Is Bottled Water Better Than Tap Water?

Originally posted by LazarusTheLong

that makes for very bad water, and in our state, they issue a warning to boil water during those times, rather than flush the neccessary amounts of Clorine, and Flouride thru the pipes (since it would be above safe levels of PPM)

Do you live in Michigan? Sounds like where our water is pumped in from.

I find it rather funny that Evian spelled backwards is Naive! I could see those Frenchmen now *French accent* "ha ha ha those Americans will spend a dollar a bottle for water? What Naives!"

I hate it when I travel to another area and the water doesnt taste like what you are used too. You realize its not exactly great stuff.

All this time posting here and I still dont use the preview button to check for typos and spelling, I guess I am doomed to edit all my posts. I cant speel or tippe.



[edit on 28-10-2006 by LoneGunMan]

I think allot of it has to do with where you live and the source of your tap water. I lived on the west coast and the water was terrible to taste. I lived in Ft. Smith Arkansas and the tap water was the best water i've ever had the pleasure to taste. I lived in Oklahoma and the water was palateable but barely.

Right now I live in Fayetteville, Arkansas and the water is OK except for in the fall. Thats when our water source, Beaver Lake, turns and the water gets much too much of an earthy taste to it. It was during the lake turning over last fall that I switched to bottled water.

I drink bottled water because it's conveniant. It's cheap (A 16 OZ. bottle is less than a quarter) and I don't have to wash any glass' when i'm done.

Just my thoughts on it.

Originally posted by mamoocando
I know where im living now, the water is full of chlorine.

The chlorine is to santisize the water, to kill the bugs that are in it.

also, i think its a big psychological thing for people to drink bottled water, they think its better than the normal crap that comes out of the sink. and it just might be.

THe problem is, many people assume that all bottled water comes from deep artisian sources, where its percolated through fine clays and rock for eons to be distilled to absolute purity.
Which simply isnt' true. Lots of bottled water is repacked tap water. Lots of bottled water is, literally, treated sewage. Lots of bottled water is ground water, which.....is where tap water comes from, iow, rain that collected in dirt.
As far as taste, NYC water, for example, often beats out bottle waters in taste tests. Lots of cities, in fact, don't get their water from local sources, but have large aqueducts that pump it in from places that people would consider worthy of 'bottled water' status.

Rember, Evian is Naive spelled backwards...

[edit on 29-10-2006 by Nygdan]

If anybody is interested to find out what is in their tap water, at least where I live, you can see the lab results from your local water company online.

For health and liability reasons, I don't think they would lie about the results.

Tried to find lab results from tests that were done on bottled water, went to a couple of the popular brands websites and couldn't find any. hmmm

I was going to compare the lab test results from tap water where I live and bottled water.

You would think they would put this on their websites for "bragging rights" privileges against their competition.

EDIT: Found another article that answers why I couldn't find test results from bottled water companies.

Organic Consumers Association - Is America's $8 Billion Bottled Water Industry a Fraud

The IBWA urges consumers to trust bottled water in part because the FDA
requires water sources to be "inspected, sampled, analyzed and approved."
However, the NRDC argues that the FDA provides no specific requirements-such
as proximity to industrial facilities, underground storage tanks or
dumps-for bottled water sources. That's looser monitoring than occurs at the
EPA, which requires more specific assessments of tap water sources. Olson
says one brand of "spring water," which had a graphic of mountains and a
lake on the label, was actually taken from a well in Massachusetts in the
parking lot of an industrial facility. The well, which is no longer used for
bottled water, was near hazardous waste and had experienced contamination by
industrial chemicals.

Kind of like false advertising, or misleading at best.

According to Olson, the FDA has no official procedure for rejecting bottled
water sources once they become contaminated. He also says a 1990 government
audit revealed that 25 percent of water bottlers had no record of source
approval. Further, in contrast to the EPA, which employs hundreds of
staffers to protect the nation's tap water systems, the FDA doesn't have
even one full-time regulator in charge of bottled water.

Bottle water companies aren't regulated very well? And 25% of bottled water companies source of their water wasn't approved by the FDA?

