Hello my lovelies!!!
So, let me tell you a secret. Before I started my boyfriend about a year and a few months ago, I never drank enough water. I like the taste of water, but I'm bit of a juice addict. I'd not drink water for long periods of time and then I'd be so starved for it, I'd end up drinking large quantities at once. After we started dating, I noticed that he drank a lot of water. Being with him a lot of the time I ended picking up the habit. Now, I drink water all the time. I always have a water bottle with me. I absolutely LOVE and need water.
Problem is, I buy too many water bottlesT.T; Not good for the environment at all and on top of that, I love certain tastes of the bottled water.(I have never liked the taste of tap water)
Since water is so important to me, for this week's post I'm going to discuss the pros and cons of tap water versus bottled water.
According to Blueriverside.com, my tap water comes from groundwater well areas in Bunker Hill, San Bernardino, and Riverside basins. While I was not able to find information on the well areas themselves, I did take a closer look into the water that was coming to my tap.
Riverside provides easy to read information about their apparently wonderful and great water program. Supposedly, Riverside has some of the cleanest water in all of the 50 states! Tap water has been tested and cleaned chemically, but should be safe to use without an additional purifier. Interestingly enough, if I want to use tap water for my fish it has to be treated again since the chemicals that supposedly are fine for me, aren't fine for my fish. Luckily, I don't have fish, but four crazy cats.
Onto bottled water versus tap water. The EPA(Environmental Protection Agency) is responsible for overseeing tap water standards. In an article by Elena Cronis for the Las Angeles Times in 2008, entitled " Bottled versus tap: Which is safer?", "[...]which regulate the levels of roughly 90 different contaminants, including germs such as giardia, heavy metals such as lead and dozens of industrial chemicals." Basically, due to The Safe Drinking Water Act requires EPA to test their water by certified labs and they have to report any violations within a certain designated time frame. Any public water systems must provide reports to their consumers that contain the source of the water, any contaminants and compliance with regulations. (Information absorbed from The New York times article "Fewer Regulations for Bottled Water Than Tap, GAO Says")
On the over hand the notoriously bad FDA regulates bottled water(Oh! My love Dasani, why does the FDA have power over you like this?). Unlike the EPA, FDA can regulate bottled water as a food and therefore different rules apply to it. Bottled water doesn't have to get certified lab testing nor do they have to report violations. Water bottle companies don't need to give reports or tell their customers where the water source is or how it has been treated.
I have always heard horrible things about my love Dasani. If you are truly just unfiltered and cleaned sewer water, don't fret my love. The sewers of wherever you come from are delicious all the same.
Last but not least, do I have to give up my Dasani? Clearly, Dasani isn't given the love it deserves. The evil cousin of EPA, the FDA isn't strict enough on bottle water companies. I'm sure they receive fat checks or some sort of incentive for this from water bottle companies. Or in Dasani's case, Coke-Cola! Yes, a soda company sells water as well~~
For the environment's sake I really should give up bottled water. We all can guess right off the bat that bottle water wastes fossil fuels through transportation and production. Foodwater and watch.org released an article titled "Bottled Water Costs Consumers and the Environment" that states " Bottled water production in the United States used the energy equivalent of 32 and 54 million barrels of oil to produce and transport plastic water bottles in 2007—enough to fuel about 1.5 million cars for a year. Rather than being recycled, about 75 percent of the empty plastic bottles end up in our landfills, lakes, streams and oceans, where they may never fully decompose."
Horrible, isn't it? Honestly, I don't want to give up drinking my Dasani. As I am aware of how bad bottled water is, I don't over indulge in it. I feel sad thinking of drinking water as indulging, but when it hurts the environment I have no choice but to cut back.
If anyone out there loves bottled water, tell me which is your favorite kind! Team Dasani!
