Water: Bottled or Tap

Published by julia | Filed under Miscellaneous, Shout Outs

In the ever popular battle against filling land fills with useless waste, bottled water seems to be losing. Bottled water contributes more than 50 million pieces of garbage per day to land fills, all of which will take no less than 1,000 years to biodegrade. The trouble with bottled water is not solely in the waste it creates, but in the process from which bottled water is created.

Bottled water is a unique product in that there are no real rules regarding where the water originates. That means any bottled water manufacturer can fill their polyethylene terephthalate bottles with pure, unchanged, tap water. That is right, tap water is the most common water used by bottled water companies. These companies add minerals to the water to improve the overall taste and then slap a price tag on the bottle that is equivalent to 500 times the cost of the same water you can run from your tap.

Tap water offers its own advantages over bottled water. Tap water provides tooth protecting fluoride in many cities and is tested on a daily basis versus bottled water which is only tested weekly. Tap water costs the consumer a mere 3 cents per bottle and saves the environment by reducing crude oil consumption by more than 1.5 million gallons.

The most common complaint about tap water is the taste. Bottled water contains minerals that improve the taste of the water. If taste is the problem, add one of the many flavored packets to your water before drinking. While these flavor options increase the overall cost of the water, flavored tap water remains less expensive than bottled water.

Choosing tap water over bottled water is simply the best choice for your body and your environment. Keep plastic out of the land fills, keep environmentally damaging gases out of the air and keep clean, healthy water in your home. Tap water is safer, healthier and more cost effective for every home.