The notion that bottled water is cleaner and safer than tap water is a fallacy. According to a new report released by Food and Water Watch, “Take Back the Tap,” 64 percent of bottled water is sourced from municipal water taps and is no healthier than tap water.
Unknowingly, American’s are paying $16 billion a year to drink water from a bottle that would otherwise be free, or cost a fraction of the price if U.S. household drank from their tap – “a gallon of bottled water costs $9.50” which is “nearly 2,000 times the price of tap water for municipal taxpayers,” according to EcoWatch.
“When bottlers are not selling municipal water, they are pumping and selling common water resources that belong to the public, harming the environment, and depleting community water supplies,” the study concluded.
The bottled water companies and lobbying groups for the industry have come up with a marketing scheme that promotes bottled water as safer, healthier and cleaner than tap water. But according to the report, this information is misleading. The study found that drinking water from the tap is more safe because municipal tap water is under scrutiny of the federal government, which places more requirements and safety monitoring that it does on company’s manufacturing bottled water.
The report pushes the government to pass the Water Affordability, Transparency, Equity, and Reliability (WATER) Act in order to “dedicate federal funds to renovate the nation’s public water infrastructure to ensure renewed public confidence in tap water, and avert a water affordability crisis,” according to EcoWatch.
“The WATER Act will simultaneously deliver water justice to the millions of people in the United States who lack access to safe water, while creating nearly a million jobs,” the report stated.
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