Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for June 20, 2011

San Diego tap water has so many minerals in it that it will give you kidney stones. See Mythtickle today…

I’ll stick with tap water (at least in my home territory). Bottled water is a huge rip-off (and those plastic bottles aren’t good for the water but do end up in a lot of littering).

Las Vegas water tastes like there’s soap in it. In other places, if kids swear, the parents wash their mouths out with soap. Here, they just make them drink the tap water.

I buy R/O water, filtered and UV hit and dispensed by a legit machine into my glass one gallon water jugs (old wine Jugs), and use it to make my daily coffee. I checked the Ph against my city water….city water was alkaline and R/O water was not. Coffee is the best ever…almost “clear” and doesn’t go downhill sitting on the coffee maker burner. I do buy bottled water for drinking sometimes, but only name brands that were processed by R/O…the bottle will indicate it.

My city has great water, unlike two close cities. Bought a filter bottle and recycle my water bottles forever. Sure, I’m going to pay more than gasoline for water from an unknown source. Anyone want to buy some magic beans for their family cow?

“Drinking water” on a bottle is a euphemism for tap water.

Where I live we have well water, which sometimes smells like a dirty swimming pool, or is beige with sediment.

Every year we get a letter about water quality, stating that it passes all the tests for safety, except for (cough) containing somewhat over the legal limit of arsenic.

But don’t worry, they say, you can drink it.

And we’re working on ….no, not purifying the water, but trying to get the legal limit of arsenic raised so we pass.

I do use it to bathe, and I suppose some gets into the pasta I boil in it, but for drinking and coffee and soup, I buy gallon jugs of spring water.

It’s 89 cents to $1 a gallon. Please — where can I find some of this gasoline that costs less?

It may look like Rat is being ‘Green’ recycling those water bottles, but where he got them…

Oh and here in the SF Bay Area EBMud is raising their rates due to revenue loss during the drought.

Yep, Conserve water, Pay more for it later.

This happened in the UK in 2004, when Coca Cola launched their bottled water Dasani. The media found out that it was just treated tap water and after a scare it was pulled from the market. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dasani#United_Kingdom

Water is becoming the next solid gold opportunity in the corporate world empire, and may soon surpass oil as an excuse to go to war.When I lived in 29 Palms as a kid, we supposedly had the ‘right’ level of flouride in the local water, and people thought that was good (the other place, IIRC, was Lubbock TX). Of course, you could just about build with it, it was so hard. The words ‘alkali’ and ‘hardpan’ come to mind. Didn’t help my teeth any.Now we are starting to see, it’s been a massive sales job, since the processing of uranium for bombs used so much, and an industrial waste hazmat has become a revenue stream for the processors. Nice job, MadAve! There’s a reason the warning is on the toothpaste tube!Now, that all said, potable water, once a given in much of the US (but not as much, or at all, elsewhere), is becoming another sales opportunity as municipal utilities are snapped up by the likes of Bechtel. And take a look at the rest of the planet, who are paying these guys through the nose and be forbidden by law to even collect rain!

am i the only one that would run like hell from “rat water”?

There con artist born every minute given the chance.

I grew up in Brooklyn drinking “Flatbush” water that came from wells that had been infiltrated by seawater, while the rest of NYC drank water from upstate. When New York City was brought to court about it, the judge took one sip of Flatbush water and said it was not fit for human consumption.

Why don’t you joi him and double production, Rat?

I recommend the documentary “Tapped.” It gives an interesting look into the world of bottled water.

Rat Water Inc. needs to rethink their marketing strategies , specifically, a consideration of a name change.

Only rat can turn water bottling into a sweatshop.

A business opportunity!!!

R/O water in Yuma AZ sells for Fifty-cents for five gallons, bring your own container. Other booths in town sell it for double that, I don’t know how they stay in business.

When I lived in FL, I would pour a glass of water from the tap and leave it overnight. In the morning there would be enough sediment to cover the bottom of the glass with fine orange sand.

And this is why as long as I can make a decent living I will continue to live in a Great Lakes city. You want water, c’mon back! Plenty of it!

Quick ca$h!

Rat Water, now with Chromium-6!

It has been pointed out, in Canada anyway, standards for municipal tap water are FAR stricter than for bottled water. Tests have found a lot of bacteria in bottled water — you should filter or boil the stuff before you drink it!

Has anyone else noticed that “Evian” spelled backward is “Naive”? Makes me wonder if Rat’s going to name his product “Resol-Piduts,” in honor of his customers.

Mmmm… Rat Water!

Don’t look at minerals and bacteria as disgusting, look at them as an opportunity to sell “flavored” water.

Wow and I thought my comment about the sink looking like its in the middle of the bathroom was going to be to serious a comment. You guys have got that beat. Way too much thought on this subject.

The only water I drink is ice in my bourbon or scotch. I figure there’s enough alcohol to kill anything in that water anyway.

I thought that the comments feature was meant to refer to the strip. Fewer than 10 did. What has happened to Pearls fans?

~Rat water? Doesn’t sound so refreshing to me.

I think Rat could use some help in the marketing department. Who on earth is going to buy Rat Water?

here kirtland afb leaked some jet fuel into our water to give it a kick

I would join Rat’s water company just for fun and free water haha

Is this a rerun from 2010?

You don’t have to buy Evian to be naive. If you’re buying bottled water out of anything other than necessity, it’s a waste of money. Arrowhead’s “mountain spring” water is bottled partly at its namesake source in the San Bernardino mountains. The rest of that flow keeps going downhill to numerous places, including my own tap.Ironically, that tastes better to me than the bottled version. And after passing through our 15 year-old kitchen filter, it’s far better than ANY bottled water I’ve ever tasted. My parents live in the next-door water district and their tap water tastes like it came from a swimming pool. So they paid $150 for their own filter, and instantly got the SECOND best water ever.All this at a cost of just over 2 cents per gallon and without the wasted plastic. I do still buy bottled water once in a while, but it’s usually to replenish my bottle supply, which I regularly refill at home :)

lol, ‘rat water’

Water in Memphis comes from the Memphis Aquifers, which are of such high quality that Mississippi and Arkansas are fighting us for access. Go figure (sigh).

Some companies also steal it from third world countries. Then the people who live in said countries have to pay to get it back.

at least “rat water” sounds better than “dog water”