Tap Water Safer than Bottled? Not According to the Facts!

The debate over bottled water versus tap water has recently found new life due to consumer curiosity on how the industry is regulated and enforced. While the argument is not concentrated on the purity of the water itself, the conversation challenges the current rules governing the sourcing and nutritional information bottled-water producers are required to let their customers know. Simply stated, this is a question of consumer choice when it comes to their drinking water.

But when municipal and city water utilities make the claim that their water is safer due to the perception of stronger oversight by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), they are strongly misleading the public. There are many variables to consider when it comes to water quality throughout the country, especially where the tap water suppliers are concerned.

Wherever the product comes from, the filtration process of the bottled water should not be dismissed or discounted. For example, Culligan dealers are independently owned and operated, and the individual franchisees are responsible for their own product. All of their water goes through the reverse osmosis filtration process, which eliminates up to 99.9% of impurities and contaminants despite the source. In terms of labeling and disclosure, the term “reverse osmosis” and “purified” meet all the standards approved and enforced by the Food and Drug Administration.

Before you ban the bottle and run to the tap, keep a few things in mind.

• The AP reported earlier this year there are 271 million pounds of pharmaceuticals throughout the country’s municipal water systems. These are unregulated compounds. Quite simply, modern chemistry is outrunning the utilities’ technology.

• The health limits and legal limits provided by the 1974 Safe Drinking Water Act are often different, with the legal limit at a much higher threshold than the health limit.

• Water utilities don’t have to include every contaminant in their water. Places like Chicago, for example, are mum on the pesticides and sex hormones in its system.

• Check how your tap water stacked up in one of the most intensive tap water studies ever done by the third-party Environmental Working Group’s Tap Water Database. According to their research, 140 million contaminants with no enforceable regulation are attacking your tap. Residents cannot pick which utility serves their home, but they can choose a consumer water supplier that can ensure its quality.

Culligan constantly develops technologies devoted to sustainable high water quality such as whole-house filtration systems and bottle-less water coolers. Culligan dealers are also quick to point out bottled water is crucial for disaster relief, since it is safely packaged and potable.In fact, an EPA study counted 433,947 documented illnesses and 73 deaths between 1991 and 2002 stemming from tap water. Bottled water has never been cited as a source for a large-scale outbreak.

There are many sides to the bottled water issue, keep the ‘source’ in mind.

Don't Let Your Water Get Taken Along For The Ride

You’ve heard the stories about environmental waste from bottled water in those handy 16 ounce plastic bottles. To hear the stories you’d think these bottles are single handedly responsible for high gas prices. We were curious that the stories did not attack soft drinks in plastic bottles or one gallon plastic bottles in the grocer store. They all use petroleum but not a peep from the media. We did some research and found that the story is being driven by a public relations firm hired by the nation’s water utilities. Why do they care?

First every consumer that buys bottled water is telling the nation’s water utilities that they don’t trust the product that comes from their tap. So they feel every person carrying a bottle of water is an attack on their competency. In a way after deaths several years ago in Milwaukee due to cryptosporidium and high manganese or boil water alerts in hundreds of cities yearly, it is understandable why the consumer is skittish.

Second, while most water tests okay at the utility well head, things happen to water after it travels miles under city streets. For instance, every time a water main breaks, e. coli, a bacteria that can cause illness, enters the pipe. In some cities water mains are made of lead that can leach into the drinking water. Some cities have been aggressive in changing out those pipes, but that didn’t stop them from sending water through those pipes for years without telling the consumer about the risks. And there must have been risks or the utilities wouldn’t spend millions replacing pipes. And lead pipes may be better than what lies under some city streets. In some southern cities, hollowed out cypress logs still are part of the water system in those communities.

Third, chlorine is added to purify the water. Google chlorine sometime and see what the health effects it causes. In World War I they called chlorine “mustard gas” and they used it to poison enemy troops. Now we put it in our water to keep illness from infesting our water supply. You certainly will want to keep from drinking that and some would argue we shouldn’t even shower in the stuff.

Water needs to be portable because hydration is key for health. A healthy diet is an acceptable trade off for the environment. If you’re concerned about being seen carrying bottled water, put a sticker on it saying “I recycle”. Because the only way bottled water can waste petroleum is if we don’t recycle the bottle.