably the healthiest), we are recommending running our local
tap water through a carbon filter. For our test, we used a Pur water
pitcher like the one pictured here:
They seem to run from about $10
to $30 and the filters have to be changed
periodically.
We also want to remind everyone
that besides being expensive (Fiji water is usually over $2.00 a quart), bottled
water creates a trash problem. In the recent cleanup of Western Run, a
large percentage of the trash taken from the stream area was
empty plastic water bottles. Transporting water bottled in
distant locations like the island of Fiji or Evian, France also seems
like a terrible use of resources and probably contributes to global
warming.
So we would like to encourage
everyone to choose filtered tap water over bottled water,
and locally bottled water over water bottled at distant
locations. Thanks!