Bottled Water vs City Water: What's The Difference?
Is bottled water better for you than city water?
Not according to Paul Harvey
Listen to the Paul Harvey show in which he discussed city water vs bottled water. (A not-so-subtle reminder from Paul Harvey at the end of the audio: "Evian" spelled backwards is "Naive".)
But wait, it gets better!
Someone else who doesn't think bottled water is better than tap water is the Natural Resources Defense Council who says:
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."
The NRDC completed a 4-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.
Source: Natural Resources Defense Council
The end result: Contaminants were found in bottled water.
Not to mention the fact that "as much as 40% of all bottled water is actually tap water in a bottle." Source
Here's a chart showing the current standards regarding Tap Water (which is regulated by the EPA) compared with Bottled Water (which is regulated by the FDA).
RELATED:
I travel a lot (airline pilot), and different places are different. New York City has great tap water. So do Denver, Salt Lake City, and a host of other places. Even though I know they pass the various standards, I won't drink the tap water in LA, San Diego or anyplace in Florida. Why? They taste bad! The same goes for Evian which I've never liked, but I WILL drink Dasani and some other bottles waters. I know that many of them are nothing more than processed and bottled tap water, but it comes down to what I like the taste of.
So tap water is better for you than bottled water which has no added chemicals?