Bottled Water: A Savior from Tap?

            Is bottled water higher quality than tap water? Bottled water agencies from many different parts of the world commercialize bottled water being a healthier alternative to tap water. Consumers tend to favor bottled water for that persuasive idea, never mind if bottled water costs almost five dollars a case. However, if it is portrayed as a safe alternative, why wouldn’t consumers pay the extra to obtain it? Although bottled water seems to indicate that it might be a healthier source to drink from due to its containment of packaging, and contamination monitoring, tap water offers a cheaper access to obtain drinking water as well as filtrations and chemical checks by federal water companies. Important topics that are essential in discovering which consumption of water is more superior to the public is how each are regulated and health monitored, the effects both may have on the environment, and the overall quality both have for the public to consume.

            One of the main concerns that people have that determine which water outlet to choose from,  are the health and safety regulations that organizations provide.Two main organizations that help regulate bottled and tap water are The Food and Drug Administration, (FDA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The first organization to discuss is the FDA and how they regulate bottled water. The FDA regulates bottled water and company plants to ensure the healthiest drinking water for consumers. Echo Springs, a water plant located in Walkerton Ontario, has been regularly monitored by the FDA as well as its own health monitors in the plant. According to the article, “Is Bottled Better?” by Mark Nichols, the cleaning systems used in the Echo Springs plant, are doing an efficient job in removing any unwanted bacteria in water. He explains how serious the plant takes managing its water. In the beginning of the article he states, “[Echo Springs] puts city-treated water through six forms of additional purification, including carbon filtration, ultraviolet light sterilization and reverse osmosis -- a process that forces water through membranes to screen out dissolved minerals.” (Nichols 26). Nichols suggests how careful and cautious Echo Springs works in protecting its water from any health hazards. Continued in his article, “Is Bottled Better?” Nichols examines how the bottle itself is cleaned and protected to preserve the water used to consume. Nichols suggests that with methods like these, it has  brought good results. According to Health Canada officials “the system seems to work,” offering “few complaints” and “no outbreaks of waterborne disease in Canada” (Nichols 26).

            Although bottled water is inspected by health water officials in the highest of standards, does that mean that tap water is not? Natalia Jaster, author of the article, H20 in search of the Purist of Water, suggests that consumers can do the job. In her article, she encourages readers to find healthy tools to sustain clean tap water right from their homes.  Jaster describes what types of methods to use that would purify tap water. “Water filters are a simple and effective means to getting safe drinking water from the tap. A filter blocks passage of contaminants through physical obstruction, chemical adsorption or combination of both processe”(Jaster 35) As suggested, tap water offers healthy alternatives and regulations as bottled water does.

What about the environment, is bottled water better suited for the environment than tap? According to the International Bottled Water Association’s website, all bottled water companies have the responsibility of conducting a safe way in managing and utilizing their water bottles.

All bottled water containers are 100% recyclable. And, according to the National Association for PET Container Resources (NAPCOR), now at 38.6 percent, the recycling rate for single-serve PET plastic bottled water containers has more than doubled in the last seven years.” (IBWA paragraph 10)

            Although IBWA has stated how responsible they are in keeping bottles from being a harmful factor to the environment, certain people think the opposite. Although bottles are intended to be recycled, many are not, and the plastic from those bottles become invasive to the environment since they are not biodegradable sources that the environment can break down. According to Anne Kingston’s article, “Not So Cool,” not only are bottles being recycled improperly, but consumers are wasting water that is already originated in their homes by buying imported water from different countries. “Why are we bringing in water from Fiji in a nation that's got more water than any other nation in the world?" She asks. "It's air freight, its contributing carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, it's all those things that if you're environmentally conscious in the year 2007 you totally question." (Kingston 5) Kingston implies that people should really question how environmentally safe and savvy it is to consume especially imported bottled water.

            Not only should consumers question how environmentally safe bottled water is, but also how safe it really is to consume. As mentioned previously, Mark Nichols gave distinct reasoning as to why people should feel safe about how clean bottled water companies keep their water. However, a vast majority seem to not even know how or why bottled water is cleaner than tap. According to the article, “Health Beliefs About Bottled Water: A Qualitative Study,” when researchers performed an experiment to see how much people knew about their bottled water, no one seemed to know why it was  more safe to drink over tap. The overall consensus in the article suggested how perhaps people were misled about bottled water being a healthier alternative; “Despite their beliefs about the purity of bottled water, most participants expressed doubts as to the extent of the health benefits of bottled water compared with tap water.” (Ward Lorna, 198) Although bottled water is suggested to be similar to tap, does tap water give a safe reason to be chosen over bottled water?

            Bottled water has its disadvantages with bottles being wasted however tap water has its disadvantages as well. Privatizing water has brought about many negative emotions in the public. Privatizing water is  the process of building wells in communities in rural areas to utilize local water instead of depending on the Government to distribute. In the article, “Private Water Saves Lives,” by Fredrik Segerfedlt, privatizing water gives the main argument that privatizing water has had many hiccups such as poor management and “contracts have been badly designed and bidding processes sloppy.” (page 13)

            If tap water and bottled water have their share of advantages and disadvantages, can one be better than the other one? Many suggest that bottled water might be the lesser of two evils. Tap water still contains unwanted bacteria, especially in developing countries (privatization of water) that can be fatal to people and the FDA does manual regulations to bottled water to keep it clean that is not performed in tap water. According to the article “Bottled Water Bans,” by Charles Huang and Angela Logomasini, believe that bottled water should be more trusted than tap. In the beginning of the article the authors state that why people choose bottled water is because of its “predictive quality,” and that “tap water on the other hand, periodically experiences quality problems that causes governments to issues health alerts.” (Bottled Water Bans) The implication is that there isn’t many bottled water companies forcing to recall their products but there are health issues concerning tap. On the other hand, according to the Consumer Reports article, “Bottled Doesn’t Mean Better,” many bottled water companies don’t have to disclose where their water comes from stating, “Disclosure is purely voluntary (except in California). And the bottled ‘stuff’ is subject to a less stringent safety standard than tap water.”

            In summation, it seems as though that bottled water or tap water over power one another in regards to its quality or how it effects the environment. It is all a matter of preference. Bottled water doesn’t seem to be going away since consumers’ purchase packages of bottled water by the week and it can be sold in any vending machine worldwide. However, tap water has sustainability as well there are filters that can be attached on faucets in homes anywhere to ensure the quality and safety and Brita pitchers to also filter out any bacteria or chemicals. The regulations, health, safety, and environment all seem to have an active role in determining which is the best way to consume water is. However, there doesn’t seem to be a winner.

Bibliography

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“Bottled Doesn't Mean Better.” Consumer Reports 76.9 (2011): 7. Academic Search Premier. Web. 29 Sept. 2013.

Huang, Charles, and Angela Logomasini. “Bottled Water Bans” University Business 12.6 (2009): 54. Academic Search Premier. Web. 29 Sept. 2013.

Jaster, Natalia. “H2O In Search Of The Purest Of Water.” American Fitness 28.1 (2010): 35. Academic Search Premier. Web. 2 Oct. 2013.

Kingston, Anne. "IT's SO NOT COOL. (Cover Story)." Maclean's 120.18 (2007): 38-41. Academic Search Premier. Web. 29 Oct. 2013.

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Segerfeldt, Fredrik. “Private Water Saves Lives.” Financial Times (2005). 2994-2995. Cato Institute. Web.25 Sept. 2013.