Something's missing here. Oh, right ... tea leaves.

This is a fact that has always dazzled us at our tiny tea company in the mountains of Colorado: In terms of the most popular beverages in the world, first comes water, then comes tea. And what is tea made with? Water. What is 71 percent of the world's surface is covered with? Water. And what makes up more than 60 percent of your body? Water!

We are surrounded by water here at Two Leaves and a Bud, almost literally: Our office in Basalt, Colo., is alongside the Roaring Fork River, and located on Two Rivers Road, so named because the town of Basalt is where the Frying Pan River converges with the Roaring Fork. (The Roaring Fork, in turn, travels 30 more miles down valley until it converges with the Colorado River, which as you may know, ends up flowing through the Grand Canyon.) We love the taste of our local water here, and we've felt that way for years. That's why we have reverence for the fact that August is National Water Quality Month — a time when we should all be thinking about what we can do to keep waterways and ground water in our communities clean.

Some quick tips:

• Don't use antibacterial soaps or cleaning products.
• Clean your driveway with a broom and not a hose.
• Do not flush outdated or unwanted medications down the toilet or drain.
• Install a rain barrel to collect rainwater. Collected water can be used to water a lawn or wash a car.
• Test soil before applying pesticides or fertilizer.
• Take used oil or antifreeze to a service station or recycling center.
• Walk pets in grassy areas instead of by waterways and always pick up after them.
• Adopt a watershed, organize stream cleanups, plant trees, and monitor water quality.

Your household may not produce enough pollution to force a beach closing or cause a fish kill, but the combined impact of all the homes in one community can be quite severe. So let's keep it clean out there, shall we? What will result from our efforts is many more years of delicious water, with which we know you'll brew some really great tea. Cheers, H2O lovers!

That's more like it. Clean water = delicious tea.