bottled water or filtered tap- which one is better for your health?

Question

can't seem to figure out if bottled water is better than filtered tap..

Answer 1

I think it depends on where you are, or where you are visiting.

I've been to Kenya several times and we always have to drink bottled water there, as the tap water would do bad things to our intestinal tracts - to put it politely. Same goes for some other countries.

Some communities in the US might have objectionable mineral content or may be highly chlorinated, I've been to several places where the tap water smelled strongly of sulfur and wasn't particularly appetizing.

However, not all bottled water is what it's cracked up to be either. "Purified water", "distilled water", "purified drinking water", "distilled drinking water" and "deionized water" are all names for purified tap water or groundwater. You might as well just filter you own!

"Well water" is water pumped up from an underground aquifer. My family has a house with a well- so, I could bottle it and (with appropraite permits and testing etc) sell it as "Well water".

"Artesian Water" just means the water underground is under pressure and will come up a well hole without having to be pumped

"Spring water" is water collected directly from a natural spring, or from a well that accesses the aquifer that feeds that spring.

Local water sources (tap water) are tested in the US for safety- There is a Safe Drinking Water Act that is adminstered by the EPA and sets standards for around 90 contaminants. If your local water source is deemed unsafe for some reason, the water distributor must notify you! However, if you have your own well, no one is monitoring its water quality except for you!

According to the EPA: "Water suppliers that serve the same people year-round are required to send their customers an annual water quality report (sometimes called a consumer confidence report). Contact your water supplier to get a copy or see if your report is posted on-line."

So if you want to know what's in your tap water, all you have to do is ask.

I personally like the pitcher-style filters (Brita/Pur). My tap water doesn't have any major funky-flavors, and I am confident that my local water is safe. But, if I lived in the sulfer-rich areas of the continent, I would be tempted to go with bottled water.

I think it boils down to (no pun intended) what tastes better to you since the most important thing is to not dehydrate, and both bottled and tap water do that job just as well. Although, as mentioned in another answer, people with compromised immune systems may have special needs.

By the way, according to the EPA: "The decision to add fluoride is made on a local basis.", so your local tap water may, or may not have added fluoride.

Also keep in mind, that if you don't recycle, drinking bottled water produces a lot of excess trash.

Answer 2

Depends on the kind of bottled water - spring, drinking, distilled, artesian, etc. Some bottled waters are just tap water from another city.

All bottled waters tell you the source - where the water came from. On some bottles of "drinking water", the source of the water may say "from the Municipal Supply of Houston (or any other city)", which basically means that it's the same water that comes out of the faucet in that city - therefore it's not necessarily better than your own filtered tap water.

If you're really worried about the quality of your water, your local water company is required to have the statistics of the levels of harmful elements the water contains and how it measures up to what is allowed by US EPA standards.

Answer 3

Truth is you never really know. I live in Cleveland Oh. and when they ran the ads for Figi saying that it was better than Cleveland tap our city ran tests and found that Figi had very high levels of arsenic. One year when I was in Florida they did a special on it also and found that one company(don't remember who) wasn't getting water from a spring but out of a well. You don't even want to know what types of things you find in wells. Sometimes tap water has lead problems though.
My problem though is that in my family we have an allergy to all water. After drinking a few sips to a glass of either we get sick. So I choose filtered water or Voss because it come in a glass bottle so you don't get the plastic and preservative taste.

Answer 4

You don't want to drink too purified water it's not good for you your immune system needs some of the bacteria and stuff to keep it strong there's no regulations on bottled water there's more regulations on the city water and most bottle waters is just city water that's been filtered anyway

Answer 5

It is all personal preference - if you like bottled water then that's fine, but I try to stay away from bottled water because I'm "going green" and prefer not to use unneeded plastic bottles ^.^ I loved the tap water where I lived a year ago, but where I am now I think it tastes a bit weird. I found that adding like 2 pieces of ice to my glass makes me not taste the difference in the water (ha, maybe it's because it numbs your tongue ^.^ [kidding] ) Anyways, I prefer tap because it accessible, cheep, and Eco-friendly.

Answer 6

Bottled

Answer 7

Bottled water is cleaner and tastes better, but filtered tap has fluoride.

Answer 8

filtered is more advisable if it is coming from your home! and the bottled water is sometimes unstable because the amount of chlorine present in it may sometimes be too high and may be hazardous to any one's health! as a Food Technologist Student, i prefer the either trusted bottled water or the filtered which is coming from you own home

Answer 9

I do know that for HIV positive people filtered water is safer...bacteria can develop in tap water that is unsafe...other that that it's just a preference in taste...also something to consider if you have the flu or your immune system is down for any reason...go with the filtered...also depends on the city's water ...that is public information and they have to tell you...

Answer 10

the best bottled is figi, i would say filtered tap is better. Bottled water has some defects that they dont tell you about. And you know that filtered is always natural and straight from your home.