| I recently attended a wonderful birthday dinner | | | | being treated to water that had been stripped of |
| for a friend of mine at a local destination resort at | | | | the majority of its natural mineral content. |
| Pelican Hill golf resort in California. We enjoyed | | | | Although the water tasted flat, it was definitely |
| appetizers on the patio and a beautiful sunset, and | | | | clean and highly purified. As a proponent of |
| then were ushered in to an elegant dining room | | | | treating water at the largest possible point of |
| for a four-course gourmet meal with wines to | | | | entry that makes sense (whole-house filtration |
| match. | | | | versus under sink filtration, as an example), I was |
| When the server came to my table with chilled | | | | quite impressed with the concept and the forward |
| water in a stylish, open-neck glass bottle, I did | | | | thinking of resort management. One has to |
| what any water quality expert would do - I asked | | | | wonder if the resort charges people for the |
| to see the bottle so I could peruse the contents | | | | water (I was a grateful guest, so I did not see |
| and learn what types of treatment were used in | | | | the bill), and whether they could further please |
| processing the water. | | | | guests by adding back a small amount of minerals |
| To my amazement, the server informed me | | | | to flavor the water like Coca-Cola does in their |
| (quite proudly) that the resort bottles its own | | | | Dasani brand ( |
| water and maintains a bottling "plant" on site. | | | | Just as this high-end destination resort took |
| This seems to be the latest in the trend to take | | | | control of their water issues, we must do so in |
| control over costs, reduce reliance on plastic | | | | our own homes. So next time you come to my |
| (PET) bottles that clog our landfills, and add a | | | | house and I pour you chilled, bottled-quality water |
| touch of self-sufficiency to a high-end dining | | | | from a pretty open-neck glass bottle, be sure to |
| facility. Everyone at our table was quite impressed | | | | ask me how you can achieve the same results in |
| with the concept; however, the water was highly | | | | your house. It is easy to do at a relatively low |
| purified and lacked in pleasing taste. My guess is | | | | cost, and you will help to reduce the endless |
| that reverse osmosis and filtration technologies | | | | number of plastic bottles we plant in our earth. |
| were part of the bottling plant, and that we were | | | | |