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Addicted to the bottle By Barr Hayoun Tags: water Families can spend as much as thousands of or tens of thousands of shekels a year on fancy water. Does their outlay pay? One unbiased expert says, unequivocally, no. "The quality of tap water in Israel is among the best in the world, in terms of the Health Ministry's standards," says Prof. Avner Adin of the Faculty of Agriculture at Hebrew University. "My family and I drink tap water without a second thought." Adin headed the government-appointed Drinking Water Standards Revision Commission, which submitted its recommendations about a year ago. Advertisement "With the implementation of the Adin Commission's recommendations, I believe that Israel will even be in first place [for tap-water quality]," says Adin. "Today, drinking tap water is not only safe, it is also healthier." Today very few irregularities are found in the test samples taken from drinking water sources and pipelines. The Health Ministry's report for 2006 shows that irregularities were found in just 0.4% of the 86,000 water samples tested in Israel that year. Dr. Shalom Goldberger, the chief engineer for environmental health at the Health Ministry, explains that when chemical contaminants are found in water sources, the flow of water to homes is halted before concentrations reach dangerous levels. It is worth noting that the condition of the pipes in the building is key to water quality in the home. The responsibility for this infrastructure lies with the homeowners, not with the local authorities. If a building's pipes are old and rusty, tenants must replace it at their own expense. Actually, Israelis are no exception in today's developed world. "Most people in the developed world drink more mineral water than tap water," says Goldberger, who adds that mineral water has become a status symbol. Dr. Aharon Dotan, the water expert at the Israel Union for Environmental Defense, concurs with the assessment that the expense is pointless. "It is absurd that each year fewer and fewer people drink tap water, even though the water quality is improving. The countries where the most mineral water is drunk, rather than tap water, are Italy and Mexico, where the tap water is not only high quality, it also tastes good." A common complaint against drinking regular water is that the chlorine added to it is unhealthy. But the concentration is too low to be harmful, Adin explains. The fluoride that is added to drinking water has also sparked a debate: Some people suspect fluoride has negative long-term effects. Even so, the Neviot water company, for example, takes pride in the presence of fluoride in its spring water and notes that many water bottling companies worldwide add fluoride to their water, to help combat dental caries. No sense of proportion Even if the conclusions concerning these two substances are not convincing, the main problem, says Dotan, is that we lost our sense of perspective long ago. "People don't want to take a chance on the water they drink, even though the risks of exposure to air pollution and fast food are much greater than the risks in drinking Israeli tap water." Mariana Auerbach, a senior dietician at Clalit Health Services, begs to drive home the point that certain additives to drinking water are essential, and that filtered water or the ground water pumped directly into bottles is not necessarily healthier. Some of the mineral waters marketed today are low in iodide, which is present in drinking water and helps thyroid function, she points out. Some filters, such as Brita, filter out the calcium that is essential to our health. "Calcium is good for our health in small quantities," responds Varda Shoham, CEO of Sodapop, which imports Brita products. "Brita filters leave sufficient quantities of calcium in the water for the human body's needs." Not all mineral water consumers drink it for their health, however. Some people drink mineral water as an alternative to tap water only because they don't like the taste of tap water. Sometimes varying concentrations of the chlorine added to tap water does produce a bad taste, but sometimes people are simple accustomed to the taste of bottled water. The water market offers a range of solutions for avoiding the chlorine taste of tap water. According to business information company Dun & Bradstreet, the Israeli mineral water market turns over NIS 900 million a year. Figures compiled by the Nielsen market research company show that this market grew by about 42% from 2006 until May 2008. Mineral water for the masses In 2007 Israelis drank an average of 96 liters of mineral water per capita, triple the figure for 10 years ago, according to Eden Springs (Mei Eden). Nielsen's research also showed that 84% of Israeli (Jewish) households purchased mineral water at least once in the past year. Still, Israelis have not reached the consumption levels in Western Europe. In France, for example, the average annual per capita mineral water consumption is 140 liters, while in Italy this figure is 180 liters. In Israel, mineral water consumption is no longer a function of place. Even though the tap water in Israel's northern regions