Why does tap water, controlled and safe to drink, keep losing ground to the bottle? Ridha Bergaoui takes stock of Tunisia’s reliance on bottled water, distinguishing natural mineral water from spring water: water remains the only drink truly indispensable to our bodies, especially when heat increases our losses.
Why do we rely so heavily on bottled water when tap water is controlled?
water remains the only drink truly indispensable to our bodies, especially when heat increases our losses
This is the point Ridha Bergaoui makes: Tunisians today are heavily dependent on bottled water. It's a habit so deeply ingrained that it deserves a closer look, since it seems to contradict what the public network offers, at least on paper.
Because that's precisely the paradox: tap water remains, in principle, available, drinkable and controlled. So where does this gap come from, between what the network guarantees and what consumers choose, day after day? That's the question Ridha Bergaoui raises, without offering a ready-made answer.
Is all bottled water the same?
According to Ridha Bergaoui, the composition, quality and specific characteristics of bottled water in Tunisia vary considerably from one brand to another. For him, water nonetheless remains "the only drink truly indispensable to our bodies".
Bergaoui first distinguishes natural mineral water, drawn from a protected underground source. It is naturally rich in minerals and has a stable composition. Spring water also comes from an underground source, but meets different criteria. Two categories, then, that shouldn't be confused before choosing a bottle.
Drinking water: a gain worth safeguarding?
We lose water every day, through urine, sweat, breathing and stools, and these losses increase markedly with heat. During a heatwave, having enough drinking water becomes a vital necessity, long before it's a matter of simple comfort.
Since independence, Tunisia has made considerable investments to extend access to drinking water and allow every citizen to have it at home. This has changed daily life in Tunisia.
Between the public network, patiently built since independence, and the reflex to reach for a bottle, what Ridha Bergaoui mainly reminds us is the need to stay mindful of what we drink: telling natural mineral water apart from spring water, looking beyond the label, and not forgetting that water remains, for our bodies, the one drink that is truly indispensable.
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