Bottled Water Vs. Tap Water: Is Bottled Water Worth the Added Expense?
It’s certainly understandable to drink bottled water after a natural disaster in your area. When my church, or any church or charitable organization requests items for victims of such a disaster as Hurricane Katrina, one of the first items listed is bottled water. In that case there is not much choice but to drink the bottled stuff. However, in ordinary circumstances in most parts of the U.S., is it necessary when tap water is so much more inexpensive?
In my city, Fort Smith, AR, the tap water is good enough that I can’t tell much, if any, difference in tap water and the bottled water that sells for $1 or more a pop out of a machine. We never buy bottled water in the grocery store, but I have checked the prices at Wal-Mart and other stores. The price for a package containing a dozen plastic bottles of water is $4.98 for the name brands. At the same store, consumers can buy 2 gallons from a Culligan’s machine for 67 cents after purchasing the container for less than $9 initially. At the rate my 12 year old son drinks water, I cannot see paying the extra dollars for the bottled product. He has been known to drink a few sips only to pour it down the drain after it becomes warm and getting another. When money is tight, that is hard to swallow,
There are also environmental concerns about millions of plastic water bottles taking up space in landfills. So many consumers will not take the time and trouble to take the empties to a recycling center. According to the National Resource Defense Council, only an estimated 13% of plastic products get recycled. In 2005, landfills contained 2 million tons of plastic bottles. Here in Fort Smith there is a center on 2nd Street, near downtown, where consumers can take newspapers, cardboard and plastic products for recycling. It doesn’t pay very well, my recent haul of newspapers and plastic netted a little more than $4, but I had been taking them and getting nothing. I just wait until I have enough to fill the trunk and backseat of my car so I can make one trip, what with the price of gas these days.
But back to the original debate. In this independent study, the conclusion was that one cannot assume that bottled water is any safer than tap water.Tap water is regulated much more and checked more frequently than bottled water.The NRDC study found that 22% of bottled water tested contained chemical contaminates above strict state health limits. The plastic can contain phthlates known to disrupt testosterone and other hormones due to the plastic “leaching” into water bottles over time. The study found that water stored as little as 10 weeks in plastic or glass bottles contained phthlates.
There are regulatory standards limiting phthlates in tap water, none for bottled water. the bottled water industry waged a successful campaign opposing an FDA proposal to set a legal limit in bottled water. While the study concluded that most bottled water is safe, some products have been found to be basically tap water. At best, bottled water is not significantly better than most tap water, so is it worth the added cost? Not to me.
In cities with fluoridation, tap water is actually better than bottled water for children, according to studies. Then there is the fact that bottled water removes many minerals in the filtration process. In conclusion, if the tap water is “skunky” in your area, you can purchase a filter certified by NSF International (800-NSF-MARK). You may find out which contaminants the filter removes. You may also just purchase a container by Culligan or others for $8-9 available in most grocery stores. The 2 gallon container can be filled for that price and refilled for only 67 cents thereafter. I’ll drink to that and save a lot of money by not buying bottled water. There are several reasons for doing so. If you’re hooked on bottled water, I hope you’ll reconsider the advantages of good old tap water.
It amazes me that people who will rail about aspertame being “poison” and how big business is poisoning millions of customers will thoughtlessly drink from a plastic water bottle having no idea what contaminates may be in the high priced water. Not to mention the fact that a lot of bottled water products are owned by Coke or Pepsi. My point is not that bottled water is “poison” or unsafe but to ask if it is worth the hundreds of extra dollars spent on it if one buys it regularly over a years’ time. One can purchase a container for a few dollars to carry water while on the go and with tap water there is no plastic container to clog up landfills or recycle.
In New York City alone an estimated 3,800 tons of global warming pollution was released into the atmosphere due to the plastic water bottles. With plastic being a petroleum product, by reducing the number of water bottles, we would have the added benefit of reducing oil consumption. An estimated 1.5 million barrels of oil a year are used to make plastic water bottles in the U.S. That’s enough to fuel 100,000 cars for a year.
If we can’t do that, we at least need to recycle the plastic as much as possible. I’m not trying to tell anyone what to do, just please consider the consequences. Thank you for reading.
