Tap Water Is Better Than You Thought

bottled-water-vs-tap-water

It is not even a debate that tap water is a better economical and environmental choice than bottled water, although buying bottled water is good for the economy as a whole. What is a debate, though, is which is safer health-wise. Despite the fact that many people do not actually know whether their own tap water is cleaner than the bottled water they buy, people globally spend more than $100 billion dollars on bottled water a year, which on average costs about a thousand times more (Karlstrom and Dell’Amore). The debate over which type of water is healthier does not have a constant answer as there are many different municipal (tap) water systems and brands of water bottles. After doing the research, though, it becomes easier to approach this decision moving forward.

Peter Gleick, Ph.D., a member of the International Water Academy and the National Academy of Sciences and also the author of the book Bottled and Sold: The Story Behind Our Obsession with Bottled Water, appeared on Boston’s NPR news station and had many interesting things to say on the topic. For one of them, he highlighted the tendency for many bottled water brands to name themselves based off of what consumers want to see their water come from. As an example, he gave the brand Glacier Mountain Natural Spring Water, which, contrary to its name, is produced in New Jersey. When people think of bottled water, they usually think of pure, natural spring water. According to Gleick, though, about 40% to 45% of all bottled water originates as municipal water. Some well-known examples include Dasani and Nestle Pure Life. That almost seems like false advertisement, but in reality, there is no federally imposed obligation to put the source of the water on the bottle. Also, filtered tap water should be as clean as any as long as the processors do a thorough job.

Gleick also touches on the regulation differences between bottled and tap water, which are easy to find. Unlike in the case of tap water, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates bottled water because it considers it to be a food (Goodson). The FDA is much more lax in its regulations of bottled water than the U.S. Enviornmental Protection Agency (EPA) is in its control over municipal water systems. To compare the regulations, the FDA reviews facilities making bottled water on average every 2.5 years whereas the EPA will inspect a municipal water system as many as dozens of times daily, but to be fair, it is a rare occurrence for the FDA to be dissatisfied after inspections. In order to find out about these rare occurrences, Gleick contacted the FDA and after months, it released information to him that disclosed that there had already been 100 official recalls. Reasons for the recalls included contaminations with kerosene, mold, and algae. Other problems included findings of yeast, glass particles, and fecal coliforms, which are pathogenic to humans. Another bottled water producer was recalled months after cricket parts were found in their water. This means that there is a possibility that for as long as 2.5 years or maybe even longer, this company was distributing bottled water with cricket parts inside. Not all bottled water is under that lax inspection, though. Only bottled water that is involved in interstate commerce receives these inspections (Gleick). For what Gleick estimates to be around 60% to 70% of all bottled water, the FDA has absolutely no authority and thus these brands have little incentive to produce the highest quality of water possible. Even after exposing the risks of drinking bottled water, Gleik acknowledged that there could be new chemicals being placed into municipal water systems that the EPA is not testing for under the Safe Drinking Water Act, which was originally passed in 1974.

A comparative study in Cleveland, Ohio run by James A. Lalumandier, DDS and Leona W. Ayers, MD, took 57 samples of 5 categories of bottled water and compared them to the city’s municipal water in order to find the difference in tooth decay prevention (fluoride levels) and bacterial levels. The bottled water was purchased from local stores and the tap water was collected from 4 of Cleveland’s water processing plants. Fluoride levels were found through an ion-selective electrode method and bacterial counts were measured as colony-forming units (CFUs) per milliliter. The scientists compared the fluoride levels to the Ohio state-wide standard of 1.00 mg/L of fluoride with the range of 0.80 to 1.30 mg/L being acceptable. Of all the 57 samples of bottled water tested, only 3 came within the acceptable level of fluoride whereas all 4 tap water samples came within 0.04 mg/L of the optimal level of 1.00 mg/L. The bacterial counts in the tap water ranged from 0.2 to 2.7 CFUs/mL whereas the bottled water samples ranged widely from 0.01 to 4900 CFUs/mL. Based off of these results, tap water is generally better for tooth decay prevention and some bottled water is less bacteria-concentrated while others have alarmingly high bacteria counts. In terms of bacterial counts for the bottled water, the majority (32) of the samples had less than 0.02 CFU/mL, 10 had counts between 0.02 and 1.10 CFU/mL, 8 contained between 6 and 30 CFUs/mL, 1 sample contained 530 CFUs/mL, and 6 samples contained between 1500 and 4900 CFUs/mL. The complete set of bacteria-related results is in the chart below. The results indicate that Lalumandier and Ayers did not have any bias toward either tap or bottled water. Also, based off of the procedure of the experiment, it is unlikely that confounding variables or chance affected these results.

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According to the previous information, some new conceptions can be added to the common knowledge regarding the tap versus bottled water argument. In general, we already know that tap water is better for the environment and your wallet and that bottled water tastes better and is better for the economy. Now we also know that tap water is better for your teeth and is not nearly as risky as many people believe it to be and we know that negligent regulations by the FDA can cause some bottled water to be much less safe than tap water. The argument over which is better varies on a case-by-case basis. Moving forward, you are more likely to be picking the right bottled water if it is in interstate commerce. Also, the best brands of bottled water are safer than tap water concerning bacteria count. If you do not know which bottled water to choose, tap water is a safe bet.

One thought on “Tap Water Is Better Than You Thought

  1. Taylor Harrington

    This is definitely a topic a lot of us think about now that we are in college. Bottled water is SO expensive. I can’t afford it. Instead, I invested in a Brita water holder to put in my fridge and a Brita water bottle for on the go. I refill both of them multiple times a day. It’s eco-friendly and saves me money. In my hometown though, my house has well-water, which is different than city water. Our water isn’t regulated the same way. I would be interested to read a follow-up post in which you analyze which type of water is better for people, city or well. I know at home we buy those giant Polar Spring jugs and get them delivered to our house because our tap water “isn’t good to drink.” At least that’s what my parents always said to us! So, before making general conclusions that tap water is better for people than bottled water I would take a look at both city tap water and well tap water. Studies on these may cause you to narrow down your conclusion more to say that only city water or only well water is better than bottled water.

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