Scott Hoober of the Kansas Rural Water Association says that although
municipal system managers have to pay a certified lab to test samples
weekly, monthly and quarterly for a long list of contaminants, water
bottlers can use any lab they choose to perform tests as infrequently as
once a year. Unlike utilities, which must publish their lab results in a
public record, bottlers don't have to notify anyone of their findings,
including consumers who inquire.

Hmmm, so that's why I couldn't find any lab results for tests done on bottled water.

Bottled water companies can get away with testing their water only once a year?

Further, while EPA rules specify that no confirmed E. coli or
fecal coliform (bacteria that indicate possible contamination by fecal
matter) contamination is allowed in tap water, the FDA merely set a minimum
level for E. coli and fecal coliform presence in bottled water.

So I guess the FDA has now lowered the standards for bottled water

Henry Kim, consumer safety officer for the FDA, asserts, "We want bottled water to have a comparable quality to that of tap water"-which, of course, runs counter to the widely held public belief that bottled water is better. The situation is similar in the European Union and in Canada, where there are more regulations on tap than bottled water.

Not higher quality? Only comparable to tap water. So is the FDA making sure bottled water is comparable to tap water?

Environmentalists also point out that if a brand of bottled water is wholly
packaged and sold within the same state, it is technically not regulated by
the FDA, and is therefore only legally subject to state standards, which
tend to vary widely in scope and vigor. Co-op America reports that 43 states
have one or fewer staff members dedicated to bottled water regulation.

So the water that is produced and sold in the same state has almost nobody ensuring the quality of bottled water is comparable to tap water besides the bottlers themseves.

But wait a minute, the FDA allows e coli, fecal matter, and other contaminates in bottled water, unlike the EPA's regulations for tap water. Is that still comparative?

This article is worth reading



[edit on 29/10/06 by Keyhole]

Th biggest beef I have is not really about taste or health (although definetly relevant and important). Its jus that, many people want to believe they are doing better for themselves by drinking bottled water, which may not be true or false, and then just throw away in the garbage with little regard or even though on environmental impacts. Remember, it takes centuries for plastic to be broken down by nature, and everyday millions of Americans, and people worldwide are throwing them on the ground in parks, beaches, roads, open fields. If you throw it in your gabage, the best thing to hope for is it will be burned at your local waste to energy facility. You can actually call them fora free tour, very entertaining.

The thing is the majority does not saving for whatever other purposes. But water is water. Just purchase a home filter, or from one of those filtered water dispensing stations. it will still end up cheaper than having bottled water everyday.

I recycle!

3ppm vs. 280ppm. My tap water has over 90 times the amount of "stuff" in it. And those carbon filters lower the tap about 50ppm. So even though the numbers are still pretty insignificant... 90 times!

Found another article that was very good that actually compared the gaps between the EPA and FDA water regulations.

Bottled Water - Pure Drink or Pure Hype?

Are rules for bottled water stricter than those for tap water?

Not exactly. No one should assume that just because he or she purchases water in a bottle that it is necessarily any better regulated, purer, or safer than most tap water. NRDC has completed a four-year study of the bottled water industry, including its bacterial and chemical contamination problems. We have conducted a review of available information on bottled water and its sources, an in-depth assessment of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and all 50 states' programs governing bottled water safety, and an analysis of government and academic bottled water testing results. We have compared FDA's bottled water rules with certain international bottled water standards and with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rules that apply to piped tap water supplied by public water systems.

Major Regulatory Gaps

*FDA's rules completely exempt 60-70 percent of the bottled water sold in the United States from the agency's bottled water standards, because FDA says its rules do not apply to water packaged and sold within the same state. Nearly 40 states say they do regulate such waters (generally with few or no resources dedicated to policing this); therefore, about one out of five states do not.


*FDA also exempts "carbonated water," "seltzer," and many other waters sold in bottles from its bottled water standards, applying only vague general sanitation rules that set no specific contamination limits. Fewer than half of the states require these waters to meet bottled water standards.


*Even when bottled waters are covered by FDA's specific bottled water standards, those rules are weaker in many ways than EPA rules that apply to big city tap water. For instance, comparing those EPA regulations (for water systems which serve the majority of the U.S. population) with FDA's bottled water rules:


*City tap water can have no confirmed E. coli or fecal coliform bacteria (bacteria that are indications of possible contamination by fecal matter). 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 (or the water system must adopt well-defined protective measures for the source water it uses, such as control of potentially polluting activities that may affect the stream involved). In contrast, there are no federal filtration or disinfection requirements for bottled water -- the only source-water protection, filtration, or disinfection provisions for bottled water are completely delegated to state discretion, and many states have adopted no such meaningful programs.


