Because so much of Iowa is farmland, we're a state at risk for high levels of nitrates in our drinking water. A friend of mine who is a nurse was warning one of the ladies in our Bible study (who is pregnant) against drinking Winterset tap water because of its high level of nitrates.
"I drank bottled water nearly the whole time I was pregnant," she said. "I mean, if you run out every once in a while it's not a big deal, but in general you should drink bottled water."
One of the other ladies said that her family buys the gallon jugs of distilled water from Fareway, refilling them at the distilled water station inside the store.
All this talk of nitrates was making me feel somewhat iffy about drinking the tap water, and a few times I considered buying distilled water or bottled water for myself and Ian. After all, if it's so harmful for fetuses, what's to say it isn't somewhat harmful in the long run even for adults?
I hadn't gotten a chance to buy any bottled water yet, so when I was at Fareway on Friday, I asked my friend Jordan in the meat department to point me toward the already-filled jugs of water. He did, and as I stood in the aisle considering whether a gallon of Fareway-distilled water was worth 69 cents, a low voice reached my ear.
"I wouldn't buy that if I were you." I turned to see a short, middle-aged woman with long, crimped blonde hair, a serious face, and slightly askew blue eyes looking up at me. "Aquafina's the way to go."
"Oh, really," I responded, waiting to see if she were joking or not. I had never seen her before.
"No, for real," she said. She was already standing inside my personal bubble, and now she leaned even closer and placed a hand on my forearm. "My husband works at the water treatment plant, and based on what he says... I would never, ever buy that water. Seriously, Aquafina is the best." The warning tone of her voice and the intensity of her facial expression told me she was not joking.
"Oh, I see," I said. She continued to stare at me with at least one of her slightly-askew blue eyes. "That's good to know," I responded, because I wasn't sure what else to say. I started to step away, and she stepped back to her cart.
"No, seriously," she said as she started to push it away, her voice beginning to quaver slightly like someone telling a ghost story. "Don't buy that." Her pitch got louder. "Not if you care about your family!"
And then, like a guardian angel who had appeared just in time, she turned the corner of the drink aisle and was gone. I stood there in the aisle and laughed to myself.
I am not making this story up.
Only in Winterset.
