Is Bottled Water Better For You Than City Water?

Written by Lynnette on March 27, 2006 | Comments (2)

...not according to Paul Harvey

Listen to Friday's Paul Harvey show in which he discussed city water vs bottled water. (A not-so-subtle reminder from Paul Harvey at the end of the audio: "Evian" spelled backwards is "Naive".)

But wait, it gets better!

Someone else who doesn't think bottled water is better than tap water is the Natural Resources Defense Council
who says: "No one should assume that just because he or she purchases water in a bottle that it is necessarily any better regulated, purer, or safer than most tap water."

The NRDC completed a four-year study of the bottled water industry, including its bacterial and chemical contamination problems. We have conducted a review of available information on bottled water and its sources, an in-depth assessment of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and all 50 states' programs governing bottled water safety, and an analysis of government and academic bottled water testing results.
Source: Natural Resources Defense Council

The end result: Contaminants were found in bottled water.

Not to mention the fact that "as much as 40% of all bottled water is actually tap water in a bottle." Source

Here's a chart showing the current standards regarding Tap Water (which is regulated by the EPA) compared with Bottled Water (which is regulated by the FDA).

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2 Comments

Steven Ward said:

I travel a lot (airline pilot), and different places are different. New York City has great tap water. So do Denver, Salt Lake City, and a host of other places. Even though I know they pass the various standards, I won't drink the tap water in LA, San Diego or anyplace in Florida. Why? They taste bad! The same goes for Evian which I've never liked, but I WILL drink Dasani and some other bottles waters. I know that many of them are nothing more than processed and bottled tap water, but it comes down to what I like the taste of.

April 11, 2006 11:54 AM | Reply to this Comment

Chris said:

So tap water is better for you than bottled water which has no added chemicals?

March 30, 2006 12:55 AM | Reply to this Comment