57 replies to this topic

[godarna]

Water is good for your health, it cleanses and detoxifies the body and helps in the elimination of waste.  People buy a lot of bottled (mineral and spring) water. The market for bottled water is flourishing. In their advertisements, the industry wants you to believe that bottled water is cleaner, purer and better for your health.

But is bottled water better than tap water?  Mineral water contains certain minerals and traces of other elements; it is bottled at an underground source and sometimes carbonized which gives a slightly salty taste. Spring water originates from a source as well, but does not necessarily need to be bottled there.

What is the difference with tap water? Mostly the price, as tap water is a lot cheaper than bottled water. Tap water can be purified groundwater, surface water or desalinated seawater. Purification is achieved by filtration. It also contains minerals. The difference in taste varies from the region it is extracted, and the difference in natural water constituents. This applies to tap water and bottled water. So, why not use tap water, instead of bottled water, to reduce the usage of plastic bottles?

This story does not apply for those areas where purification of water is not well developed. Domestic filter systems and reusable bottles can be the solution.  

Click here to view the record

[fancyfingers]

We use both tap water and bottled water. When we are on the go, we do have our aluminum water bottles, but there are some places that they are not permitted, so, we do have bottled water on hand for those occasions. We also have bottled water on hand encase of a major catastrophe. A few years back, we has so much rain, the water treatment facilities couldn't keep up and we we notified to NOT drink or bathe with the water! That was just the thing to justify to my husband my 'let's keep some cases of water on hand just encase'.

[godarna]

I drank potable water my whole life. In Holland the purification of groundwater and surface water is so advanced that you can drink it without any risk. Where I reside momentarily, Mauritius, it is drinkable as well. Only after a cyclone hit the island it is advised to boil the tap water as it can be very contaminated for a couple of days.

[Hayden]

Water is too dry here. Will have to invest in a PUR or Britta but for now its 5 gal bottles delivered once per month.

[marale60]

Bottled water is the biggest scam invented in the history of man. Take something that is basically free or next to free and package it up nice and fancy and then sell it for more than gasoline. What's up with that and why do people take part in this nonsense? I refuse to drink bottled water or to take part in this travesty. I use a Brita filter to make my coffee or tea taste a little better but that is all.

[zararina]

I would only have bottled water if I am out since I could not ensure the safety of tap water to other places. I do not think bottled bottle could be safer since it was stored in bottles that could have some chemicals on it. And it will not be environmental friendly to always buy bottle, better to just refill. Tap water also tastes better than bottled water for me.

[NeilPearson]

At least in the US, there is higher health standards for tap water than their is for bottled water.  Some areas the water may not taste right but it is nothing a good filtration system can't fix.  That said, bottled water is kind of nice when you are on the go

[artistry]

The tap water here does not taste great, I have purchased bottled water in the past and stopped. Now I am using a Brita system that makes the water taste much better. It is always interesting to me that when one changes a filter on a faucet, it is always black, making one wonder what is actually in the drinking water? As far as bottled water goes, the plastic bottles leech into the water, as bottled soda does, so there is a hazard there as well.Show 'Edit by' line

Edited by artistry, 22 October 2011 - 11:46 AM.

[Guardian]

The tap water where I live is terrible as well so I go with bottle water. I do drink out of the water fountain at work, despite the terrible taste to ease some of my impact, even though that uses electricity. I don't buy any bottles less than a liter and that's only for on the go. I usually buy the gallon jugs of water that cost a dollar or sometimes less. They're much cheaper and use less plastic for the combined bottles. I recycle all the bottles that are left over from using them.

[jasserEnv]

In many cases when you are buying bottled water, you are just buying bottled tap water and nothing else. In addition to this being absurd, it means that you have spent money for no other reason that having someone put water in a bottle for you. You have paid for water to be shipped around with fossil fuels, to be put into a bottle made of plastic from fossil fuel and if you are lucky, will cause energy to be consumed to turn that bottle into another product. If you and all of us aren't lucky, you've just added something else to the landfill or worse, into the environment.

[godarna]

marale60, on 22 October 2011 - 07:00 AM, said:

Bottled water is the biggest scam invented in the history of man. Take something that is basically free or next to free and package it up nice and fancy and then sell it for more than gasoline. What's up with that and why do people take part in this nonsense? I refuse to drink bottled water or to take part in this travesty.

