Re: Bottled vs.Tap
Depends on how bad your tap water is. I used to run and maintain several medical grade water plants, and was the regional water treatment trainer for a major dialysis provider. We did a lot of analysis which would have been overkill for drinking water. Lots of details, but the biggest advantages to bottled water in most cases are taste and peace of mind. The municipal providers are way too closely regulated to allow much bad stuff through (though their chlorine is nasty enough!), and private wells can be tested to see whether there is adequate justification for further treatment or the purchase of bottled water. Cities and public water system providers, by the way, are required by law to provide a copy of their annual analysis reports. Many of the current standards are overkill, though I'm glad they are there.<br />I really bristle at the notion of paying so much for drinking water when the benefit is normally so little. When we buy bottled water we are paying a lot for labor and marketing, mostly. That is OK, I guess, but the expense really adds up. If chlorine and volatile organics are the the only concern a relatively inexpensive chlorine filter does the job incredibly well. If minerals are also an issue then following with a small reverse osmosis unit is not a terribly difficult thing. For most all safety and taste issues the carbon filter alone will provide a tremendous improvement at very little cost. There are larger under sink ones and even some decent ones which screw right onto the tap. This is much, much less expensive than bottled water in the long run.<br />I have to hand it to the bottlers- they struck a goldmine. Good marketing at the right time, much of which is playing off people's fears and concerns. I suggest everyone make the most informed decision possible before laying out hundreds of dollars per year for the most common and easily found commodity on the planet. It may be worth it, it might not be. The question isn't how much better the bottled water is, the question should be how bad is the water you have already, IMO.
