Not only is the government responsible for regulating Americas tap water, its also responsible for regulating packaged water. More specifically “The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency oversees the quality of water that comes out of your tap, while the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is responsible for ensuring the safety and truthful labeling of bottled water sold nationally. States are responsible for regulating water that is both packaged and sold within its borders” (Postman). But it should surprise many for them to find many states are very lax when it comes to regulating bottled water. Most surprisingly tap water is often times required to be cleaner than bottled water. Tap water is tested more often for quality insurance although the contaminates allowed don’t reflect as such. “For example, bottled-water plants must test for coliform bacteria just once a week; city tap needs to be tested 100 or more times a month.” (Postman). Most test find bottled water to be clean and pure, but some do underperform in cleanliness “About 22 percent of the brands tested contained chemicals at levels above state health limits” (Postman). Although this it is legal for these companies to have high levels of chemicals because its not city regulated, some companies are still required to report the purity of their water to the state they reside in. Another surprising fact is that some bottled water is just plainly tap water, “…if it says ‘from a municipal source" or "from a community
Do you ever think bottled water is safer than tap water? You would be wrong. According to "Bottled Water: The Wrong Choice paragraph 4", it states that the city tap water companies must follow safe strict rules to make sure nothing in the water harms us. The bottles water
Seventy percent of the human body is comprised of water. This makes drinking water quality vital. The EPA estimates the average adult consumes 1.2 liters daily or 115 gallons of community (tap) water daily while the average consumption of bottled water per capita in the U.S. is in excess of 30.8 gallons per year and is expected to continue to increase according to the International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) and the Beverage Marketing Association’s 2013 report. Bottled water costs anywhere from 240 to 10,000 times more per gallon than the average cost of tap, but people’s perception that bottled water is purer, safer or healthier is driven, in part, by strong bottled water marketing campaigns that focus on news reports about crises that involve municipal water supplies. (NRDC, “Bottled Water Pure Drink or Pure Hype”) The sources for both tap and bottled waters as well as additives to either enrich or neutralize contents of water determine the mineral and chemical composition of drinking water. Is bottled water really any purer or healthier than local tap water?
Water is crucial to life. Every human being needs water to survive. Water helps the body by nourishing the body, makes up most of our body, and helps with a healthy diet. However, people get water in different ways. One way to get this healthy drink is through bottled water. There is a huge debate whether or not bottled water is the way to go. The benefits of bottled water do outweigh the costs by several reasons.
I have always found it sort of curious when I see people buying bottled water. My grandfather told me that when he was a boy they drank water from the hose and it was free. I know growing up our household certainly didn’t bother with things like that, so facet water is what we got as well. The costs of groceries these days is expensive, spending extra money on water always seemed like such a waste to me. Now, that being said, some people live in areas where the water isn’t very clean, and buying bottled water is much safer than drinking the city’s water. Also, bottled water has become more popular because it is paired as a service; Bottled water is easy to grab on the go. It takes more time to find a water bottle, with a lid, and fill it up than to grab an already bottled water.
In a qualitative study performed in the United Kingdom, “the majority of participants associated bottled water with having fewer impurities than tap water, and were more likely to trust the quality of bottled water than tap water” (Ward). Individuals with well water should also be attentive to the purity of their water supply, as it is not even held to regulation standard. Looking at the facts though, bottled water is regulated by Food and Drug Administration in equivalence to the Environmental Protection Agency who holds the public officials accountable for the standards of tap water (Hogan & Larsen). This is not to say, though, that there is not human error on both sides that can cause room for contamination of a drinking supply and jeopardize the safety of the
People can adopt these things to avoid bottled water, by use maximum tap water, install filter system at home or offices and carry their own source of water during travelling or camping. Most important and effective one is to start using tap water instead of bottled water in their routine life. According to given issue “The Case against Bottled Water” by Sean Petty and Justin Trudeau clearly described that there is no significant difference between tap and bottled water, bottled water is just purified tap water with attractive packaging and well labelled. For example, Aquafina and Dasani use tap water from Mississauga and Brampton accordingly. Apart from this, they can install water purifier
Many have asked, is bottled water better than tap? Which is better for our health? People have a fascination with bottled water. Somehow, someone decided that tap water was not good for us and along came the idea that bottled water is better. I believe that many of us would agree that the taste of bottled water and the way it provides a more safer way to consume the water we need overrides tap water. As consumers we try to make a safe decision in which water to drink but with all the controversy, which is better? Despite thinking bottled water is the best of the best, bottled water companies have a public system as well, just like tap. As stated in Source two, “ Contrary to what you might hear, the bottled water industry supports a strong public
Bottled water is extremely expensive. Why pay for water when we can have it for free at our disposable through our own water supply. In 2016 Americans drank over 30 billion bottles of water spending almost 12 billion dollars (Statistic Brain, 2016). Many people complain about our water supply, some say it taste like bleach, others say it has a metal after taste and some say they just do not trust it. Americans are spending money on water filters and also purchasing bottled water when in reality many bottled water companies are using tap water and purifying it themselves. The Safe Drinking Water Act was implemented to assure the American people that our water is clean and safe to ingest (Environmental Protection Agency, 2016).
