This book is dedicated to Mom
for her support and Dad for letting
me use his computer and printer.
—Haven Vinyard

There once was a drop of tap water
named Aguat. He was very unhappy
with his life.

Every day, he watched others. He
wanted to be like bottled waters
because they were invited to parties,
involved with sports, and more.
Let’s just say they seemed to be
going places. Day after day, year
after year, Aguat became
sadder and sadder.

Then one day a new kid came to school.
The new kid was stylish, confident, and
cool. Aguat wanted to be his friend. At
lunch, Aguat finally introduced himself.
“I’m Aguat. What’s your name?”

“I’m Gobi Tap Water,” the new kid answered.

“Don’t say that too loudly,”
Aguat whispered.

“You’re from the faucet just like me, right?”
Gobi asked. Aguat nodded and looked
ashamed. Gobi added, “I used to be sad
too until I really understood who I am.”

Aguat was interested but still said, “Bottled
waters must be more important than us
because the Food and Drug Administration
watches them.”

Aguat listened as Gobi told him that water
from the faucet is high quality.

The United States Environmental
Protection Agency and the State of
California Department of Public Health
both oversee tap water. They make water
providers like Eastern Municipal Water
District test to make sure bad things are
not in water. The water is tested for more
than 100 chemicals to make sure it is safe to
drink. Whatever
they find in the
water is listed
in a report that
everybody can
see on-line or
receive in the
mail just by
asking.

When the bell was about to ring for the
students to return to class the last thing
Gobi said was,

“Hey, tomorrow is Saturday. If you’re not
busy, I want to show you something.”
Aguat agreed.

The next morning, Gobi drove
Aguat to the nearest beach. It
was hot. Aguat wondered what
they were doing there. Just
then, Gobi pointed to the sand.
It was a horrible scene. There
were the popular water bottles
rolling around feeling miserable,
warm, and regular. Their labeis
were starting to curl, peel, and
look crusty. Their lids were
cracked. The group of them
looked trashy, like a bunch of
litter. Aguat covered his face
and begged, “Gobi, I can’t bear
this any longer. This is the
scariest thing I have ever seen.
Please, get me out of here.”

“Before we leave, you have to face it!
Look, look,” Gobi insisted. “It’s good that
we aren’t bottled waters.”

“Okay, okay. I’ll look, but just make it
stop,” Aguat whined as he peeked through
his fingers.

Gobi and Aguat zoomed away together, up
a mountain road. Soon they were so high
that they were surrounded by snow.

Once they were at the highest point, the
air felt refrigerated. Gobi and Aguat
sledded. They felt cool and awesome.
Gobi showed Aguat that when chilled, tap
water can taste, feel, and smell as good as
bottled waters on their best days. Gobi
and Aguat passed the chill test.

On Monday, Gobi and Aguat were still as
refreshing as ever. The bottled waters
looked tired, but they were still stuck-up
and expensive. Aguat asked Gobi, “Don’t
you ever get tired of the way the bottled
waters act at school?”

Gobi answered, “No, I don’t because you
and I are H_2O just like them. In some ways
I think we’re even better. We are reliable,
clean, healthy, available when we’re needed,
and very inexpensive. We’re a penny a
gallon to be exact. We’re up to 1000 times
less in cost than them. That’s not bad.
That’s a great value!”

“You’re clearly right,” said Aguat. “I don’t care how they are because we are special the way we are. I am proud of who I am.”