Which is Healthier: Tap Water or Bottled Water?

Which is Healthier: Tap Water or Bottled Water?
Tap water wins again and again and again and again.
By Josh Peterson
Los Angeles, CA, USA | Tue Apr 28 08:30:00 EDT 2009

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Bottled Water | Health | Pollution | Water

We all know that bottled water has a larger carbon footprint than tap water. Those bottled water people have to harvest water, construct a plastic bottle for it, ship it the water to the bottles or the bottles to the water. Then they have to transfer the products to stores, refrigerate a percentage of the bottles and then consumers have to drive to store and get the bottled water. It's a mess, a mess I tell you.

Is Bottled Water Less Polluted?

No.

According to a study by the Environmental Working Group, bottled water is just as polluted as a tap water. In fact, twenty percent of bottled water has more chlorine than California's state regulations will allow in tap water.

We should stop polluting our water. That's what we should really learn from this.

Is Bottled Water Subjected to Higher Health Standards than Bottled Water?

Nope.

The FDA sets standards for bottled water, while the EPA sets standards for tap water. Tap water is tested for contaminants hundreds of times a month while bottled water gets tested only once a week.

Here are a few shocking finds made by the NRDC:

For example, one brand of "spring water" whose label pictured a lake and mountains, actually came from a well in an industrial facility's parking lot, near a hazardous waste dump, and periodically was contaminated with industrial chemicals at levels above FDA standards.

According to government and industry estimates, about one fourth of bottled water is bottled tap water (and by some accounts, as much as 40 percent is derived from tap water)—sometimes with additional treatment, sometimes not.

City tap water can have no confirmed E. coli or fecal coliform bacteria (bacteria that are indications of possible contamination by fecal matter). FDA bottled water rules include no such prohibition (a certain amount of any type of coliform bacteria is allowed in bottled water).

Any violation of tap-water standards is grounds for enforcement—but bottled water in violation of standards can still be sold if it is labeled as "containing excessive chemicals" or "excessive bacteria" (unless FDA finds it "adulterated," a term not specifically defined).

City water systems must issue annual "right-to-know" reports telling consumers what is in their water; as detailed in this report, bottlers successfully killed such a requirement for bottled water.

Air Pollution

Bottled water has a large carbon footprint which contributes to air pollution and global warming. Air pollution can cause respiratory problems. Global warming can cause other, civilization-crippling problems.

Think about this. Water companies are usually run by city or county municipalities, by people you know and have elected. The people who operate the water supply have a vested interest in keeping the water supply clean. They drink and bathe in that water. Their kids drink and bathe in that water.

On the other hand, a bottled water company may be located somewhere around the world. These corporate heads are not elected officials. They don't know you. They do not have any local stake in their water, and if they are selling industrial parking-lot water than they probably know better than to drink it.

Yet, some people do not trust tap water. Why?