Tap vs. Bottled–What Should You Drink?
 

I think it's time to stop drinking bottled water...at the moment there's more un-degraded plastic in our oceans than planketon. It's sad, we've got this beautiful planet with these wonderful creatures (YORKIES :) ) and it's the simple things we can do to help save our planet!

Tap vs. Bottled–What Should You Drink?

Glug, glug, glug--that’s the sound a ginormous number of us make as we sip bottled water in our cars, at the gym, behind our desks.

The sound you DON’T hear is the thwack of 60 million bottles a day being tossed into U.S. landfills, where they can take up to 1,000 years to biodegrade.

If that’s not enough to turn your conscience a brighter shade of green, add this: Producing those bottles burns through 1.5 million barrels of crude oil annually--enough fuel to keep 100,000 cars running for a year. Recycling helps but reusing is even better. Invest in a couple of portable, dishwasher-safe, stainless steel bottles like Klean Kanteens that won’t leach nasty chemicals into your water. (Don’t get into the habit of refilling the water bottle you just emptied; the polyethylene terephthalate it’s made of breaks down with multiple usings.)

4 REASONS TO TURN ON THE TAP

1. Tap water is tested daily
Under the Safe Drinking Water Act, water suppliers are required to provide an annual report on the quality of your local water and to test tap water daily. By comparison, the FDA examines bottled water only weekly, and consumers can’t get the agency’s results. You can easily get the lowdown on your state’s drinking water quality at http://www.epa.gov/safewater/dwinfo/index.html

2. Tap water is a bargain
Bottled water costs about 500 times more than tap. If you’re into really fancy labels, up to 1,000 times more.

3. Tap water is a tooth saver
It has more fluoride than bottled water, which helps prevent tooth decay. (Yes, you never outgrow your need for fluoride.)

4. Tap water is often tasty
Some places (New York City for one) have delicious water, but if you don’t love the flavor of yours, the solution is simple: Run your tap water through a Brita or Pur filter to remove most tastes and odors. The average home filter goes for $8.99 and produces the equivalent of 300 large (16.9 ounce) bottles of water. That’s about $0.03 cents a bottle, versus the $1.25 or so you’d pay in a market.

I use to do bottled water...only certain brands...but my doctor insisted I get a water filter and I know drink filtered tap...it tastes good and is helping the environment too!

Awesome thread and great information. I've never liked the taste of bottled water. We have a reverse osmosis system in our home and I love the taste of our water. Definitely a good way to go.

I only drink tap water at my boyfriend's house because it's well water and it's SO GOOD! My parents have a filter on the fridge, so I mostly drink that. We do buy bottle water sometimes, but I try and reuse the bottles. They're very convenient for me.

We have well water with a filter on it and I can't stand the taste. No way can I drink it. I don't buy the single bottles anymore, but I do buy the gallon jugs.

I use bottled water & water jugs. The water in Tampa tastes too grose to drink. Eventually we want to get a larger fridge w/ the water dispenser on the door. So until then it's bottled for us. :(

Man..FL water is the WORST!

The fiance and I get the gallon jugs of water. Neither of us like spending money on bottled water, and the tap water here in Anchorage doesn't do anything for either of us.

We have the brita water pitcher, its been saving us alot of $$$.:thumbup:

Sorry to contribute to the plastic bottles on the earth, but I will not drink our tap water......it is so nasty, we have actually had notices in the mail that the water plant in our district was not meeting regulations and to boil our water. If I thought that I could safely drink the tap water, I would.

Great topic.

I think drinking bottled water is fine as long as you recycle.

The plastic bottles can also affect hormone levels
http://www.sunmt.org/bottledwaterblues.html

At home, it is always tap water. We have great tasting water that (believe it or not) comes from Detroit. For those of you unaware, Aquafina also comes from this same water system!!!!!!!!!!!

When I'm on the go, I have an aluminum bottle I take with me. But, I still occassionally buy bottled water, but mostly for trips.

I drink Bottled water, it just tastes better for me. But I do reuse the bottles. Anyways, here in LA county....I wouldnt dream of drinking the tap! LOL

:aimeeyork

we drink bottled water! the taste of tap water here, is not very good! yuck! but i do have a pur filter system..that i use to make my coffee!