DRINK UP: It was a couple years ago now that The Era conducted a
water tasting on Main Street, pitting Bradford City water against
one of the popular bottled varieties.
It was close, but Bradford’s tap water won.
And, so, we weren’t surprised to learn that a lot of the bottled
water sold in the United States comes directly from the tap!
To really appreciate Bradford water, you have to go some place
where the water comes out of the spigot tepid and a little smelly.
In many cities, this passes for drinking water and goes a long way
toward explaining the popularity of bottled water.
But there’s no such excuse in Bradford. Our water is not just
tasty but passes a myriad of tests to verify its purity.
“Bottled water generally is no cleaner, or safer, or healthier
than tap water. In fact, the federal government requires far more
rigorous and frequent safety testing and monitoring of municipal
drinking water,” said Food & Water Watch Executive Director
Wenonah Hauter.
“Rather than buying into this myth of purity in a bottle,
consumers should drink from the tap.”
Word from here? Buy one bottle of water, drink the contents, and
then fill it from the tap!
Not persuaded? An editorial in the U.S. Water News cited a new
Food & Water report, titled “Take Back the Tap,” which makes
the following points to consider:
• Bottled water costs hundreds or thousands of times more than
tap water. Compare ,0.002 per gallon for most tap water to a range
of ,0.89 to ,8.26 per gallon for bottled waters.
• The Food and Drug Administration regulates only the 30 to 40
percent of bottled water sold across state lines.
• The Environmental Protection Agency requires up to several
hundred water tests per month by utility companies while the FDA
requires only one water test per week by bottling companies.
• Nearly 40 percent of bottled water is simply filtered or
treated tap water.
• U.S. plastic bottle production requires more than 1.5 million
barrels of oil annually, enough to fuel 100,000 cars.
• About 86 percent of the empty plastic water bottles in the
United States land in the garbage instead of being recycled.
