BOTTLED VS. TAP


Our blog post this week centers around the pros and cons of bottled water versus tap water. I was really looking forward to doing some research on this topic, because I feel that it's a topic I still don't know too much about, but I would really like to learn. I drink water from plastic bottles pretty regularly, and I always feel guilty about it, because I know there are a lot negative impacts on the earth that come with using plastic bottles. I did some research to find out exactly what those negative aspects are when using plastic
bottles, but also what some positive aspects are, which I also researched for tap water.

I live in both Riverside and Eastvale, but I decided to look at the water quality report for Riverside, since I go to school there as well. Our area receives its water supply from groundwater. The groundwater comes from the San Bernardino Bunker Hill Basin and the Riverside Basin and the water is treated before it is distributed. After reading the water quality report, I learned that both tap and bottled water can be susceptible to contaminants, since they both come from outside bodies of water. These contaminates can include: viruses and bacteria, salts and metals, pesticides, organic chemical contaminants, or radioactive contaminants. Even though there could be trace amounts of any of these substances in our water, the city does enforce regulations on exactly how many contaminants are allowed in water that is distributed for human consumption.

The federal agency that is in charge of tap water/drinking water is the EPA and the federal agency that is in charge of bottled water is the FDA. It seems to me that the EPA is stricter with their regulations when it comes to tap water, and they also place more emphasis and keeping the public educated on what is considered to be safe drinking water. The FDA does not go as in depth with all the different kinds of contaminants and keeping the public informed. However, both agencies do place a heavy emphasis on making sure the water is safe for human consumption.

As I stated above, I do use bottled water very often; plastic bottles are viewed as convenient, and I can see why this is so from my own personal experience. However, there are a lot of environmental

factors that emphasize the drawbacks to using plastic bottles. They do contain harmful chemicals (BPA and Pthalates) which are not only harmful to the environment, but also to the people who consume water from them. Plastic pollutes the ocean and is eaten by sea animals, which is definitely harmful to marine ecosystems. Overall, plastic is long lasting and hard to get rid of, so it is a very prominent pollutant, which is probably the biggest drawback to bottled water.
And for these reasons, I do plan on purchasing a Nalgene bottle ASAP!








SOURCES:
water quality report (Riverside, 2016): http://riversideca.gov/utilities/pdf/WQAR2016_web.pdf
EPA regulations: https://www.epa.gov/dwreginfo/drinking-water-regulations
FDA regulations: https://www.fda.gov/food/resourcesforyou/consumers/ucm046894.htm
tap picture: http://watersofteneradvisor.com/best-water-filter-pitcher-reviews/
bottle picture: https://www.water-io.com/