Tap Water Vs. Bottled Water

The debate on bottled water vs. tap water has been going on for many years now. Over the last thirty years, people have steadily been switching over to bottled water due to fears of their tap water being unsafe, or unhealthy to drink. Some of the major issues with tap water are the chemicals added to water at the plants and the common occurrence of public water supplies becoming contaminated. However, I have noticed over the last ten years people are not happy with the large ecological footprint of the bottled water industry. This is making many of those people want to switch back to tap water. Unfortunately, people do not feel comfortable drinking their tap water so they stick to bottled water for the time being.

One of the main reasons

people have a hard time switching over to tap water is, the convenience of bottled water. People like being able to bring bottled water with them throughout the day and discarding the bottles when they are empty. Most people do not want to carry a reusable container around once it is empty, or take them home and wash it every day. If people do not mind using a reusable container they still have to worry about having a good place to fill it up when they run out of water. Many people also rely on the convenience of bottled water when it comes to storage. Bottled water plays a major role in storm and survival preparation all over the world.

Another reason why people are sticking to bottled water is the inconsistency of municipal water supplies.

Bolted water, which is regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), has a much safer track record than tap water, which is regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). When tested to the FDA and EPA standards, gallon per gallon bottled water is subjected to more coliform testing than tap water. "In 2006, EPA researchers reported an estimated 16.4 million cases of acute gastrointestinal illness (AGI) per year are caused by tap water" (Edberg 7). In contrast, as of 2012 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had only five cases of AGI linked to bottled water for the past ten years. Municipal water supplies are just more susceptible to contaminants. Just a simple crack or leak in a water main can allow microbial and chemical contaminants to enter the drinking water supplied to thousands of people. Until the public water systems can be updated and have fewer incidents, people are going to continue to drink bottled

water.

Many of the people choose not to drink tap water because of the chemicals in it.

Some of the chemicals, such as chlorine and fluoride are actually added at the water plant. Chlorine is added to kill bacteria, viruses, and other living organisms in the water, but it is also linked to bladder, rectal, and breast cancer (West). Chlorine also produces dangerous by-products during the disinfection process such as, bromate and haloacetic acids, which are both cancer-causing agents according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) (Alton). The other aforementioned chemical fluoride, is added to municipal water supplies to promote healthy teeth. Fluoride being added to our water has been a controversial subject since it began back in 1945. The results of many scientific studies, show high levels of fluoride to have a neurotoxic effect on brains (Connet). Researchers from Harvard School of Public Health and China Medical University in Shenyang combined 27 studies and found strong indications that fluoride may adversely affect cognitive development in children

(Dwyer).

People will argue even bottled water has toxic chemicals in it. This can be true depending on the water source. When buying bottled water, it is best to choose one from a natural source. You should also look for ones that use a good filtration process to remove harmful chemicals. Many harmful chemicals occur naturally in the ground, such as fluoride, arsenic, and selenium which makes the filtration process important. You should also look for ones that use ultraviolet light instead of chlorine to disinfect. If you do not see the above processes mentioned on the product label, most will have a phone number and or website address so you can contact them for their product information.

In a day and age where everyone is walking around with a computer in their pocket, or in their hand and not paying attention to where they are going. You would think people would not have to worry about something as simple as clean water. Unfortunately the fast paced, technologically advanced world we live in, isn't as green as it once was. As the population grows and technology advances, it seems our aquifers just become more polluted. Hopefully in the near future, we can use some of that technology to come up with ways to bring safer tap water to the public. In the meantime, I'll sit back with a cold bottle of Poland Spring water and patiently wait.