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Drinking water: Is Bottled Water Health Conscious or Just Fashionable?

Drinking water has been proven to be good for you, even essential to good health. Water filters, bottled water and designer waters are more popular than ever, fueling a multi-billion dollar industry. However, is that bottled water really better than tap drinking water?

Most consumers believe that bottled water is free from the chemicals and toxins in tap water, but this is not necessarily the case. Many bottles of water contain high amounts of bacteria, and some studies have indicated that bottled water may be no better for you than tap water. If this is truly the case, then bottled water may be the new “snobbery.” Bottled drinking water is convenient, but not necessarily better for you. Additionally, bottled water does not undergo the regulatory scrutiny that tap water must, making it potentially more prone to contamination.

Americans spend almost $10 billion annually on bottled water, averaging about 24 gallons each, and the market is growing. In today’s uncertain economic times, with gas prices causing widespread alarm, it is interesting to note that some bottled water costs more per gallon than gasoline, and can cost up to 10,000 times the price of tap water. Additionally, water bottles add millions of pounds of trash to our landfills each year. Fueling the industry, bottled water costs millions to bottle, transport and refrigerate each year.

Even though we all know that drinking water is good for us, the ecologically responsible action would be to work to make tap water as safe as possible, buy a personal sports bottle, and enjoy. Drinking water should keep us, and our environment, healthy.

www.nytimes.com/2005/08/01/opinion/01standage.html?ei=5090&en=1f703b85fl7267b3&ex=128
 

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