If you thought drinking bottled water was safer and healthier than tap water, think again! Not only can bottled water contain small amounts of contaminants, the bottles themselves are also energy intensive to produce; they require valuable fossil fuels in their distribution and can take over one thousand years to degrade! Combine these facts with the potential seeping of chemicals from one-time-use-only bottles, and the relatively steep cost for one small bottle of water - it's time to learn some hard facts on this subject…
By Natasha Ruckel
© Green Log Home 2008
There seems to be a raging debate in the media and particularly online, about ‘bottled-water’ as a whole. Discussions ranging from the quality of bottled-water vs tap water, to the recycling and degrading of plastic bottles, to the safety of and chemical make-up of plastics in general.
Several up-scale restaurants in Manhattan are refusing to serve bottled water in favor of tap water, amid concerns that globally it takes 41 million barrels of oil a year to make, transport and refrigerate.
I aim to present the facts; it’s up to you to decide, do you consider them to be sensational media-focused hype, profiteering of large corporations, or truths?
Let’s start our discussion with water, AKA H2O. What are the different types of water treatments available and where does the water come from?
‘Drinking Water’ (tap or bottled).
This, as the name suggests, is water, safe for human consumption. It contains no nutritional components. Some drinking water contains disinfectants, such as Chlorine, ([1]safe levels being less than 4.0 mg/L). These control the levels of microbes in the water. Fluoride is sometimes added to water, ([2]levels are no higher than 4.0mg/L); this promotes strength in teeth. Contrary to many beliefs, Fluoride has no taste or smell.
[1] The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Guidelines suggest that levels of 4.0 milligrams per litre (mg/L) of the Maximum Residual Disinfectant Level (MRDL) are the highest levels of Chlorine allowed within drinking water.
[2] The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Guidelines suggest that levels of 4.0 milligrams per litre (mg/L) of the Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) of Fluoride within drinking water are safe.
‘Distilled Water’
Steam, re-condensed from the boiling of water. During the boiling process, any natural minerals are removed, and microbes sterilized.
‘Sterile Water’
This can originate from any source, however it must be sterilized, as a result it contains no microbes.
‘Purified Water’
Chemical-free; it is treated after extraction from the source. It contains no more that 10ppm of any dissolved mineral solids. If treated with a process of reverse osmosis or distillation, purified water may be free of microbes, but not always.
‘Mineral Water’
Drawn from ‘ground-water’ containing 250 parts per million, (ppm) or more, dissolved mineral solids e.g. calcium, sodium, magnesium, iron etc.
So where does the drinking water originate from?
All water, whether tap or bottled, originates from an underground aquifer. This can be described as a naturally formed, underground reservoir. The underground aquifer is a source of ‘ground water’ i.e. all water starts its journey as ground water, (compared to ‘Surface water’ e.g. river, stream or reservoir/public water system). Waters are treated differently, depending on the final way in which it is to be packaged.
‘Spring Water’ rises to the surface originating from the aquifer; it can be amassed at the surface or drawn via a borehole. ‘Artesian Water’ is extracted from the aquifer using a well, so too is ‘Well Water’.
Explaining the difference between water-related nomenclatures can be confusing. This confusion may have, in part, helped seed the beliefs surrounding bottled vs tap water.
Soft drinks manufacturers have capitalized on confusing labeling for water bottles, using clever marketing campaigns to convert the opinions of the consumers. Images of glaciers, mountain and lakes help soft-drink manufacturers position bottled water as a superior, healthy, pure and natural drink. In reality, all water starts off as ground water, stored in underground aquifers; it’s the different ‘subterranean’ sources and the water’s journey to consumer that differentiates the range of water brands and tap water. All water contains varying mineral content, and most water goes through a treatment of sorts; these are the factors that contribute to the taste and quality.
Wherever the final destination of the water, and whichever the treatment, it must be regulated by an official body to ensure its safety. The EPA regulates the quality of public water supplies; it does not regulate bottled water. Bottled water comes under the heading of package food and is therefore under the jurisdiction of the Federal Drug Administration (FDA).
[3]The National Resource Defense Council (NRDC) says that (within the USA) chemical-contaminant standards are stricter for tap water than for bottled.
[3]February 1999, The NRDC issued a report entitled "Bottled Water: Pure Drink or Pure Hype?"
Municipal water must be tested for different contaminants, and consequently the EPA enforces analysis of contaminants in tap water on a quarterly basis.