Water: Drinking Water Essay

Submitted By ummthisisphatboy
Words: 1364
Pages: 6
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Research Essay
October 27, 2012
Word Count: 1181
Brands of Bottled water, No different then Tap water
Although there are so many sources for drinking water, why do people still chose to drink bottled water? I always took tap water for granted until I got a Job at the Bay County Water Plant. It’s something you never really think about, how tap water got from its source to your household. Even though I work at the water plant now I still seem to buy bottled water from the store not that it’s any better for you. I think I just buy it because it’s convenient. “Negative perceptions of tap water quality (health and taste concerns) affect the decision to purchase bottled water and home purification, although the effect on bottled water consumption is much greater.” (Johnstone 678).
The water that is treated at the Bay County Water Plant is very good and safe for you. The object of a water treatment plant operator is to produce safe and aesthetically pleasing water. So why would we not drink it more then bottled water? Is it actually different? “Two of 10 brands tested, Wal-Mart's and Giant's store brands, bore the chemical signature of standard municipal water treatment—a cocktail of chlorine disinfection byproducts, and for Giant water, even fluoride. In other words, this bottled water was chemically indistinguishable from tap water. The only striking difference: the price tag.” (Houlihan). It seems some days bottled water does taste so much better to me then tap but other days the tap is just as good.
I never really had any preferences of what bottled water I purchased it’s always whatever is on sale. My family likes spring water but purified taste just the same to me. I know people may say that bottled water taste better. I guess it can be just a matter of opinion. “According to government and industry estimates, about one fourth of bottled water is bottled tap water (and by some accounts, as much as 40 percent is derived from tap water). It is a good thing that municipal water is usually treated before it is bottled.” (Blaiirock-Busch 72)
Also bottled water paints a pretty picture on its label enticing the source it may of came from. “Some marketing is misleading, implying the bottled water comes from pristine sources when it does not. For example, NRDC (National Resource Defense Council) evaluated and tested a number of bottled water brands. One brand of 'Spring Water' showed a label picturing a lake and mountains, but the water actually came from a well in an industrial facility's parking lot, near a hazardous waste dump. Investigators found that it was periodically contaminated with industrial chemicals at levels above FDA standards.” (Blaiirock-Busch 72)
Bottled water certainly is not better for you. I know this first hand because working at the Bay County Water Treatment Plant I know potable water is under some strict regulations by the EPA. Peter H. Gleick reveals “But municipal waterworks are closely regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which sets rigorous rules for a wide variety of impurities and acts quickly when thresholds are passed. Bottled water, in contrast, is less stringently overseen by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which sets lower standards for key contaminants such as coliform bacteria. And although the FDA does restrict some pollutants, such as lead, more stringently than the EPA, such regulations apply only to bottled water marketed across state lines. FDA inspections of major bottling plants, moreover, have revealed some significant health violations.” (Lewis 85)
Tap water seems to be much cheaper to make and more cost efficient. Bottled water is very costly and harmful to the environment. We never consider this when purchasing bottled water. Gleick says, “The environmental damage caused by bottled water is by no means limited to groundwater depletion. The manufacturing and distribution of plastic bottles are energy-intensive, consuming the equivalent of between
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