This is a guest blog submitted by cRyStaL_rAiNe@xanga
"There are a number of ways that you could improve the quality of the drinking water your family uses in the home.
..If there is a contaminant [in the tap], bottled water may provide an acceptable substitute. Otherwise, bottled water may be no safer than tap water because it is less regulated, and in some instances it may be less safe."
-John Harte.
Toxics A to Z: A Guide to Everyday Pollution Hazards.
I didn’t know that about bottled water until I took a Water Policy class. Now I have a new and positive outlook on the tap and our water treatment system.
Do you get your water from the tap or are you a water bottle fiend? What do you think about drinking from the sink, water fountains, and other tap sources?
Comments (45)
I drink both bottled and tap water.
It all depends on where I am. The water in the town in which I grew up is horrible, so I always drank bottled water. Also, when the tap won't get cold enough (like, ice cold), then I will drink bottled water because I can grab it right out of the cold fridge.
Usually at school, I drag my nalgene around and fill it with ice water. It's inconvenient, but easier to refill than disposable bottles.
I refuse to drink Houston tap water.
I refill my water bottle at drinking fountains or in the cafeteria.
I always used to drink tap water. I still do depending where I am. There's nothing wrong with it.
At home, however, the water is rusty, so I drink bottled water. A lot of bottled water is tap water anyway. It just so happens the company's tap water is better than my home's tap water!
I love my Britta pitcher. Economical, keeps the water cold, and makes even German water taste good.
Bottled water just gets too expensive if your household drinks a lot of it, plus it fills up the plastic compartment in my trash can too fast.
I drink both bottled water and tap water, though our tap water goes through the filter on the refrigerator.
David makes fun of me because I buy Fiji bottled water. He calls it square water. I think it tastes better. Our tap water isn't the best and we aren't very good at keeping up the filter on the refrigerator (and by not very good I mean we haven't changed it since we bought it and it has been over a year).
If you buy bottled water that is just filtered tap (Aquafina, Dasani, Deja Blue, and Nestle Pure Life) water then it isn't going to be any different than if you take your tap water and filter it yourself.
tap water is so bad for you. if you have a good filter at home, then tap water is acceptable. drinking fountains are bad for you too!
I heard that in some parts of Oregon, drinking tap water is not too bad. When my friend moved up to Washington from Oregon, he mentioned that the tap water tasted a little "different," so he started using a filter. But when we went to California for a convention one weekend, we definitely did not drink the tap water...bottled water all the way. >.<
Tap water is for the most part fine, but some people get rusty/murky water from the tap. I drink tap water with no problem. We used to save our milk jugs & fill them with water and then put them in the fridge. Then we got a fridge that gave you water and still have one.
Here's the thing about bottled v.s. tap: not many people know this, but Bottled is regulated, as a food product, by the FDA, and tap is regulated by the EPA. Anyone who pays attention to the news knows that the FDA is nowhere near as stringent in their standards as the EPA. Milk? RBSt milk has far higher levels of blood, pus, and other bodily fluids from cows in it, and the FDA has no problem with that. They've also allowed the importation of E.coli infected produce from other countries (why can't we just let our own farmers FARM?!) and the drug industry - that's a whole other ball of wax. The EPA's standards for drinking water are far higher, and allow for less contaminants per parts per million than the FDA's do, and some bottling companies bottle their water at municipal sources, i.e. making people PAY for tap water. Unless you live in an area where there's an advisory, go with tap. Except Los Angeles. In fact, just living in Los Angeles is considered bad for you. Oh yes, and Washington State tap is just fine, thank you. (I live there.)
i drink botteled water
We get filtered water from Lake Ontario, and if it's too dirty to swim in, it's too dirty to drink, even filtered and refined. I'll take my chances with bottled water, that doesn't taste weird.
Filtered tap water <3
My water comes from he tap in the bathroom. For some reason the water from the bathroom sink always tastes more awesome than the water from any other faucet. I don't really like bottled water, but if my roomie buys it I'll drink it if not just for convenience.
We have a filter attached to our tap. Bottled water is a waste of money.
Living in Las Vegas as I do, the tap water here is the funkiest stuff I've ever smelled. When I move to a new town, I have a little test I do on the local tap water. I get a clear, plastic cup and I fill it about 1/3 of the way and then watch it evaporate over the next several days. In Las Vegas, that took about 2 days. What I was left with was a funky smelling white, chalky powder that was a grotesque combination of flouride and calcium. While calcium is important for strong teeth and bones, I also didn't want to grow horns or anything (kidding there). So I researched some local water bottlers and found Freedom Water to be the best. Their water tastes like... well... water. It has no freaky aftertaste, no scent, nothing weird and the evaporation test left only a cup, no residue. So I get 5 gallon bottled service from Freedom Water and they are incredibly reasonable on their pricing and payment structures. If you're in Las Vegas, why don't you give them a try?
Strictly bottled water or through a filter.
Last year in school I took Enviormental Science. For a few weeks we learned a lot about bottled vs. tap and tested them ourselves. I learned that the best water you could have is tap water filtered from a brita or other types of filters. We called different bottled water companies and a lot of the questions we had that didn't know how to answer.
We just use tap water for cooking. Drinking in any way we use spring water that we get from our farm.
The only time I drink bottled water is when I'm at a convention or a festival of some sort. Bottled water is pretty much tap with some twist and sparkle.
Depending on where you live is where the necessity is invovled. I use to live in Florida so bottle water was a must. The water down there is bound to make you sick. It's gross.
Where I have been living most of my life though the main difference between tap and bottled water is one is bad for the enviornment and one isn't...I wonder which one it is?
Unless you have an enviornment that requires bottled water, you're introducing a bunch of plastic into the enviornment and if it doens't get recycled you know where it ends up. So if you must have bottled water, one recycle, and two, look for brands where the bottle is made from corn products instead of plastic products.
@XINERGY@xanga - i'm with her, houston tap water is some of the nastiest-tasting stuff EVER. however, my family is about to invest in a water filter, so i'll probably be drinking purified tap most often.
i have heard that tap is better than bottled which i think is true. there is a major taste difference!
Water fountains: NO, I've seen how disgusting things happened to the fountains (e.g. gums).