GREENVILLE – Some environmental groups used National Drinking Water Week, May 4-10, to encourage consumption from taps instead of plastic bottles.
Bottled water leaves a trail of pollution, some argue, caused by shipping, improper disposal and the petroleum-based process of making plastic bottles. It's been said that bottled water is falling from favor and is on its way out.
As I prepared this week for a deep-sea fishing trip with some friends - the first in 20 years - I thought of this debate over bottled water, and I came down on the side of keeping it around.
Had bottled water been available in Mexico 20 years ago, for instance, I might not have waited so long to go deep-sea fishing again.
1988 was not my best year for making decisions. I put off the math requirement for my college major until the last semester; after working my way through school I took a pay cut for a position in my chosen profession; and I drank the water in Mexico a few hours before a fishing trip.
Vacationing in Cancun with three of my closest pals, we ate in a restaurant a few hours before boarding a charter boat for trolling the open waters between Cancun and the Cayman Islands.
We knew better than to drink water in Mexico, but a New Yorker owned the restaurant and greeted us at our table with a cold pitcher of clear, refreshing liquid.
Since other restaurants had not served us water, we assumed the friendly American had a private stock. Surely, we reasoned, he would not poison his own countrymen.
It's surprising how much water a person will consume after a few days on juices, sodas and beer.
By midnight, all four of us had become violently ill. In hindsight, the $60 each we'd paid for fishing would have been a reasonable price for remaining close to a bathroom and far away from boats instead of the other way around.
But it was 1988, and smart decisions were in short supply.
Paul and Kevin were still quite nauseated at 6 a.m., when we stepped onto the vessel. The constant up-and-down motion of cruising out to sea prompted Kevin to proclaim, "I'm not a bit comfortable on this boat."
Within our circle of friends, that statement has since become a favored alternative for, "I'm very close to losing all face color and stomach content."
Never before or since have I seen a person so completely and instantly cured of severe sunburn.
Ashley and I were the only two fishermen well enough to reel.
The two Mexican guides provided a cooler filled with beer and colas, but no water. Our pleadings with them to return to shore were met with "no hablo ingles" looks of confusion.
Later, as we stumbled off the boat and made our way down the dock, one of the guides found enough English in his vocabulary to yell, "What, no tip?"
Of all the world's water, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, 97 percent is ocean or seas, 2 percent is frozen and less than 1 percent is suitable for drinking.
While we're bobbing up and down in the 97 percent this weekend off the North Carolina coast at Oak Island, I'm glad to know we'll have some of the 1 percent in plastic bottles.
