Water: Tap vs. Bottled

Snow-capped mountains. Open blue sky. Lush green valleys. A crystal-clear spring. This is what most Americans envision to be the source of the bottled water they consume regularly. However, this is just an illusion created by the major bottled water corporations such as Nestlé, Coca-Cola, and Pepsi Co. In reality, more than 50% of the bottled water on the market today comes from a municipal water supply. That means that over one-half of all bottled water comes from the same source as the tap water available to us in our homes. Yet, our country is still willing to buy into the $425 billion bottled water industry that is nothing but harmful to us the consumers and detrimental to our environment.

The major appeal bottled water has in the eyes of the consumer is that it is deemed as more sanitary. But by whom? Certainly not by any government agency, that is for sure. And that is because bottled water and municipal tap water are regulated by two different agencies: The EPA and the FDA. The EPA is in charge of regulating tap water, while the FDA is responsible for bottled water. What is truly remarkable, however, is the fact that tap water regulations are much more rigorous than those for bottled water. Unlike the EPA, which checks the ph levels and toxicity of the municipal water supply regularly, the FDA considers bottled water to be a low-risk product. Therefore, many plants are left unchecked each year. And furthermore, the FDA has stated that it is the manufacturer’s responsibility to make sure that their product complies with all necessary laws and regulations, not the agency’s. On top of all this, the FDA is not even required to regulate bottled water that is packaged and sold in the same state. This in effect leaves nearly 60-70% of all bottled water left unchecked.

This lack of regulation might be the root cause of several problems with the safety of bottled water. An example is a 1999 study conducted by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), which tested more than 103 brands of water. The results were shocking. The council found that one-third of the brands had bottles that contained bacterial or chemical contaminants. The amount found in these bottles exceeded the state or industry standards for water safety. So, is tap water less sanitary than bottled water? Maybe. Maybe not. There is no doubt that it is more regulated than bottled water, though.

There is also no doubt that tap water is much more economical than its bottle counterpart. In fact, according to Michael Woods, a manager at the Missouri American Water, the cost of drinking eight glasses worth of bottled water each day for a year is much more expensive than the cost of drinking the same amount in tap water. The amounts are vastly different. It would cost more than $1,000 dollars each year to be able to drink that amount of bottled water, while it would only cost 49 cents to drink the tap water equivalent. What is interesting, though, is how we as Americans complain about the cost of gasoline, even though a gallon of gasoline costs less than the cost of a gallon of regular bottled water. And what we’re paying for is exactly the same as what we could be getting for practically free from our own faucets.

But it’s not just us that the bottled water industry is hurting. It’s also taking its toll on our environment. The World Wildlife Fund International is especially concerned about the industry because each year 1.5 million tons of plastic is used to package the water. And this seems extremely devastating when you discover that it takes a thousand years for one bottle to biodegrade. That’s leaving a major negative impact on our environment. Additionally, the energy required to make these bottles yearly is equivalent to 17 million barrels of oil. That amount of oil could fuel one million cars for an entire year. So, while we are being affected by the industry, our environment is being impacted the most.

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2.) Baumgartner, Mark. "Study: Bottled Water No Safer Than Tap Water." ABC News. ABC. <http://abcnews.go.com/Business/study-bottled-water-safer-tap-water/story?id=87558>.

3.) Hall, Jennifer. "Buyer beware: Bottled water not necessarily safer." St. Joseph News-Press 14 May 2010.

4.) Gucciardi, Anthony. "Most bottled waters are glorified tap water - Learn to hydrate the healthy way." NaturalNews.com. 29 May 2011. Natural News. <http://www.naturalnews.com/032551_bottled_water_faucet.html>.

5.) Tapped. Dir. Stephanie Soechtig and Jason Lindsey. Prod. Michael Walrath, Michelle Walrath, Sarah Gibson, Jessie Deeter, and Ellen Mai. DVD. Atlas Films, 2009.

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