Both tap water and bottled water are very similar in different ways, tap water is regulated by the EPA, or the Environmental Protection Agency, and bottled water is regulated by the FDA, or the Food and Drug Administration.
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Though both regulations are fairly similar, there are some major differences that can put people in risk:
- City tap water must be tested in government certified labs, while bottled water has no requirements requiring this. (They could be stuffing dead possums in there for all you know!)
- Public water systems are required to keep customers informed about their water, such as if the water was suddenly contaminated by some bacteria. While bottled water companies don't have to tell their customers where the water has come from, how it was treated, or what contaminants it may contains
- Certain tap waters must be tested hundred of times for bacteria a month, to oppose to once a week by the bottled water company.
Though I'm not saying large bottle water companies are going around pouring toxins and evil bad things into their bottled water supply, they can still get away with many things that the tap water people can't get away with. Tap water can be trusted more to be "clean" due it's open policy on information about their water, but on the other hand, bottled water companies doesn't need to tell you anything.
If you don't trust your tap water, or taste/looks funny, buy a filter. Problem solved.
When you see a advertising campaign for bottled water, they stress the words "natural spring water" but what's really going on? In some cases, bottled water companies simply take tap water, filter it, brand it, and sell it. So that means, if you invest in a 100$ filter, and a sports bottle, you'll suddenly find yourself saving a lot of money. People might drink 3-4 bottles a day, every day for an entire year. In a worst case scenario, you could spend 1460 dollars a year buying bottled water, and that's only if you buy "cheap" bottled water for a dollar each.
The health benefits of bottled water, could be classified as void in general. Bottled water may sit in store shelves for months on end, without replacement, with constant exposure. Resulting is, material in the plastic leaching into the water you drink later. Bottled water is pretty much purified tap water, purified with what? Who knows. It's not like they throw magic dust and vitamins into the water and sell it to you, they keep the magic dust and vitamins for themselves! Selfish jerks!
The magic dust is actually magic pencil shavings.
Economy-wise, you're obviously unable to afford a 100$ filter, but you can obviously afford 1460 dollars on average per a year, per a person. A 100$ filter for your tap can be easily installed by yourself, or a professional, and can provide for the entire family with regular replacement filters, which usually cost around 20$. So let's say you're some crazy water-fanatic, and you end up using 10 filters yearly, which is insane and almost impossible. Despite of that, the cost of 10 filters would still be 200 dollars yearly for an entire family, to oppose to 1460 dollars per a person.
Environmentally, it's obvious that tap water is a better choice. The plastic in the bottles take 300 years or more to decompose, and Americans consume and throw out 60 million plastic bottles every day. That's 21,900,000,000 bottles a year. Even if the companies somehow created a bio-degradable plastic bottle, the massive amounts of fossil fuels are used to transport, make, store and deliver bottled water would still put a strain on the environment.
You wouldn't hurt this little thing would you?
Even if you don't care about the environment, you gotta care about your wallet right?
They want to come home!