It is all commerce; and as long as people let themselves being influenced by nice advertisements the industry will flourish.
Seems that many people can not make their own decisions.

[godarna]

jasserEnv, on 22 October 2011 - 09:08 PM, said:

In many cases when you are buying bottled water, you are just buying bottled tap water and nothing else. In addition to this being absurd, it means that you have spent money for no other reason that having someone put water in a bottle for you. You have paid for water to be shipped around with fossil fuels, to be put into a bottle made of plastic from fossil fuel and if you are lucky, will cause energy to be consumed to turn that bottle into another product. If you and all of us aren't lucky, you've just added something else to the landfill or worse, into the environment.

Very sad when you realize that your story might absolutely be true. It indicates that it is still the best option to use water directly from your own tap.

[mariaandrea]

The water in our city is excellent but sometimes tastes funny from the aging pipes and infrastructure that get it to us. I have a Brita pitcher for that. I do keep gallons of water on hand for emergencies since we live in an earthquake zone and are just waiting for the day when the big one hits. The vast majority of bottled waters are a total scam, coming from the same municipal tap water sources that you can get for free from your own faucet.

[Yoginitrish]

We use both. Tap water in our area is treated and tastes like chemicals--so we filter it with a brita pitcher. I also use bottled water, occasionally.

[Eiza]

I'm well aware of the ecological damage of bottled water, but I drink it exclusively. It's not that I believe that it is any healthier than tap water, but where I live we have hard water and it has a nasty mineral taste I can't abide. When I lived on the east coast, I actually loved tap water and never bought bottled water. If I didn't buy bottled water now though, I'd never drink water at all. I'll have to reduce my carbon footprint in other areas.

[Ares7]

Personally, I think there is absolutely no difference in the tastes of water from a tap and bottled water. I think it is all in the mind of some people in my area because our tap water is perfectly fine. With other areas I can't comment though. If I'm out and forget to bring a drink I will occasionally buy a bottle but I keep the bottle and just fill it up with tap water and keep re-using it instead of throwing it away. I will recycle the bottle otherwise. Bottled water is garbage (no pun intended) it's all advertising there's no major differences in that and tap water and there's not one that is better than the other in terms of how healthy they are.

[jasserEnv]

Eiza, on 24 October 2011 - 12:47 AM, said:

I'm well aware of the ecological damage of bottled water, but I drink it exclusively. It's not that I believe that it is any healthier than tap water, but where I live we have hard water and it has a nasty mineral taste I can't abide. When I lived on the east coast, I actually loved tap water and never bought bottled water. If I didn't buy bottled water now though, I'd never drink water at all. I'll have to reduce my carbon footprint in other areas.

You might consider the value of letting your municipality know that the quality of their water leaves much to be desired. If nobody complains, it stays the same. With a large treatment plant, they have considerable ability to control the quality of the water. On top of that, many municipalities are trying to get people off of bottled water so letting them know is even more important.

[iamloved1]

We have wonderful tap water here in Colorado, especially since we are on a well and the water filters down from the Rocky Mountains. We have several bottles that we fill with tap water when we're on the road, so we don't have to worry about finding a water faucet. However, my son is at school in Sterling, CO, about three hours north of here and they have high levels of Uranium and lead in the water. I told him I will pay for him to drink bottled water, even though I think it is overpriced and a waste of resources. So, there is a time and place, I suppose. I just hate it, though, when people offer bottled water at parties or school function when tap water would work just as well for a fraction of the cost.

[Tom Servo]

I always use tap water; however, I have my own well and filtration pump, so it's not anything like city water.

[Green Thumb]

In our place, most of us drink tap water from the faucet. The rest would have a drink from a refillable distilled water container (those who won�t trust our tap water) to which they would order for refill weekly and have to pay. So, use of bottled water is not really popular to us. We are lucky that our water supply is clean and safe. Same goes to my company where the company provided us metal tumblers or allowed us to bring our own tumblers so we need not buy bottled drinks and there are available drinking fountains where we can fill our tumblers. Disposable cups aren�t encouraged either. There are only washable mugs and glass for free coffee and water. One company of a board mate has disposable cups made of thin 4x2 envelope-like papers. It could carry your drink as long as you�ll drink it right away after filling from the available drinking fountain. Holding these facts, I don't see where the bottled water is needed.