Return to the Tap

Selby, Amy. “Return to the Tap,” Todays Chiropractic Lifestyle 39, no. 4 (2010): 26-29. http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.mnsu.edu. (Accessed February 8th, 2011).

This article discusses that the main difference between tap and bottled water is in the packaging, and that when buying bottled water you are mainly paying for the plastic bottle, not for the contents. The author also discusses the use of a filter in drinking tap water, which is much more economical than buying bottle after bottle, not to mention more environmentally friendly. A filter, according to this article, is mainly useful for taste only, however taste is one of the biggest reasons people buy bottled water. (Although, interestingly enough, this article also mentions that most people cannot tell the difference between tap and bottled water in blind taste tests.) Selby notes that bottled water is not even held to the same, stringent standards that tap water is held to by the FDA. According to Selby, ”Bottlers aren’t required to list the water's source on the bottle. For tap water, it's a different story. Under the Safe Drinking Water Act, local water systems are required to issue water quality reports and conduct a Contaminants of Emerging Concern List review” (Selby 28). Another interesting portion of this article is the mention of a study conducted in which subjects were given tap water in fancy bottles, and asked to share their thoughts about the taste. “When asked to share their thoughts diners cited that the bottled water "had no aftertaste" and they even expressed that the water tasted "glacial," after being told one bottle was sourced from a glacier” (Selby 28). This particular study, though very unscientific, is something I may certainly use in my research paper as it illustrates that the draw of bottled water isn’t necessarily for taste at all. One can only assume that the draw, then, would have to be status. Another interesting statistic that is mentioned in this article is that "It takes three to four liters of water to produce a bottle that holds one liter of water” (Selby 29), this statistic illustrates just how wasteful bottled water is, not to mention that the energy that goes into the process is estimated to be, according to Gleick, author of “Bottled and Sold” (2010), it is estimated that the energy that goes into bottling water “is the equivalent to 17 million barrels of oil in the U.S. for the 8 billion gallons of bottled water we drink every year." This is not even to mention that once you are finished with that liter of water, there are detrimental environmental factors to deal with! This source offers a lot of compelling evidence about the negative aspects of drinking bottled water that will be beneficial to my research project. I also have the benefit of learning about Gleick’s book, which I will definitely want to find at a library somewhere, as it probably contains a veritable wealth of information concerning the scope of my research project.