*Bottled water plants must test for coliform bacteria just once a week; big-city tap water must be tested 100 or more times a month.


*Repeated high levels of bacteria (i.e., "heterotrophic-plate-count" bacteria) in tap water combined with a lack of disinefectant can trigger a violation for cities -- but not for water bottlers.


*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 (or more serious problems in vulnerable people), yet bottled water companies don't have to do this.


*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 regulations regarding these chemicals.


*Any violation of tap-water standards is grounds for enforcement -- but bottled water in violation of standards can still be sold if it is labeled as "containing excessive chemicals" or "excessive bacteria" (unless FDA finds it "adulterated," a term not specifically defined).


*Cities generally must test at least once a quarter for many chemical contaminants. Water bottlers generally must test only annually.


*Cities must have their water tested by government-certified labs; such certified testing is not required for bottlers.


*Tap water test results and notices of violations must be reported to state or federal officials. There is no mandatory reporting for water bottlers.


*City water system operators must be certified and trained to ensure that they know how to safely treat and deliver water -- not so for bottlers.


*City water systems must issue annual "right-to-know" reports telling consumers what is in their water; as detailed in this report, bottlers successfully killed such a requirement for bottled water.


FDA and state bottled water programs are seriously underfunded. FDA says bottled water is a low priority; the agency estimates it has the equivalent of fewer than one staff person dedicated to developing and issuing bottled water rules, and the equivalent of fewer than one FDA staffer assuring compliance with the bottled water rules on the books. Although a small number of states (such as California) have real bottled water programs, our 1998 survey found that 43 states have fewer than one staff person dedicated to bottled water regulation. By comparison, hundreds of federal staff and many more state personnel are dedicated to tap water regulation. Directing disproportionate resources to tap water protection is warranted. At the same time, over half the U.S. public (including many immunocompromised people) uses bottled water, and many millions of people use bottled water as their chief or exclusive drinking water source.

So, after sifting thru all this information, my opinion now is, unless the tap water in your area is known to be unsafe, your probably better off drinking your tap water.

And like I posted earlier, your local water provider should have the test results for your tap water posted on their website (at least in my area they are).

Unlike the bottled water companies.

[edit on 29/10/06 by Keyhole]

Ok, first of all flouride levels that high are going to noticeably damage your oral and physical health. wherever you got your facts are misleading. The CDC only reccomends 0.7 - 1.2 ppm

Here go to the CDC website and find out what the levels they are reproting for your area. You also might want to get a hold of a proper test-kit and do it yourself if you do not trust "The Man".

Skeletal fluorosis phases
Osteosclerotic phase Ash concentration (mgF/kg) Symptoms and signs
Normal Bone 500 to 1,000 Normal
Preclinical Phase 3,500 to 5,500 Asymptomatic; slight radiographically-detectable increases in bone mass
Clinical Phase I 6,000 to 7,000 Sporadic pain; stiffness of joints; osteosclerosis of pelvis and vertebral spine
Clinical Phase II 7,500 to 9,000 Chronic joint pain; arthritic symptoms; slight calcification of ligaments' increased osteosclerosis and cancellous bones; with/without osteoporosis of long bones
Phase III: Crippling Fluorosis 8,400 Limitation of joint movement; calcification of ligaments of neck vertebral column; crippling deformities of the spine and major joints; muscle wasting; neurological defects/compression of spinal cord

Source

The levels you are talking about apc would have the majority of the population in your area pretty much dying and vegetative due to such damage to the skeletal system. Lets all clear the truth now please. No municipilatiy in the US adds more than then the appropriate 1.2 MAX for colder areas. If it is at an dangerously high level, it is likely to be coming from a natural geographical source.

I didn't say it was flouride. I said it was "stuff". I have no idea what comprises it, I don't own GC.

All I know is my tap water reads 240-280. My jugs of drinking water read 3 ppm.

