Survey: Are You Worried About Your Water?
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto 
on 03.12.08
We have worried that some might be nervous about drinking tap water after the recent Associated Press study that purported to find traces of hormones and antibiotics in some municipal water supplies, and might be scared into switching to bottled water. Some have even suggested that the bottled water industry might be behind this.
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The water that comes into our high-rise is filtered and then we have an undercounter filter as well. I feel that we're fairly safe, which is reinforced by the test results our local gov't released about the water leaving their treatment facilities.
All of my bottled water is in a glass bottle that I picked up for a song and fill from my tap. I like it cold and free of ice.
Maybe this is a naive comment, but water is the one thing that all of us literally "need," and I'm outraged about this pharmaceutical BS. We have absolutely no choice as to whether we consume these pharmaceuticals and we also have no way to identify whether or not they are present in the water we choose to drink. Ever since I read the stories (I hesitate to use the word "reports") about the presence of pharmaceuticals in the water supply, the act of drinking water has been so much less satisfying (and possibly dangerous?)
I know this is naive and for that I apologize. I have not read the official reports. Also, there has obviously been water pollution on grand scales before. For some reason or another this pharmaceutical thing really irks me.
My $.02
The food the average American eats is full of hormones and antibiotics - not to mention all the other mystery chemicals they use to make "food" these days. Is a little more in the drinking water going to make that much more of a difference?
Are they any more damaging than the fluoride that they put in our water?
I remember hearing something about a place in Medieval Europe where the population all got sick from drinking contaminated water, but the local monks, who drank beer made in their abbey, were just fine. So, yeah, Sam Smith's it is...
Either way we are stuffed. Tap water is bad not only because of the pharmas in the water. Think about those pipes that transports it to your house... And the chemicals they use to "clean" your water. But it has a much better environmental impact.
Bottled water has a much better health ratio - less chemicals and pharmas especially if it is spring water. No chemicals allowed either when it is spring water. So the water is purer - and no, I am not saying it tastes better. Only that it is less of a health risk than tap - lokk at the health to sickness ratio when comparing tap with spring water. But bottled water has a much bigger environmental impact than tap.
So you decide - health or environment, because they are different for tap and bottled water.
Except if you compare bottled water with other bottled things like soda's. The bottled water wins both ways.
the difference, frazzledglispa, is that you have the choice of eating foods pumped full of hormones, etc. but the water you consume is much harder to avoid b/c it reaches far beyond just drinking water. you think coffee shops filter the chemicals out or the beer you drink doesn't use fluorinated water???
the difference, frazzledglispa, is that you have the choice of eating foods pumped full of hormones, etc. but the water you consume is much harder to avoid b/c it reaches far beyond just drinking water. you think coffee shops filter the chemicals out or the beer you drink doesn't use fluorinated water???
Seattle's tap water comes from sources that have been protected, as *entire watersheds*, since Seattle was young. We're testing, but I believe we've tested before and have found nothing.
Angry African:
Tap water is regulated by the EPA, and has to be checked over 30 times a month. Bottled water is regulated by the FDA, and they have 1 person working part time to check that it's clean. Other than that, the only regualation is being done by the companies themselves, and we know how well that's worked out (cough cough.....chinese paint....cough cough).
Plus, a lot of bottled water comes from municipal water sources, aka tap water. A lot of the reason why tap water in a lot of places doesn't taste as good is because of extra cleaning process that they're required to do that often kills the taste. Plus, if you're really concerned about the taste or whatever happens to be in the tap water, just use a britta filter, or if you want to take it to the next level a reverse osmosis filter or a distiller.