Bottled Water vs Tap

For this weeks blog we had to research where our tap water comes from along with the standards that tap is regulated to. We also had to look in to the benefits and consequences of bottle water.

1. My homes tap water comes from the Riverside Public Utilities source. From reading this information, I was able to determine that my water source is pretty damn reliable and safe. Just looking at the analysis, I can see that everything is within regulated levels.

2.
a. The government agency that regulates tap water is the Environmental Protection Agency or EPA. The EPA sets a criteria that makes so all tap sources must fit between certain percentages of microbiological life, chlorine, clarity, ect.

b. On the other hand, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is what regulates bottled water. The FDA ensures that all water that is bottled fits the same standards that the EPA has for tap water. The FDA also has strict identification criteria for different types of bottled waters, such as artesian or mineral water.

c. The two appear to be about the same when it comes to standards, though bottled water can be slightly more regulated. The FDA uses the same list of chemicals that the EPA uses for regulation purposes. The FDA though does have its uniform standards on different types of water. The FDA also extends all of its legal authority to state health organizations during inspection and enforcement activities.

3. The issues with bottled water are plentiful and effect both the environment and humans. First of all, disposable water bottles account for a large amount of plastic waste created each year, with about 26 billion plastic bottles being created each year. This equals about 30 million tons of plastic. (source) It also takes about 1.5 million barrels of oil to produce this ridiculous amount of bottles.

For humans, bottled water has economical impacts on the areas that the water is drained from. The water is cheap for the companies but can have long lasting effects on local communities who must still maintain the infrastructure and well being for the source. Besides this, water companies tend to produce as much as they can with no thought for local droughts or water shortages. For instance, Nestle was found to be collecting water from California in May of 2017 despite the extreme drought conditions. (Article about Nestle)