Bottled Water Vs Tap Water - The Debate

One of the more profitable businesses up to now has been the bottling and selling of water. Even though clean safe drinking water is available to almost all, people still buy bottled water. In the UK alone the bottled water market is worth around 1.4 billion pounds.



We are led to purchase bottled water by clever advertising tactics pronouncing the products as pure, natural and brimming with vitality. But with plumbing systems in the developed world sending totally safe water straight to our homes, and with companies including Franke taps offering an attractive solution to obtain water, is bottled water really required, or could it be just a very clever scam intended to part us with our cash?



Irrespective of the source water is water. The primary distinction will be the route it takes before we have access to it. The 1989 United Kingdom Water Act requires that tap water is tested at each and every stage of its treatment, and even at its source, it is tested daily. A detailed analysis of tap water is also available on demand.



Is this very same stringent testing applied to bottled water? And are they as clean as the water from our taps?



There's two types of bottled waters; Mineral and Spring. Despite claims from the Natural Mineral Waters Association that rigorous testing procedures are in place, mineral waters are in reality recommended to be tested for just 13 chemicals and bacterias. This is less than a quarter of the chemicals and bacterias that tap water is tested. There are also no rules stating when mineral water should be submitted to this testing. And the public cannot access the findings of such tests. Spring water is controlled by even fewer regulations and testing.



What's more, it seems wrong that when many millions of people worldwide still find it difficult to access clean drinking water, there are individuals who are making vast amounts of pounds bottling and selling it. And that we as a nation fall into the trap of paying money for something which we could have for practically nothing.



Exploring the evidence, it is perhaps safest to say that people ought to be fully grateful for our access to tap water, and consign bottled water to merely occasions when tap water isn't available. In addition to being relegated too much more arduous testing than its bottled alternatives, tap water is only a fraction of the cost. When you consider the facts it is a pity that a great many believe the marketing hype which promotes bottled water as being the better choice. Maybe you would be more inclined to make use of what is readily available to you, should you purchase appealing kitchen accessories like Franke taps.