Probably the biggest threat to Florida Springs is the water miner, Perrier/Nestle, Dannon (Danone) and a host of other water pirates.   One of the best dive training areas was Crystal Springs in Zephyrhills, Florida. Great for O/W pool sessions this 12' deep spring had fish and other fresh water creatures to play with while working on diving skills. The place was beautiful and was a cooling off spot for residents on hot summer days.

Dannon (Danone owns Dannon & Coke owns Dasani see: See Coke and Dannon Deal ) is pumping water out of beautiful Ginnie Springs, a cave and cavern divers dream come true.... what bugs me is the the owners of Ginnie Springs sell the stuff themselves at the dive shop and that the divers buy it!  

Harvey Goodman, the property Nazi at Three Sisters Springs (Crystal River) wanted to start pumping out water from Three Sisters by boring wells into the aquifer that supplies water to Three Sisters (another great O/W training area). The chief concern, which is loudly echoed by environmentalists, is that a bottling operation here would intercept water from the warm springs that are vital for manatees during the winter.  

Our aquifer is supplied by rains and snow melt off from the Carolina mountains. Water runs underground to Florida where it pops out in Springs in areas with higher elevation. Sinking mines along the way depletes the water flow for everyone south of the mines, causing sinkholes and dry wells and other damage.

Well DARN IT! I have had enough!

Bottled water is highly unregulated. The National Resources Defense Council's study included testing of more than 1,000 bottles of 103 brands of bottled water. While most of the tested waters were found to be of high quality, some brands were contaminated: about one-third of the waters tested contained levels of contamination -- including synthetic organic chemicals, bacteria, and arsenic -- in at least one sample that exceeded allowable limits under either state or bottled water industry standards or guidelines. See NRDC test summary on bottled water. It is destructive to the environment. It is not as clean or as requlated as tap water. It costs more than gasoline, (Evian water 9 oz for $1.49 converts to $21.19 per gallon. $21.19 PER GALLON FOR WATER!) Coca Cola and a host of other beverages sold in similar sizes. The gigantic waste of unrecyclable plastic bottles is another issue that you should consider before you buy water. Every year enough plastic water bottles are disgarded to circle end to end around the globe SIX (6) times!

The first bottled water I seem to remember was Perrier. Yuppies would order it at my favorite watering holes like this, "Perrier on Ice with a twist"! Seems to me adding tap-water ice kind of defeated the purpose of buying bottled water!

Perrier was later found to have Benzene (dry cleaning fluid) in their product and there was huge recall. 

Next came Evian (Danone). Evian spells naive, backwards. Sure, makes sense, one would have to be naive to buy bottled water. 

Once during a hurricane scare I saw a women on her knees at a local grocery store digging through the gallons of water, looking at the containers and repeating this, over and over. Mystified, I asked her what see was doing. She replied, "I am looking for the older expiration dates!" 

No lie, water has an expiration date? What happens to water when it expires? Does it turn into Tap Water? Do you have to drink from a hose to get the taste out of your mouth?

How did this new generation get so thirsty? When I was growing up a NEHI Grape Soda and a bag of peanuts would last you all day!

Enough with the ranting!

Boycott bottled water! Clean your own tap water by aeration and filter it through your coffee machine, boil it or send it through RO (reverse osmosis), or use filters. Check out the filters at E-hydrated.com and Steam and Sauna Connection.

Boycott Perrier and Danone (Perrier is Swiss owned and Danone is French owned). I have a serious problem with allowing foreign corporations to buy up our natural resources. You should too!

Right now many of the counties in Florida have water shortages. Instead of sharing the water with our fellow Floridians, we allow it to be shipped out of the state at $21.00 a gallon! In the year 2025 Florida will be the largest populated state in the USA. Shortages of water will continue to grow and bottled water will be more than $50.00 a gallon.

Please boycott bottled water.  Otherwise you may not have a spring to dive in. Copy my logo at the bottom and add it to your web site.

In closing a parting silly thought, I am glad they did not bottle water in the 50's and 60's. We would have twice the problem we have now. Surely the water pirates would have two product lines, one for "whites only" and another for "coloreds only"! ( copyright 1991)

Bottled Water in the