is considered higher quality than in Tel Aviv, Nielsen's data show equal mineral water consumption throughout the country. Demographics also have little effect. Secular and religious Israelis drink roughly the same quantities of mineral water, although the ultra-Orthodox drink slightly less. Contrary to logic, there is also no correlation between income level and mineral water consumption. Natural mineral water is pumped from subterranean springs protected from pollutants. The water is untreated, has no additives and is bottled by an automated system. Israel still has no standards for mineral water, and it must only meet the Health Ministry's public health standards. These standards do not define the types of minerals or the concentrations required before water can be labeled "mineral water." Thus even if consuming the mineral water from a particular spring can lead to deficiency in an essential mineral, the mineral water companies can still market it as "natural mineral water." Adin even claims that the health standard for mineral water lags behind the Health Ministry's standards for tap water quality. "Tap water quality standards are clearly more advanced," says Adin. "A bureaucratic process is all that is required for the mineral water standards to catch up." Filtering out essential substances Moving onto water filtration systems for the home - they're usually cheaper than buying mineral water. Such systems usually include a microfilter that catches suspended particles, a charcoal filter that adsorbs chlorine, flavors and aromas and a filter that reduces the calcium and magnesium concentration, explains Dr. Zvi Keren, head of the chemistry lab at the Israel Standards Institute. Some filters, such as Tami4, also bathe the water in ultraviolet light, which is supposed to kill bacteria. Note however that the various filters do different things to the water. Tami4 systems, for example, do not remove calcium, which Brita systems do. Contrary to conventional wisdom, "hard water" containing calcium and magnesium is healthier, Dotan explains. There is even a statistical link between the hardness of drinking water and the prevention of cardiovascular diseases. Filters must also be changed regularly so that the active charcoal they contain does not become a breeding ground for bacteria. There are also reverse osmosis filters. These are very expensive and not commonly used filters that remove substances that are essential to human health. Reverse osmosis filters are also very wasteful, sending 70% of the water that goes through them into the sewer system. Keren says that over-filtration also negatively affects the taste of the water. Blue bottles and green men The mineral water industry is currently the subject of fierce social and ecological debate too. About a month ago the Association for Distributive Justice petitioned the High Court of Justice against the infrastructure minister and the three big mineral water companies - Mei Eden, Neviot and Ein Gedi - demanding an injunction against the marketing and sale of mineral water, on the grounds that it's illegal. The association contends that the Water Law does not allow the transfer of water from the state to a private body for it to sell commercially, generating a private profit from a public resource. Environmental protection organizations, for their part, are raising public awareness of the environmental damage caused by the mineral water industry. One of their main arguments against this industry targets the waste caused by the bottles. The green organizations also contend that the fleets of trucks required to transport all the bottled water to stores and homes further contributes to environmental pollution. Water fear-mongering According to the Web sites of a few of the companies that provide alternatives to tap water, buying water is not only necessary - it is imperative. "Unlike tap water," declares the Mei Eden site, "Mei Eden has a very low concentration of salts," and then expands on how essential it is to our health to reduce the sodium content of water. "We don't know the composition of tap water, which could affect our health," states the Web site of Aqua-Nova, which produces distilled water. "Too many dissolved substances in the water, including salts, can cause high blood pressure and kidney and liver problems." The site even provides a link to an article by the Israel Union for Environmental Defense, decrying the quality of tap water due to pollutants in the water sources. A trace of the origin of the article revealed that it was written over seven years ago and that the problems with the water sources had since been solved. The union's position today is actually that it is healthy to drink Israel's tap water. In the meantime, it seems that every year more consumers prefer to believe the commercial companies, rather than heed the Health Ministry, and the situation of their wallets. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Farewell ambassador Even the Arab envoys came to say goodbyeto Israel's UN ambassador Dan Gillerman. A tale of two mothers Israeli documentary 'To Die in Jerusalem' earns three Emmy nominations.

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