Water, Water Everywhere, But Which One Should I Drink?

Bottled water is not something we buy very often at all because it is so much more expensive than just turning on the faucet and filling up our own glass, cup, or bottle.  When we do buy it it is generally to put in the cooler for a road trip or because we're out somewhere and want something to drink.  I have known for some time that drinking (tap) water standards are higher than bottle water standards, but like most people never really gave much thought to it.  And I had never stopped to wonder about the scope of human impact caused by the bottled water industry or the way they take advantage of people.  Until today...

Today I watched a documentary called "Tapped", a very informative 75 minute film all about bottled water.  The first part of the film is set in Fryeburg, Maine, a community of just over 3,000 where the Nestle company has a bottled water plant.  Unlike surface waters (streams, rivers, lakes, etc) there really is no legislation preventing companies from just coming in and pumping out ground water, which is exactly what is happening in Fryeburg and many other small towns where bottled water plants are taking up residence.  The people of Fryeburg have spent lots of time, energy, and money keeping their surface and ground waters clean, and due to lack of restrictions on ground water Nestle is able to just come in and take their water without any sort of compensation being made to the community and then turn around and sell them their own water.

In fact 60-70% of all bottle water is sold in the same state where it was acquired and bottled.  I have already mentioned that bottled water is virtually unregulated, and if it's possible it is even less regulated when it does not cross state lines because there is no inter-state commerce.  In cases where bottle water is to be sold in another state the FDA provides "regulation" if it can even be described as such.  There is only a single person in the Food and Drug Administration who oversees the bottled water industry, and that is only a portion of their job.  Bottled water companies are not required to provide reports to the FDA, and it is not required that any reports be made available to the public.

Some other tidbits that disgusted me:
*Independent analysis of bottled waters have found synthetic industrial chemicals, arsenic, bacteria (including fecal coliform), and various drugs (esp. caffeine and acetamenophen).
*Benzene (a carcinogenic agent) is commonly released into the atmosphere during manufacture of  PET and PETE plastic bottles, and may also be leeched out of the plastic into the bottle of water if left in a warm vehicle.
*The worldwide recycle rate for plastic water bottles is only 50%, in the US it is a much lower 20%.

I had previously read about the North Pacific Gyre, aka the North Pacific Garbage Patch.  It is actually the point on the earth that is the farthest away from any land masses, yet it is filled with trash (mainly plastic bottles).  Because of the way the ocean currents flow much of the garbage that is in our rivers, streams, and oceans will end up here, or in similar gyres in other oceans.

As I said, we do not buy bottled water often, but after seeing "Tapped" and thinking about the information presented and the information that I already knew I have decided to not buy or consume bottled water for any reason.  It will not be a difficult change at all - instead of packing bottled water for road trips we will simply fill our own reusable bottles and pack those in the cooler.  The other instance where I commonly bought bottled water is when I travel by plane, but I can just as easily bring an empty reusable bottle with me and fill it at the water fountain once I'm through security.  We definitely try to do what is healthiest for us and best for the environment when and where we can (and when and where we think about it), and it is so much easier for us to do when those choices also save us money: we have homemade, reusable microfiber cleaning cloths that we use with our Swiffer, we use cloth diapers, I make my own baby food, and now it is strictly tap water here!