Tap Water VS. Bottled Water

Hello everyone! my name is Lina, I attend Riverside Community College at this moment and taking an environmental class. Many of you may not know this but we have weekly assignments about the environment so we do blogs of various topics, right now we have to do about water.

Where does the city water comes from? the water in your house? is it underground water? municipal water? Well, I currently live in San Bernardino. San Bernardino gets their water supplies from state water project, ground waters, and local streams and reservoirs.

http://www.water-ed.org/watersources/community.asp?rid=8&cid=659

The FDA Regulates that bottle waters have all the requirements on the label, also that all of the bottles are in sanitary conditions such as no bacteria, chemicals and other contaminants. They have a process to ensure that all water is safe from chemicals and bacteriological.

http://www.fda.gov/Food/ResourcesForYou/Consumers/ucm046894.htm

Bottled water has many benefits such as versatility and quality control but it also has negative effects on the environment. We need to protect this planet because we only have one.

Bottled Water Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Monitored and regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).	The Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC) claims plastic bottles contain phthalates, which can leach into bottled drinking water.
Versatile and easy to take places.	According to NRDC, there are no strict limitations as to the number of contaminants that can be found in bottled water, such as E coli, arsenic, or pthalates.
According to Competitive Enterprize Institute (CEI), special treatments to remove impurities—such as distillation or ozonation—are performed on top of municipal filtrations by certain bottled water manufacturers, such as Aquafina and Dasani.	Seventeen million barrels of oil are used to make and deliver bottled water. According to the website, Ask Pablo, that amounts to 22 cents for every imported bottle of water.
According to CEI, bottled water offers consistent quality control, as each bottle is of the same quality as the previous one.	According to a 2005 MSNBC report, 40 million bottled a day are going into the trash and only 12% of plastic bottled are recycled, which is hard on the environment.
Lead levels for tap water are lower for bottled water than tap. According to Mama’s Health, tap water is set at 15 parts per billion (ppb) and bottled water is set at 5 ppb.	.According to the NRDC, bottled water manufacturer’s do not have to list the water’s source, so bottled water could conceivably come from one of the 170,000 municipal water
Bottled mineral water offers health benefits.	According to the NRDC, bottled water manufacturer’s do not have to list how the water has been treated. Moreover, bottled water undergoes less testing than tap

Tap water has it pros and cons and why you should use it. Tap is regulated by different sources such as  EPA and SWDA and many more. Some studies have shown that people prefer to drink tap water than to buy it. Sometimes just bad advertisement can make something so simple bad. This graph shows the pros and cons about tap water.

Tap Water Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Monitored and regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).	Some water is carried in lead pipes from utility companies to homes, which means lead can leach from pipes into the water.
Amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act (SWDA)of 1996 have made drinking water safer.	The EPA allows tap water to have 10 parts per billion (ppb) of arsenic in it, although scientists now know there is no safe level of arsenic.
Numerous tests are conducted to ensure safety of tap water and there are drinking water standards for regulated contaminants.	Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products as Pollutants (PPCPs) get introduced into the water supplies by individuals or agribusiness either through sewer lines, regular use of the products, or improper disposal.
Water system operators have to be certified.	Higher lead levels are allowed in tap water than bottled water because lead pipes usually carry water from utility companies to homes. Tap water lead levels are set at 15 ppb and bottled water is set at 5 ppb.
To make water safe, bacteria and other organisms are killed when chlorine or another disinfectant is added.	Potential health affectsfrom microorganisms, disinfectants and their by products, inorganic and organic chemicals, and radionuclides include everything from eye/nose irritations to kidney and liver diseases.
The EPA gives you access to your annual local water quality report.	Giardia and Cryptosporidium are resistant to chlorine and can make their way into tap water if there are sanitation breakdowns.
No recycling issues as is the case for bottled water.

http://www.newrinkles.com/index.php/health/pros-and-cons-tap-water-versus-bottled-water