Month: June 2009

By: Billy BeerSlugger

There’s not really any doubt that we as Amricans produce a lot of trash.  According to the EPA we produce about 4.4 lbs a day or about 1,600 lbs per year.  Every year we as Americas throw out 2 million tons of polyethylene bottles used for such drinks as Dasani and Aquafina bottled water.  These bottles require 18 million barrel’s of Oil to make each year (about a days worth of Oil Imports).  True these bottles can be recycled, but only after adding more virgin petroleum and that’s not even counting the environmental impact of shipping them, carbon emissions, burning more fossil fuels.

Yea sure a plastic water bottle is convenient, take it with you throw it away after use, but at the cost of buying bottled water (even in bulk) coupled with the environmental costs, is it really worth it?

So what are the differences, if any between bottled water and home filtered tap water like Pur and Brita?

Well, bottlers like Dasani and Aquafina start with tap water and use a process of reverse osmosis to filter it.  Yes tap water,  not spring water, not water melted from a glacier, not water from an underground aquifer, the water hasn’t been blessed by a priest, rabbi or minister, it’s tap water.

However, water coming into your home through pipes has a lot more stringent guidelines which must be met than bottled water does.

From WaterFilterComparisons.com:

The Federal regulations (FDA) that govern the quality of bottled water only apply if it is transported across state lines, and only require it to be “as good as” tap water, not better. 60-70% of bottled water companies bottle and sell the water in the same state to avoid Federal purity standards, thus avoiding complying with basic health standards, such as those that apply to municipally treated tap water! There are no assurances or requirements that bottled water be any safer or better than tap water.

City tap water can have no confirmed E.Coli or fecal coliform bacteria. FDA bottled water rules include no such prohibition (a certain amount of any type of coliform bacteria is allowed in bottled water).

City tap water, from surface water, must be filtered and disinfected. In contrast, there are no federal filtration or disinfection requirements for bottled water.

Most cities using surface water have had to test for Cryptosporidium or Giardia, two common water pathogens, that can cause diarrhea and other intestinal problems, yet bottled water companies have no such test.

City tap water must meet standards for certain important toxic or cancer-causing chemicals, such as phthalate (a chemical that can leach from plastic, including plastic bottles); some in the industry persuaded FDA to exempt bottled water from the regulations regarding these chemicals.

City water systems must issue annual “right to know” reports, telling consumers what is in their water. Bottlers successfully killed a “right to know” requirement for bottled water.

Filtering water at home is in my opinion the best way to get the cleanest available water, the cheapest as well.  You know that you are at least getting federally tested and treated water and with a using an activated charcoal filter with an NSF 53 certification seal on the box (like Pur and Brita) you will remove such health-threatening contaminants as lead, microbes and volatile organic compounds, rather than merely improving taste and odor.  All at a fraction of the cost of buying bottled water.

So not only is filtering your own water cheaper and better for the environment but in most cases filtered water is better for you than bottled water.

Bottom line, get yourself a Brita instead of lugging bulky packages of bottled water home from the store, save yourself some money and spend it on better contaminants like Beer and Wine.