Bottled Water

Why Bother with Bottled Water

What you are getting for your money

Bottled water has become a major presence in the United States.Sales have shot up over 400 percent in the last 15 years. Billions of dollars are spent on bottled water annually. There are over 700 different regional brands and almost 100 imported brands available around the country, and Americans now guzzle billions of gallons of the stuff each year. Why do son many spend so much for something they can get from the tap for pennies?

It is mostly a matter of taste. A majority of those surveyed by the International Bottled Water Association said that they consumed bottled water because it tastes better then tap water, a difference mostly attributable to different disinfecting agents. Most tap water is purified with chlorine, but the majority of bottled water is disinfected with ozone, which leaves no aftertaste or smell. Differing levels of minerals and sodium also affect the taste.

Others in the pool cited concerns about the quality of tap water, a legitimate fear in areas where municipal water purification is primitive or mismanaged and may have suffered contamination. Doctors also sometimes recommend bottled water to pregnant women and children when the local water supply has high nitrate levels.

Otherwise, bottled water is no healthier than tap water. Most health claims by bottled water distributors are really claims for the healthiness of bottled water as an alternative to soft drinks. So if water is your flavor, remember this: A recent study by the American Water Works Association says if you drink the recommended eight glasses of water a day, 1,000 gallons will provide an adequate supply for the next five years.

Photo by Elena

A Clear Definition of Water

It used to be that, depending on where you were, spring water could mean anything from water imported from the Swiss Alps to purified tap water. The Food and Drug Administration in 1994 whittled that definition down to one meaning in a set of regulations that defined standards for most types of bottled water. Carbonated water, soda water, tonic water, and seltzer water are considered soft drinks and so are regulated separately.

• Artesian Well Water: Water drawn from a well where the aquifer (a water-bearing rock formation) is above the level of the natural water table,
• Distilled Water: Water that has been vaporized and then condensed to remove minerals.
• Mineral Water: Water collected at a borehole or spring originating from a geologically and physically protected underground water source.
• Purified water: Water that has been either distilled, deionized, or passed through membrane filters to remove particles in a process called reversed osmosis.
• Spring Water: Water collected as it flows naturally to the surface from a spring or from a borehole to the underground source of the spring.
• Well Water: Water collected from a hole drilled to tap an aquifer.