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Water issues

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One popular accessory that has suddenly become almost a necessity due to the cholera outbreak in our province is the personal insulated metal water bottle.

Pre-cholera, it was already a want for many, but now that we are in the midst of a water-borne disease outbreak, it has practically become a need because carrying your own water bottle is the safest way to protect yourself from getting cholera, which mostly comes from contaminated water sources.

Although if you come to think of it, even without the threat of cholera, the appeal of the water bottle fad, aside from being a status symbol for some, is that it is supposed to be good for the environment by reducing plastic waste, while at the same time giving its owner relatively safe and definitely ice-cold water to drink.

An insulated water bottle is good for the environment because those who use it no longer have to buy bottled water, which is arguably one of the biggest sources of plastic pollution. Of course this is only true if the user doesn’t buy plastic bottled water only to transfer the contents into the steel bottle and then irresponsibly discard the plastic bottle. But assuming that the contents of the reusable bottle didn’t come from plastic packaging, the popularity of these steel bottles should have a net positive effect when it comes to pollution and plastic waste.

Because reusable is always better when it comes to the environment, this is a fad I can get on board with. The less plastic bottled water we buy and discard, the less trash we generate. Even if the plastic water bottle is claimed to be recyclable and it is somehow disposed properly, lessening plastic use still means less energy used for recycling if ever.

One may argue that making a vacuum insulated container still uses precious steel and the manufacturing process produces emissions. However, if you come to think of it, a quality water bottle can last a lifetime, if taken care of properly, which directly translates to one person not buying and disposing plastic bottled water for an entire lifetime as well. The impact of one person with one water bottle on the environment can still add up.

Adding to the necessity of insulated water bottles is the threat of cholera, which is weird considering that this supposedly developing country is supposed to be beyond that already. I guess that the current outbreak reflects on how poorly we are taking care of our environment water resources, along with how unhygienic we still are as a people.

The growing number of cholera cases in the province, after years of zero cases, is certainly cause for worry. And although most of us now drink water that is either purified in water stations that may or may not have passed quality standards and testing, bringing your own water from sources you trust currently makes sense because of the looming threat of cholera. If reusable water bottles were not commonplace, this would mean most of us would turn to buying bottled water.

One thing water bottle users will have to look out for is the ice. While nothing beats that sip of ice-cold water that stays cool for more than a day inside your fancy insulated bottle, lurking cholera means making sure that the water and ice that goes in is safe. That means avoiding buying ice from questionable sources for now. Make your own ice.

Cholera is scary because we can get it from contaminated drinking water and even food prepared with contaminated water. As we wait for government and health officials to contain the current outbreak, we will need add another layer of precautions to our lifestyles for the meantime. Peace of mind (and stomach) will require checking if our suking water station regularly tests the product that we used to consume without giving it much thought.

As with our recent COVID experience, hand washing takes prominence once more, especially after using the toilet or doing any poop-related business where there are no toilets. I don’t know if any readers still poop out in the open, but that is a practice that needs to be stopped if we don’t want to give water-borne diseases like cholera that annoying ability to make comebacks every now and then.

Water is life. Dirty water is a difficult life. Those of us who have running water and flushing toilets at home and can afford vacuum insulated water bottles to protect our drinking water supply should consider ourselves fortunate. Those who are not so lucky can only hope and pray that government can stop the cholera outbreak and restore that sense of security that comes with having zero cholera cases for years.*

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