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| Save Money; Switch from Bottled Water to Tap Water |
Submitted by:
penny_lane 10/23/2008 10:49 AM
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I rarely drink bottled water. At home, my family and I only drink tap water (though we often use a Brita filter as we like the taste a bit better when the water has run through it). But I really don’t mind drinking straight tap water or drinking water from a water fountain when I’m out. In fact, the only time I drink bottled water is when I’m on the road and it’s my only option to get water.
Aside from the fact that bottled water isn’t great for the environment, given all of the pollution that is created in producing it, not to mention all of the waste from bottles (many of which never seem to find their way to the recycling bin), it’s also very, very expensive when compared to the cost of tap water. Yet many people I know only drink bottled water – even in their home. It’s amazing!
If you’re looking to save money and you buy bottled water, cutting out this expense can mean huge savings. But what are the tradeoffs? I decided to see if I could find any information on this subject. Lo and behold, there is a lot!
From ABC News: "20/20" took five bottles of national brands of bottled water and a sample of tap water from a drinking fountain in the middle of New York City and sent them to microbiologist Aaron Margolin of the University of New Hampshire to test for bacteria that can make you sick, like e. coli.
"There was actually no difference between the New York City tap water and the bottled waters that we evaluated," he said.
Many scientists have run tests like that and have consistently found that tap water is as good for you as bottled waters that cost 500 times more. Full Article: http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Health/Story?id=728070&page=1
From the L.A. Times: "Bottled water isn't any safer or purer than what comes out of the tap," says Dr. Sarah Janssen, science fellow with the Natural Resources Defense Council in San Francisco, which conducted an extensive analysis of bottled water back in 1999. "In fact, it's less well-regulated, and you're more likely to know what's in tap water."
Bottled and tap water come from essentially the same sources: lakes, springs and aquifers, to list a few. In fact, a significant fraction of the bottled water products on store shelves are tap water -- albeit filtered and treated with extra steps to improve taste. Full Article: http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-he-nutrition13-2008oct13,0,4063450.story
From Newsweek: There's no question that drinking water is essential to our survival. But does it matter whether it comes from the sink or the store? Not according to Benjamin Grumbles, head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's water programs. "It's an urban myth that bottled water is safer than tap water," he says. "Without a doubt, we have a drinking water system that's the envy of the world." Full Article: http://www.newsweek.com/id/74090
So it seems pretty obvious – there are no negatives health-wise to drinking tap water, so drink tap instead of bottled and save yourself and your family a lot of money! |
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