H2o

Strolling the aisles of the supermarket, the hip and health-conscious know better than to stop at the endless array of sparkling and spring waters. These bottles offer only hydration. The aqua-chic want something more. Their water must be enhanced. With herbs, chemicals, even supposed twists on the inherent structure of water, alluring new brands promise a host of health benefits that regular water doesn't provide.

"Sierra Waters Show Little Pollution" [Jan. 11] depressed me because after rejoicing at the news, the story goes on to say that "hikers and campers should filter or purify the water they drink." I was so looking forward to dipping into the freezing real H2O and going "Ahhh!" Hank Rosenfeld Santa Monica

Water, the shortage thereof, is the most contentious strand of California history. Vicious bureaucratic battles about it have gone on for decades. But this week leaders of three big Southern California water agencies finally acknowledged that all would be losers if they failed to end their struggle over how much water each is entitled to use from the Colorado River. In the end, each agreed to sacrifice something and they came to a tentative deal.

The fortunes of the Crescenta Valley and Hart high swim teams took nearly as many turns as the swimmers did completing their laps. Just when it appeared the Indians would lose, they rebounded to upset Crescenta Valley in the boys' and the girls' meets of a nonleague showdown between two of the top teams in the region Tuesday at Crescenta Valley.

Re "Spurned Nobelists Appeal Science Standards Rejection," Nov. 17: Scientists, mathematicians, engineers, even parents are helpless to stop education experts from ruining education. From "whole language" learning to "new new math" to "integrated math" to "integrated science," our children are being dumbed down. Now, when prominent scientists with vast experience in education, including three Nobel prize winners, offer to write California's science standards for free, the Commission for the Establishment of Academic Content and Performance Standards' educrats instead want to pay $178,000 to the same education professors and experts who wrote the vacuous science standards quoted in The Times.

Manhattan Beach is typically known for its barely covered sunbathers and hard-to-find parking, not its night life. But scenesters seeking something scintillating need look no further than the bustling spot called H20. With its pulsating sounds, gyrating bodies, loud music, live bands and long lines, this 4-year-old club is Manhattan Beach's answer to Hollywood.

Last month, in the New Yorker, the writer Michael Korda took up the cause of the late Charles Bludhorn, a corporate chieftain heretofore regarded as one of the original barbarians at the gate. Bludhorn, for those with short memories, ruled the Gulf & Western Co. during the time it acquired Paramount Studios, Simon & Schuster publishing company, and a host of others. Gulf & Western, in fact, was wholly a creation of Bludhorn and his talent for sweet deals.

With San Diego County 90% dependent on water inported from Northern California and the Colorado River, it was only a matter of time and technology before officials there got adventurous in their quest for new suplies. Before long, some San Diego residents may get their drinking water from, well, themselves. If the County Water Authority and the City of San Diego have their way; residents will soon be sipping reclaimed sewage water.