Should You Stop Drinking Bottled Water?

Do you consider yourself to be a bottled water fanatic? If you find yourself struggling to consume tap water, instead opting for “convenient” bottled water, you might be surprised to learn there are ways to make tap safe. When filtered or purified properly, tap water offers the most convenient, healthy, and safe drinking water solution that would put all bottled water to shame. 

H2: The Unproven Benefits of Bottled Water

In years past, countless tests have been conducted in terms of the safety of bottled water. More recently, it was discovered that nearly 50 types of bottled water, carbonated and noncarbonated, contained alarming levels of PFAS chemicals. In many experts opinions, the levels greatly outnumbered limits considered safe for human consumption. This man-made chemical is commonly used for products that resist grease and heat. What happens when they're consumed by a human being?

 

PFAS, short for per-and polyfluoroalkyl, accumulate within your body after years of consumption. If the effects are anything like those observed in lab animals, here are a few of the negatives we could be looking forward to. If you enjoy bottled water on a regular basis, you risk issues seen in lab animals, including: birth defects, cancer, reproductive, developmental, kidney, liver, and even immunological effects. 

Also Read: Why You Need to Stop Drinking Bottled Water?

H2: Is Bottled Water Safer than Tap Water?

Up to 91% of all of the discarded plastic used worldwide goes without recycling. Consumers are so enamored with the use of bottled water, that close to a million plastic bottles are purchased each minute. Basically, because this plastic goes without recycling, you're essentially chucking it straight into the ocean for wildlife to deal with, if it doesn't get delivered to sit forever at a landfill.

 

What's even worse, in terms of overall safety, are the stringent regulations imposed upon tap water, and not bottled. Federal standards dictate that municipal water systems are required to provide annual consumer confidence reports, in order to detail treatment methods, contents, and levels of remaining hazardous contaminants. Bottled water is simply required to FDA regulation, with zero required reporting. They don't even have to tell you what's in there!

 

H2:Can I Make My Tap Water Safe to Drink?

Most of these problems could be avoided completely if we dedicated ourselves to refusing plastic bottled water, and relied on filtered or purified tap water, instead. It's almost overwhelming to discover the methods and devices available to ease this burden. Long gone are the days that we are required to travel miles in order to tote water home, yet we find ourselves returning to that point thanks to cases of bottled water. The best part about the majority of these water filtration devices, is that many, such as an RO machine, are capable of removing up to 1000 contaminants from tap water.

 

Waterdrop Reverse Osmosis Water Filtration System

 

If your budget is a concern, and the upfront cost associated with a Reverse Osmosis purification system, you have to break down the numbers. Yes, the cost is higher up front, but you are receiving years of use with little maintenance. Bottled water will require the same process for as many years as you continue to utilize them. Not only do you have to pay to buy the water, pay to bring it home, pay to refrigerate it, but you have to pay to dispose of it – and then the earth ultimately pays the price.

H2: Let's Wrap it Up

If you love the plant as much as the rest of us, switching back to filtered tap water is an easy choice. Not only can we lower the overall dependency upon plastic, but we can save wildlife, nourish instead of damage. There is no magical solution to ending climate change, unless we all take personal responsibility through urgent action. When you think about it this way, moving away from plastic bottled water is simple – let's get there together.