The TAP...the World's Source of Water

A recent New York Times article by Charles Duhigg states, “Jennifer Hall-Massey knows not to drink the tap water in her home near Charleston, West Virginia. In fact, her entire family tries to avoid any contact with the water. Her youngest son has scabs on his arms, legs and chest where the bathwater, polluted with lead, nickel and other heavy metals, caused painful rashes. Many of his brother’s teeth were capped to replace enamel that was eaten away. Their neighbors apply special lotions after showering because their skin burns. Tests show that their tap water contains arsenic, barium, lead, manganese and other chemicals at concentrations federal regulators say could contribute to cancer and damage the kidneys and nervous system. When 264 neighbors sued nine nearby coal companies, accusing them of putting dangerous waste into local water supplies, their lawyer did not have to look far for evidence. As required by state law, some of the companies had disclosed in reports to regulators that they were pumping into the ground illegal concentrations of chemicals, the same pollutants that flowed from residents’ taps.”

The government decided to instate The Clean Water Act (CWA) which gives the environmental protection agency (EPA) the authority to set effluent limits on an industry-wide (technology-based) basis and on a water-quality basis that ensure protection of the receiving water. The CWA requires anyone who wants to discharge pollutants to first obtain an NPDES permit, or else that discharge will be considered illegal. This act was initially put into play to help the American people feel safer about their drinking water. But the question is does the act really do its job? Do you feel safe drinking tap water? In the last five years alone, chemical factories, manufacturing plants and other workplaces have violated water pollution laws more than half a million times. The violations range from failing to report emissions to dumping toxins at concentrations regulators say might contribute to cancer, birth defects and other illnesses.

However, despite all that, the “Take Back the Tap” campaign asks people to choose tap water over bottled water. And I know what you are thinking because I’m thinking the same thing why would I choose polluted tap water over clean bottled water? And the question I rise is how “pure” is bottled water than tape water?

Contrary to what the bottled water industry would have you think, public tap water is healthy, safe and monitored. In fact, the EPA requires extensive testing of public water for both organic and inorganic contaminants. When, in some communities, public water systems fall short of consistently meeting EPA standards it is likely due to pollution of the water source, inadequate water treatment, or deteriorating infrastructure. Federal, state and local governments must protect the quality and integrity of our water sources. That means full enforcement of the CWA.


Watching bottled water ads, you'd think that tap water might not be healthy. But it's not true. ABC wrote an article that stated, “Five bottles of national brands of bottled water and a sample of tap water from a drinking fountain in the middle of New York City was sent to a microbiologist, named Aaron Margolin of the University of New Hampshire, to test for bacteria that can make you sick, like E. coli. He said and I quote, "There was actually no difference between the New York City tap water and the bottled waters that we evaluated.” Many scientists have run tests like that and have consistently found that tap water is as good for you as bottled waters that cost 500 times more. Case in point: Dasani, a Coca-Cola product. Despite its exotic-sounding name, Dasani is simply purified tap water that’s had minerals added back in. For example, if your Dasani water was bottled at the Coca-Cola Bottling Company in Philadelphia, you’re drinking Philly tap water. But it’s not the only brand of water that relies on city pipes to provide its product. About 25 percent of all bottled water is taken from municipal water sources, including Pepsi’s Aquafina.

Noting the problems associated with large scale consumption of bottled water, the Take Back the Tap campaign asks people to choose tap water over bottled water.

Facts

§ Bottled water costs consumers 240 to 10,000 times more per gallon than tap water, and is less likely to be ensured for purity.
§ Americans bought a total of 31.2 billion liters of bottled water in 2006.
§ That required over 17 million barrels of oil.
§ And 3 liters of water for every liter made.
§ 2.5 tons of carbon-dioxide where released that year from bottled water production.
§ Cars produced 27 million tons a year….
§ Which means bottled water produces 10% the amount of CO2 that driving does.
§ Recycling sounds great, but according to The Container Recycling Institute, 86 percent of plastic water bottles used in the United States become litter or garbage.
§ Americans hold some notion that bottled water is safer than tap...but in reality it all water (H2O).

TAKE BACK THE TAP!

http://blog.eatwellguide.org/
http://www.nytimes.com
http://abcnews.go.com
http://health.yahoo.com/