Archive for November, 2009
Lamenting a Lack of Pure Water
“Water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink.” You might recognize that oft-quoted passage from Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.” Taken in context, the mariner is lamenting the fact that he is sailing on the open ocean with only salt water all around him. Still, there have been times when I’ve uttered the phrase at home without making any intentional reference to literature.
Those were the dark days before I purchased a water purification system. I can still remember the ungodly contaminants floating in my glass of drinking water. In time, the sulfurous stench and displeasing taste got the better of me. I had to make a change. That’s when I went online and started looking for ways to treat and purify my drinking water. These days I wouldn’t even think about using Coleridge’s famous line.
Fresh Produce Requires Pure Water
Several years ago, my family decided to take a stand against the large corporate grocery chains that are swallowing so many mom and pop shops whole. We started our own small, independent store with an emphasis on locally grown produce and farm-fed meats. We ran into a problem almost immediately, however, when the fresh lettuce, spinach and other leafy vegetables showed signs of wilting.
As it turned out, we had been sprinkling and misting the vegetation with substandard water. Of course fresh produce is only as good as the water and fertilizer used to help it grow, and the same is true for preserving it when it hits a retail store. We budgeted for a commercial water filtration system and started seeing results almost immediately after making the switch.