NY Times: Tap Water Safer Than Bottled Water

As consumers hunker down to cope with hard economic times, an environmental group in Washington has offered a suggestion for saving money: Get your water from the faucet not a bottle.

The Environmental Working Group released a report Wednesday that charged that some bottled waters were "no different than tap water." And it found fertilizer residue, pain medication and other chemicals in some major brands.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[WTrekker]

Boil and refrigerate "like your grandma did" will not work, some modern chemicals and Volatile Organic Compounds will only concentrate.

Bottled water makes billions selling filtered tap water, let's face it. If you buy and only drink bottled, just calculate how much money you spend a month. Multiply that by 12. You will get a general idea, and will also find that it is much WISER to buy a good, high quality water filter for your home instead. None of that Brita/PUR cheap carbon junk that is basically a carbon and taste enhancer designed so you HAVE TO replace it every 2 months. Ditto for refrigerator-through-the-door. Get a newer technology filter, and be glad you did.

As far as what to get and what to find. You have to choose whether you want a whole house, or a point-of-use system. Point-of-use is placed on a counter top, under a sink, or behind refrigerator. It is equipped with quality filters that last 6 months to 2 years, and at a minimum remove CHLORINE/chloramine. Aim for filters that have other technologies besides carbon to filter - ion exchange resin, reverse osmosis, KDF, Ultrafiltration, ceramics, Ultraviolet, microfiltration, fluoride and/or other chemical removing filters - these days it gets complex by the day.

Here's a good start: www.filterwater.com

[Shabba]

Every 2 to 3 years Consumer Reports has done a big report on bottled water, and their conclusions have always been eye-opening. In their last report they stated that 25% of the bottled water that they tested, if it had been municipal water, would have been declared unfit for drinking. Most people do not realize that while municipal water has to be tested and certified every year, bottled water does not have to be tested or certified by anyone. Furthermore Consumer Reports stated that a significant percentage of bottled water is packaged in plastic bottles that are known carcinogens and have been banned in Canada.

[Quotidien]

I live in New Jersey. I'll stick with the bottled water. This writer is trying to get me killed.

[strifeknot]

My tap water is barely a step up from untreated sewage. Evian is better than any tap water. I love that French nectar.

[ramal]

Proof postive at last. Save your money. Boil the tap water for five minutes and then refrigerate just like Grandma did.

[antaeus]

Well, that'll take care of bacteria, it's true. But what about lead, chlorine, perchlorate, mercury, arsenic, etc.?

[watchingthings]

Your community water supply will always be safer then bottled water, that is...unless and untill your water treatment plant gets Privatized. That is when the quality of the water will drop to at or below the "bottled water" status.

[tonewheel]

Not necessarily so.

Municipal water supplies must adhere to strict EPA guidelines for water provided to their customers. The problems come into play after the treated water leaves the water treatment plant. Between the plant and your home, water can absorb a multitude of contaminants in the distribution system as well as from the plumbing in your home...usually homes built before 1983 when Lead was banned in household plumbing.

Lead, THM's (Trihalomethanes), VOCs, numerous chemicals, etc., can all come in to play, DEPENDING UPON WHERE YOU LIVE. Not everyone is at the same level of risk. At a minimum, you want to remove the Chlorine in your water supply, put in the water during the treatment process to make it microbiologically safe. Once the Chlorine has done it's job, get rid of it before consuming it. A simply Brita pitcher or faucet-mounted filter, or refrigerator/water-thru-the-door filter will remove Chlorine.

If you insist on buying bottled water, consider an undersink water filter, and buy a reuseable bottle. Camelbak and Sigg make very good bottles for this purpose.

Make an informed decision; check out NSF International's website to review Tested and Certified drinking water systems for specific contaminant reduction capabilities. www.nsf.org

[tjdestry]

Bingo.

The anti-bottled water people consistently conflate filtered tap water and spring water, which should be considered two products. They also, as tonewheel notes, give test results for water at the treatment plant -- I'd be more impressed if they gave results for tap water sampled at 50 spots around the system. When they do acknowledge water at the spring, they conflate fossil and rechargeable aquifers to talk about "precious water resources" that, in most of these areas, would simply run off if it were not bottled -- and to ignore the restrictions state and federal governments put on the level of water that can be taken (that is, when the water table is down, the bottling plant can be made to reduce production so as not to impact the local area). The anti-bottled water people also talk about transportation costs of bottled water, as if a can of Coke magically appears at the store -- and contains no water itself.

I'm a progressive and am generally on the side of environmental interest, but this spate of attacks on bottled water has a stink about it of an anti-business movement that has found a vulnerable spot where the quick take can triumph over more informed reasoning. Yes, Nestle owns Poland Spring, and Nestle has done some bad things with baby formula in Third World nations -- but if you want to be honest, say "Boycott all Nestle products." (Do you want to be honest?)