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Bottled Water vs Tap Water

 The face off of the century!

 

Choosing between tap and bottled water is ultimately a personal decision. You may not want to base your decision only on the taste.

Bottled water is not necessarily cleaner or safer than most tap water in the United States. That is the conclusion of "Bottled Water: Pure Drink or Pure Hype"- the Natural Resources Defense Council's new study on contaminants in bottled water. While most bottled water is okay, says NDRC attorney Eric Olson, some brands may present threats to vulnerable subpopulations because they contain microbial contaminants. According to the report, bottled water consumption has tripled in ten years, with sales reaching $4 billion annually. Yet, bottled water is required to meet standards that are different than those for tap water.

Bottled water quality is regulated by the U. S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), while drinking water systems follow State and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations. Carbonated water is exempt from bottled water standards, says the report. Instead, it is regulated under general sanitation rules.

 

Tap Water

Regulated by EPA

Bottled Water

Regulated by FDA

Cannot have confirmed E. coli or fecal Coliform bacteria.

A certain amount of any bacteria is allowed.

Filtered and/or disinfected

No federal filtration or disinfection requirements.

Violation of drinking water standards are grounds for enforcement.

Bottled water in violation of standards can still be sold.

Utilities must have their water tested by certified labs.

Such testing is not required for bottlers.

Tap water results must be reported to state or federal officials.

There are no reporting requirements for bottlers.

Water system operators must be certified.

Bottled water plant operators do not have to be certified.

Water suppliers must issue consumer confidence reports annually.

There are no public right-to-know requirements for bottlers.

Costs pennies a day

Costs $.80 to $4.00 per gallon.

Contains essential nutrients for the body such as calcium and iron.

Natural minerals are removes by filtration.

Chlorine residual in water to prevent bacteria growth.

No disinfectant present to kill bacteria in bottles.

Now let's take a closer !

How Millions of People Unknowingly Buy Tap Water In A Bottle!

By John Hinds

Bottled Water is BIG business. The global consumption of bottled water reached 41 billion gallons in 2004. According to the International Bottled Water Association, The United States, which is the world’s leading consumer of bottled water, spent over $10 billion dollars in 2006. They project that US sales of bottled water will exceed $45 billion in 6 years.

One of the main reasons why bottled water sales have skyrocketed is that these corporations have convinced people, through their marketing campaigns, that bottled water is purer and cleaner than tap water. However, recent allegations against the Coca-Cola Company and its brand name of bottled water, Dasani, have publicly highlighted one of the biggest misconceptions about the quality of bottled water. 

Coca-Cola, advertising its brand as “pure, still water,” is now being investigated for misleading consumers about the true nature of the contents of its bottles. Rather than deriving its water from natural springs, Coca-Cola had been actually filling its Dasani bottles with purified tap water!

Unfortunately, the process of bottling tap water is not limited to the Coca-Cola Company. In 1999, the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) published the results of a four-year study in which researchers tested more than 1000 samples of 103 brands of bottled water. These researchers found that,

“An estimated 25 percent or more of bottle water is really just tap water in a bottle – sometimes further treated, sometimes not.”

In one case, one brand, advertised as “pure, glacier water,” was found to be taken from a municipal water supply while another brand, flaunted as “spring water,” was pumped from a water source next to a hazardous waste dumping site. While “purified tap water” is arguably safer and purer than untreated tap water (depending on the purification methods), a consumer should expect to receive something more than reconstituted tap water for the outrageous prices of bottled water.

To make matters worse, bottled water is defined as a “food” under U.S. federal regulations, and is under the authority of the Food and Drug Administration. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)- under much stricter standards-regulates tap. 

So, bottled water, depending upon the brand, may actually be less clean and safe than tap. The EPA mandates that local water treatment plants in the United States and in Puerto Rico provide city residents with a detailed account of tap water’s source and the results of any testing, including contaminant level violations. Bottled water companies are under no such directives.

In addition, loopholes in the FDA’s testing policy do not require the same standards for water that is bottled and sold in the same state, meaning that a significant number of bottles have undergone almost no regulation or testing.

Alarmingly, the 1999 NRDC study found that 18 of the 103 bottled water brands tested contained, in at least one sample, “more bacteria than allowed under microbiological-purity guidelines.

It’s no wonder that the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has said that,

Companies who promote bottled water as being safer than tap water are defrauding the American public.”

The good news is that there are three ways to get purified drinking and cooking water right from home.

They are:

  • Installing a distilled water system
  • Installing a reverse osmosis system
  • Installing a water filter system

Which is the best one? Without knowing your situation, I couldn’t answer that question. I recommend that you do your homework to find the solution that makes sense for you.

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