You may think buying bottled water is a good idea to ensure you aren’t consuming any impurities that could be in your tap or well water. While it may appear like the best remedy, the bottled water you’re buying could be doing you, your budget, and the environment more harm than good. Why could it be best to avoid bottled water? Listed below we have some of the main reasons you might reconsider purchasing bottled water all the time. Keep reading to find out why you should ditch the plastic, and how you might save money and still have safe, clean water in your house.
Money
If you’re buying bottled water all the time, you’re spending more money than you would by drinking water out of the tap. It might not seem like a major expense, but all the bottled water adds up, particularly if you have a tendency to but single-serve plastic bottles, and the price can vary dramatically depending upon the brand name. If you think you’re saving money buying wholesale, cases of water can still set you back anywhere from $3-$6 which likewise adds up quickly. The typical American can spend more than $100 per year per person on bottled water.
Water Quality
You’d like to think the quality of bottled water is excellent, or at least consistent and satisfactory, across all brands and makers, but it’s not. Even if the money doesn’t make you think twice, the water quality could. The FDA has some regulations for safety and most bottled water is considered safe.
There is a good chance you’re drinking bottled water which is tap water which has gone through a filtration system. You can do the same thing in your own home, spend a lot less for it and not buy it from Coke, Pepsi and so on. You might think you’re paying for high quality water with specific treatment. Instead, some brands are nothing more than public water going through filtering at a large bottling plant.
The National Resources Defense Council estimates around 25% of commercial bottled water is straight from a tap. Companies that produce and distribute bottled water are good at marketing. So the bottled water is sold as very pure and with special qualities, but it isn’t. Bear in mind, water purification is something you can do in your own residence if you choose. Check the label on a brand of bottled water, especially the ones you see most often. Does the label say “public water source” somewhere on it? If so, you are paying for tap water with little or even no filtration.
Plastic Bottles can Cause Problems
Before going on, most bottled water is safe and the vast majority of people who drink or consume something out of a plastic bottle or container are fine. The track record with plastic bottles for bottled water, though, is not 100% perfect.
There have been product recalls of bottled water. Most are to do with the bottle, the manufacturing or contaminants to do with packing and shipping rather than the water itself. Recalls have been needed for algae, chlorine, bacteria, mold, pieces of other manufacturing material and dead animal particulates.
Plastic bottles have been found to cause BPA or bisphenol-A. Some studies, including from the Mayo Clinic, show, “BPA can leak into food or beverages from containers that are made with BPA. Exposure to BPA may cause possible health problems having to do with the brain, behavior and prostate glands of young children, infants and fetuses.”
You’ll typically see bottles being marketed as “BPA free” however the chemicals made to be an alternative to BPA have the potential to be equally as dangerous.
The Environment
While the health of you or your family might be impacted, all of the plastic bottles going to bottled water has effects on the environment, too. One plastic bottle can take up to 1,000 years to biodegrade. All the bottles which don’t get recycled end up in landfills, or worse, all around the planet. Aside from the bottles, the transportation, fuel and energy needed for producing, then distributing, the bottles and cases has environmental impacts.
Taste
Does bottled water even taste better than your public, tap or well water? Yes, this can be a matter of personal, well, taste. With the nice bottle, the marketing, the price, this water should taste better. Maybe it’s actually a placebo effect.
There have been multiple blind taste tests which have resulted in mixed results about tap water vs. bottled water. And mixed results kind of says all we need to know. One such test was done in Cleveland with a brand of usually high-priced bottled water. It turned out the bottled water had a high level of arsenic measured in it. On the taste test, the Cleveland public water prevailed.
Better Answers at Home
For these reasons and some others, you may then ask if there’s anyway to improve my tap or well water at home and not buy endless supplies of bottled water. We can help answer your questions about a whole home water filtration system. A whole house water filtration system can strain any kind of pollutants that might be present in your tap water or well water. It also covers all the water entering your home. This kind of system filters water as it enters your residence, so the water you bathe in and wash your clothing in will likewise be filtered of contaminants.
South End Water Filtration specializes in HALO Water Filter products including the HALO H2 Zero Whole Home Water Filter. HALO systems solve hard water problems, give your family clear, great-tasting water and are totally maintenance free. We’re just a click away to help and answer any questions. South End Plumbing and South End Water Filtration will give you a free estimate. Call us at 704-486-1988 or contact us online to schedule a visit.