When water bottles were once scarce at New Jersey schools

Recently it became known that plastic bottled water contains a disturbing level of tiny fragments (read more about that here). And with so many people drinking from plastic bottles nowadays, it's certainly not something any of us want to hear.

In fact, water bottles have become very common even in schools. That means our kids are most likely drinking from plastic bottles that are part of these findings.

Of course, not all water bottles are plastic. In fact, some of them are made of steel which isn't affected by the plastic fragments.

That's great news for parents who do send their kids to school with their own water bottles. As long as they're not plastic, it's not a problem.

I know in our school district kids having their own water bottles is quite common. But did you know that wasn't always the case?

I remember going to elementary school in the 1990s and we were never allowed to have bottles of our own. In fact, we rarely had any water throughout the day.

The same is true for the New Jersey school my wife went to. And it remained that way for both of us all the way through high school.

And I wonder why that was. I mean, isn't it important to stay hydrated throughout the day?

Why back then wasn't having water a priority? I found it interesting that both our school districts operated the same way despite one of us growing up in Ocean County and the other in Monmouth County.

Aside from lunch, the only time we got water in elementary school was when the teacher lined us up to go to the water fountain. And in middle and high schools, we got our drinks in from the water fountain between class periods.

Times certainly have changed and for the better. I remember once I blacked out in high school due to dehydration... a very scary experience that's never left me.

So I'm really glad the schools now allow the students to have their own water bottles and to have drinks throughout the day. It's so important to stay hydrated, and I have no idea why it was so different back in the day.

The above post reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 Sunday morning host Mike Brant. Any opinions expressed are his own.