Rebel on the Screen MIKE RETTER ON YOUTH ON THE MARCH
At the time of writing, ‘raw water’ can be priced as much as A$19 per gallon. Its proponents say that filtered water – the kind we get from taps – is stripped of essential nutrients and contaminated with pollutants like lead. They also speak of the sensual quality of the product: its texture, the way it moves on the palate, how the individual characteristics of each natural spring change the flavour of the water. They sniff the water before they drink it, probably.
In the US – where the movement originated, and where the use of lead in water systems has been banned by Congress – some areas nevertheless see water fed through old, crumbling lead pipes as a result of improper spending or, perhaps, an unwillingness to maintain basic infrastructure. It’s difficult to make sense of a world where one can develop poisoning from merely turning on the tap and drinking what comes out, and there’s a loneliness to the idea that the people who have the resources to help you would rather use them for profit.
Indeed, there’s a pervasive hopelessness polluting our society – and it is arguably, by and large, affecting the young more than anyone else.