Many people believe that their source of water does not matter and has little or no consequences. Most of those people argue that all water is the same but for those worried about our environment, bottled water is highly wasteful because they believe it’s more appealing because it might be contaminated. The reason this should be important to our society is that good clean water is fundamental to a good health. Our current generations purchase their water because they have been convinced that the specific liquid is the purest drink around. But they can’t really say that until they truly know where their water is coming from. Labels can be extremely misleading and deceptive like in one case where a company claimed their water came from pure
First off, tap water is safer than bottled water by any mean. According to "The Truth About Tap" by Andrew Postman. Postman states, "Tap water in big cities must be disinfected, filtered, and removed of pathogens … viruses. Bottle water does not have to be." In other words, there are billions of bottled water companies that are shipping, selling, and letting customers consume their product that may have never been examined by specialist. If the people just want ha glass of water. Just go out and buy a filter; as a result, leading to the perfect glass of water.
While drinking bottled water might seem healthier, studies have shown that the U.S. FDA regulations allow some contamination of fecal material and E. Coli in the water bottles (All Filters). Kids are taught that bottled water is purified, and for that reason far healthier than regular tap water. Though this is not completely true. People are constantly exposed to different advertisements displaying bottled waters like Aquafina and Dasani. But what they do not say is that the water is not actually what they think it is. Studies have shown that most bottled water is actually 40% tap water (Mercola). So even if Americans are trying to avoid tap water, chances are they are still drinking it unaware of what they are really drinking. Americans deserve the right to know exactly what they are putting in their bodies,
But why would anyone pay for water? As the Suntory FAQ deadpans, "the decision between tap water and bottled water simply comes down to ... the degree to which you want to protect the health of you and your family."(4 ) American conventional wisdom does not expect a public utility to offer premium service. The government likely makes matters worse for itself with bad public relations. When the FDA finds a private bottler in violation, the bottler has every incentive to make amends as quickly and quietly as possible. When the EPA finds a public water company in violation, however, its duty is the opposite: to make sure that everyone drinking from that supply knows as soon as possible. Orange County, for instance, has 20 large water companies(5) and scores of small ones. The EPA, as per federal law, monitors them all. These large companies have a combined 2 health violations since records went online in 1993. Both times the company was back in compliance the following month. Yet the EPA record for each is disturbingly incomplete. The EPA reports that Tusin, CA, experienced high levels of nitrates sometime between Aug 1 and
Imagine you live in a small town. You have a nice little house, maybe a dog or a cat. The town went through some rough times during the recent recession, but things are looking up: a new frac sand mine moved in nearby, providing jobs for a large portion of the community. Although there is more traffic because of the mine, it seems relatively harmless. As time goes on, however, you start to feel as if something is off. You haven’t been feeling well, and you suspect it has something to do with your tap water. You switch to bottled water and try to avoid using the public water as much as possible. A couple of years later, the news comes out that the frac sand mine had been contaminating the groundwater, making it unsafe. A dozen questions fill your mind with fear and anger: how has my health been affected? How can this problem be fixed? Will it ever be safe to drink the water again? Why did it take so long for this problem to be acknowledged?
Studies show bottled water is no better than tap water. The Environmental Working Group performed comprehensive testing in 2008, which revealed contaminants in bottled water were close to that of tap water, in fact, in some brands contamination levels exceeded legal limits (D'Cruz, 2015). Tap water may be better than bottled water as it is strictly regulated. In 1974, the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) was passed. The SDWA is a “federal law that ensures the quality of American’s drinking water. Under SDWA, EPA [the Environmental Protection Agency] sets standards for drinking water quality and oversees the states, localities, and water suppliers who implement those standards” (EPA, 2015). Due to this strict regulation, the United States has the cleanest public water in the world. In the US, 92% of tap water meets both state and federal standards (Weathers, 2015). Interestingly, bottled water cannot boast the
There are basically three ways that water is privatized; bottled water, municipal services and bulk water sales. As a consumer of bottled water I wanted to research further and find out the truth about it. What I discovered was that we as consumers have been fooled by these water corporations. To begin with the cost of bottled water is two thousand times more than tap water. I found it absolutely ludicrous that we are willing to pay such a high price for bottled water considering it costs close to nothing to drink water from the tap. In reality, as I found out, most bottled water which we believe comes from some exotic spring is actually filtered tap water from a U.S. city. According to Food & Water Watch one third of all bottled water comes from a public water source. #4