Tap VS Bottled

Marketing ploys have led us to believe that our water is not safe to drink and that bottled water is the safe choice we can make for ourselves and our families. I am here to tell you that these ploys are exactly that: ploys. Bottled water is not safer for our health and it is definitely not safer for the earth that we are leaving to our children
First off, your tap water is highly regulated and needs to pass somewhat strict drinking water regulations set by the EPA. Now, I am not saying that every municipality has fresh untouched spring water coming out of the faucets, but, in general, your water should be safe for you to drink. However, if you have lead pipes or other problems in the interior of your home that is affecting your drinking water, that is a different story. You should have your water tested for lead, especially if you have young children in your home. Children are particularly sensitive to lead inputs and it can lead to problems with brain development and mental retardation. Also, if you get your water from a well, the EPA does not regulate your water either, and you are responsible for testing it and making sure that it is safe for you to drink. This may also mean being aware of what is going on upslope from your well! But, for the majority of us who have city water, our water is heavily regulated.
Bottled water, however, is not heavily regulated. Bottled water companies have the same standards set as tap water, but there is little to no enforcement of these standards. Furthermore, the bottled water companies are responsible for self-reporting anytime they go over the limit, and that would lead me to believe that tainted bottled water is much under-reported. Some bottled water comes from springs or groundwater, but much of it comes from someone else's faucet. Yes, you could be paying $1.50 to drink a bottle of someone else's tap water. Worse yet, you could possibly be drinking bottled water that came from someone's unregulated well water. Plus, the chemicals found in the plastic that the water is bottled in could potentially lead to harmful heath effects. More research about that still needs to be done.
Now let's look at the environmental impact. It takes almost 7 times as much water as is in a bottle of water to make the bottle. This is a major waste of water! Also, for every bottle of water consumed, it takes about 1/4 of that bottle full of oil to make and transport it. And, for each bottle of water, approximately 1.2 pounds of greenhouse gases (gases that contribute to global warming) are produced. This is per bottle people!
All of the bottles of water that are sold are one-use bottles, not to be used again. Only 1/6- 1/4 of these bottles are even recycled, and the rest end up in landfills. Plastic is very resistent and will take thousands of years to break down in a landfill. With the huge numbers of bottled water being sold in the US, these bottles in landfill start to add up very quickly! 28 billion bottles per year in the US alone! Yikes! A good source to share this information with your children can be found at:
http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/Stories/SpaceScience/Water-bottle-pollution
or look at: http://www.usatoday.com/travel/columnist/grossman/2008-09-19-bottled-water_N.htm for a more adult version!
Then there is also a cost to the communities that this water is coming from. Big bottled water companies go into communities and basically purchase water rights for next to nothing, extract huge quantities of water from an area, and leave. This depletes drinking water sources for many people, changes the flow of rivers for farmers, fishers and for recreation, and ends up disrupting the entire ecosystem. Yet these huge corporations leave nothing behind to benefit the towns they destroyed.... except maybe some local bottled water on the grocery store shelves which they can purchase for $1.50 each.
If this topic at all interests you, please watch the movie FLOW: For Love of Water. It does a wonderful job discussing many of the issues surrounding water use in the 21st century.
So, what to do? Drink your tap water! First, get your water checked for lead. Many cities will do this for free if you have children in the home (Portland does!), so get on google or ask around. Next, get a water filter that goes right on the tap. We use the New Wave Enviro filter and have loved it so far. You can find them at:
http://www.newwaveenviro.com/
Lastly, get a reusable stainless steel bottle (not plastic!) and carry it with you so that you dont ever have a need for bottled water! My choice in reusable bottles is Sigg. They are a little pricey (about $20), but well worth the investment. Think of all of the money you will save not buying those bottles of water! And you will be saving the environment and communities as well!
Take Back the Tap!