Tap water vs. bottled water?

Question

I know this question has been asked before, but I get varying answers and I was hoping somebody would be able to straighten this debate out once and for all.

My cabbie [I live around Washington D.C.] claimed that he had recently been diagnsed w. stomach cancer,and that it was because he had been drinking tap water the past twenty years in thisd area. Is there any validity to this?

I generally try to conserve water, and drink from a tap,

So I want to know if drinking bottled water is in ANY WAY better for you , more 'reliable' (whatever that means), than drinking straight tap water?

Is there a big difference between the purity of tap water from state to state? Because I lived in New York for a while, and the tap water tasted so bad without a filter. But surely water from taps around the US must be of some of the safest in the world! or is this a misconception?

any recommendations, questions, please ask...

thanks!

Answer 1

bottle water is tap water in a bottle, but i think tap is better because (1) its free (2) you do not have to waste a bottle

and it does NOT cause cancer!

Answer 2

My opinion on BOTTLED WATER is simple.

AS A NECESSITY, IT IS AND CONTINUES TO BE THE BIGGEST   H O A X   EVER PERPETRATED ON THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. FURTHER, IT CONTINUES TO POLLUTE THE ENVIRONMENT BEING SOLD IN (SO-CALLED RECYCLABLE) PLASTIC BOTTLES.

THE BELIEF THAT BOTTLED WATER IS A NECESSITY IS FURTHER PROOF OF HOW GULLIBLE THE AMERICAN PUBLIC IS TO CORPORATE AMERICA'S MARKETING PRACTICES.

Having said that, I am a firm believer that, in general, and depending on your locale, tap water is just as good, if not better than bottled water. I know in some areas, there may be pungent minerals and such (like sulfur), or iron in the water making it smell like rotten eggs and such, but with a simple filter installed in the water line of any home, most, if not ALL impurities can be removed.

Sure, you might have to change a filter every 3 or 4 months depending on the type of filter or your amount of usage, but it is a heck of a lot cheaper in the long run and is the most environmentally safe thing to do.

About the recycled bottles?  I'll lay you odds that wherever you go, you will find empty, flattened, environmentally safe plastic water bottles on the ground. Do they GET recycled? Mostly NOT!

I have been using an "under-the-sink" double-osmosis filter that I picked up for less than $100.00 and with TWO filter changes a year, I have the CLEANEST, PUREST water that tastes good and can be used right out of the tap. At roughly $1.00 per 16 oz. bottle of water, think of what I'm saving!! Then think of what YOU SHOULD do!

Check any bottle of water, and on it you will find an EXPIRATION DATE somewhere on the bottle. It's not there for the water, it's there because the POLYMERS in the plastic that make the container begin to BREAK DOWN.

There is no expiration date on my faucet, except that I have to make sure I change the filter.

With regard to the cabbie who you say has stomach cancer from drinking  tap water..... well, it is possible he was drinking water from a tap that used a LEAD PIPE?  It is something to think about.... When I bought my house I found the water main coming into the house was made of LEAD, so I had the water company replace it with a copper pipe.

If it were up to me, there would be no need for bottled water.

Truly, though, it should be that bottled water is sold only in GLASS containers eliminating the need for an expiration date (which I think is hilarious anyway).

Answer 3

Bottled water is basically tap water that is filtered. Just head out to a store like Wal-Mart and buy a water filter.

Answer 4

the purest water would be distilled water, the kind you buy to use in irons, but becasue it's pure it tastes flat and not very good, bottled water companies either use sources of water that already contain minerals and such in them or add them making them less "pure" but tastier.  Tap water in the U.S. is remarkably safe. It typically does contain chloramine used to kill nasty bugs but this is gennerally considered safe and is hands down safer than the 'bugs' it kills.  Tap water is better for the environment fewer trucks fewer plastic bottles etc. bottles might be marginally safer than tap in the U.S. but there is some concern over chemicals leaching out of the plastic bottles.  Tap is cheaper better for the environment, contains flouride,and is plenty safe for my comfort level. You can also filter tap to make it taste like bottled water.  Of course a bottle of water is way better for you than a bottle of soda.

Answer 5

i agree with the first guy

on the news they said that aquafina is just actually tap water they did not say anything about that they filter it tho so it could be filterd or not

where else would the water come from if it was not from a tap anywayz?

in my home we don't buy bottled water we only buy the bottled flavored water (propell) in six packs then drink the flavored water out and reuse the bottles and fill'em with tap water and freezeem or put em in the fridge

mmm......................... tasty hahahahahaha

Answer 6

clearly some tap water is better than other tap water.

San Francisco has very good water.

East Bay MUD is also good water.

(no, no, that's municipal water district...)

Contra Costa water is sometimes quite bad.

this year, it'll probably not taste so good.

but that does not mean you get cancer from it.

you might in Love Canal.

unlikely in any municipal water district today.

personally, i use bottled water occasionally.

and i refill the bottles.

i think of 'em as disposable canteens.

and the water i put in 'em tastes just as good as the water that was there originally.

and is 1000 times cheaper -- at least.

Answer 7

Tests have been done on bottled and tap. Bottled can sometimes be more pure. Not always. Many bottlers of bottled water use tap. Tap water generally has more minerals than bottled water. Your body needs minerals.

BTW-I have read and heard that "reverse osmosis" is the process that is the most important in bottled as far as purity.

Answer 8

Generally everything that I have heard about tap water is very safe.

However a number of years ago a local water company in San Jose, California, The Great Oaks Water Company had chemical contamination in their wells.

The contamination was from solvent used in the electronics industry that had leaked form storage tanks into the ground.

It was discovered when there was an abnormal number of birth defects in the neighborhood.

So tap water is not always safe.

I understand that a charcoal filter that you can buy at the drug store will remove chemical contamination in your tap water. That is what I use.

Siince most botttled water is tap water anyway there is no guarantee that bottled water is any safer than tap water.

Any water that I drink, I run through a charcoal filter first.

Answer 9

Tap water will NOT cause cancer in the US. It is probably as safe most bottled waters. That being said if you are en enironmentalist trying to ban the selling of bottled water you are an ignorant fool. We have the right to drink whatever we like when we like as long as we pay for it. Bottled water does taste better and if it is bad for the environment too bad.