I do know that 40ppm in the tap is stuff that leeches from my pipes.

The rest.. some is the flouride, chlorine, and whatever else they do to it. And some is the stuff that it picked up in the main. What the percentages are I have no clue.

APC, I am guessing your bottled water is deionized in some form. You cannot confuse this with how safe your water is to drink. That 3ppm is fairly consistent with most deionized bottled waters as they add some sodium salts for flavor. When a municipality filters water, they determine a desired hardness (magnisium and calcium being the greatest contributors) and reach it through lime/soda or ion-exhange softening instead of stripping all of the minerals out of it. Some level of hardness is obviously good as it is made up of important minerals. As I explained, water safety is primarily related to pathogens and also neutralizing any harmful chemicals or heavy metals. As some have been saying the bottled water industry is underscrutinized, where public water systems are monitered hourly and everything is a matter of public record. Atleast I know where my tap water is coming from and can get my hands on its analysis.

ahcIVILe, I too would be guessing. All it says on the jug is "Sodium free. Purified by reverse osmosis, microfiltration, and ozonation."

Alright, APC, your water basically has nothing then. I do think dosages of ozone or chlorine and the rate of disinfection should be on the label, there are fairly common rates for tap water as they both are very potent. I prefer chlorinated water so I dont have to worry if it sits out for a while since chlorine remains where ozone doesn't, but I know alot of people dont like the taste.

If by left out you mean in open air, most of the chlorine evaporates out in 24hrs. With these jugs, once opened they go in the fridge. So any bacterial contamination from opening is handicapped.

Bottled water is useless. Pure water (which bottled water ISN'T) is unhealthy, you need minerals found in water. So, you're always going to have things in your water. Whether you have bits of pipe and stuff or there or not can vary though...

Basically, bottled water is the same thing as filtered tap water except:

-You can't control what kind of filter you get.
-The water is held to lower standards than tap water.
-It's been sitting around for a long time.
-It costs a ton of money.


A filter will do everything they do when they put it in a bottle, and most likely more if you get a good one.

Alot of Bottled Water actually comes from your local state's Water processing plant, so its essentially, tap water.

So really, no, theres no difference in whats healthier.

FDA announced last week it will allow fluoridation of bottled water to assist in the prevention of dental caries (cavities), prompting praise from the American Dental Association and concerns from anti-fluoride groups.

Originally posted by ViolatoR
FDA announced last week it will allow fluoridation of bottled water to assist in the prevention of dental caries (cavities), prompting praise from the American Dental Association and concerns from anti-fluoride groups.

No, no!! We cannot let them poise our bottled water with flouride! That's POISON! What is the world coming to?! This calls for a strike! WHY THE HELL would they flouride our bottled water? We don't get cavities in our intestines!! Toothpaste is enough!! Stupid pathetic racial and idiotic political junkies! We know better! What are they doing up there in congress, smoking pot ?? They have no brains. There souless selfish and arrogant cattle doing lucifers bidding. There not even human any more. Pure stupidity. Right from the countrys gut. As for the Dental Association, well they can all burn! They immediently praise this. Pfftt. If anyone knows of a strike due to this anywhere in Canada, well I'm there!! And I make for damn sure they get the message!

Greys' Anatomy - The Aliens Responsible For Fluoride Being Forced Upon Us
www.xeeatwelve.com...


7A



[edit on 30-11-2006 by 7Ayreon]

Well i specially bought myself some natural fluoride-free toothpaste.

And i drink alot of Tap water. I buy bottled water as well.. But actually tapped water is easier. If you consider having to pay for bottled water an having to carry it home.

I prefer to carry home milk instead..

Anyway. Do those Brita filters really work? I mean is it scientifically proven that they take out whats bad for our teeth in tap water?

The only thing i know is that swiss water is pretty good. Compared to other countries where it tastes alot like "Chlor". But I guess its fluoridized too.. like everywhere.

Some bottled water will say they are Filtered City tap waters, some will say they are done through Osmosis and some will say they are actual Spring Water. I've read articles where they caught these smaller water companies just filling 5 Gallon Jugs straight from the tap and giving themselves fancy names like Blue Glacier Springs or some grabage like that. NYC tap water especially since they redid the main arteries seems fine to me.