Bottled Water isn't Safer to Drink...
When it comes to the perception of the quality of water people drink they typically think bottled water is going to be the better option over tap water. That couldn't be further from the truth. Like everything else on this site you don't have to take my word for it just follow the data. I'll provide links here to help you understand.
"First, let’s take a look at the difference in regulations between bottled water and tap water. The FDA regulates bottled water while the EPA regulates tap water. Those responsible for monitoring your tap water are responsible for testing for bacteria hundreds of times per month, while 1 bottle per week is required for bottled water. Tap water staff is responsible for confirming that E. Coli and fecal coliform is not present. They also filter to remove pathogens, and test for cryptosporidium, giardia, and other viruses; those bottling water are not required to test for any of these. Those also responsible for the water delivered to your tap, test for synthetic organic chemicals once every quarter; those bottling our liquid gold are testing only once per year (Hearn, 2013)." http://tophealthnews.net/the-surprising-discovery-of-what-is-really-inside-a-fiji-bottle-of-water/
That should open your eyes a little more when comparing tap water to bottled water. It's kind of like reading food labels, know what's in it before you buy it. We won't get into the cost of tap water vs bottled water here but it's appropriate to mention here that bottled water is 1000's of times more expensive than tap water, even when you're buying and using a filter, which we highly recommend.
In terms of what else is lurking in bottled water you should also be aware of this, "Almost all of the bottles sampled (a full 93%,) had microplastics inside." (https://www.businessinsider.com/bottled-water-from-aquafina-nestle-dasani-contains-microplastics-2018-3?r=US&IR=T) I also found it interesting that Nestle would say something like this, "The company also noted the lack of evidence that microplastics have a harmful effect on human health." Regardless of whether we know and understand the full ramifications of Microplastics in our water I think its safe to assume we should still avoid ingesting them.
Anyway, like everything else we discuss on our website and in our presentations we simply want people to be informed and empowered make decisions for themselves. That being said, we HIGHLY recommend all people everywhere STOP buying bottled water. Not only are their issues with the water itself, as stated in this post, but there's environmental impact of Americans using and disposing of 70 million single use plastic water bottles each day. There will be another blogpost about that in the near future.
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