H₂Oh No

Another year slipped by like a Northern Pike headed down the danube. A lot of things happened. Too many to review.

Today I’ll write, again, about water.

Vienna’s water supply is world famously clean. It comes straight from the Alps and doesn’t need any treatment at all. No chlorine, no filtration. You can read more about it in this offical Vienna water flyer. Yes, I read municipal water reports. Don’t judge.

Sadly, our house isn’t linked to the local water system. Instead, we rely on a well. The reason remains a mystery - it’s just part of the “charm” of our rental. This well water is suitable for cooking and brushing teeth, but not for drinking. Too much calcium. So we get our water from a dispenser. A truck delivers five jugs per month.

Our water company is Aqua Alpina. Here’s a very skinny lady from their website. Guessing she skips lunch and dinner.

Anyhow - our water dispenser has no cooling unit. So we fill some bottles and refrigerate them. The cycle is simple: fill a bottle, use it, empty it, refill it. Or you’d think it’s simple. It’s really not.

First problem is my ADD. I am completely unable to ignore bottles that aren’t full. If there’s a half-empty bottle on the counter, no matter what else is happening, I drop everything to fill it. This drives everyone a little crazy.

Second problem is the kids. Way too lazy about refilling bottles. They’re crafty too - leaving each one at a level that is arguably not-yet-empty, and thus not-yet-necessary to refill. By Sunday the fridge contains five separate bottles with tiny gulps in each.

There’s also a Long Island bred wife wandering around, expressing, very directly, that these, and other problems, should be resolved ASAP.

Let’s turn to the upside then. The dispenser is 10 meters from the fridge. A 20-meter round trip. That’s 40 meters daily, 280 meters weekly, and about 14 km per year. So there’s a benefit of exercise in keeping these folks hydrated.