In defense of tap water:

We here at H2olabcheck spend a lot of time dealing with the intricacies of the water quality you receive in your home. There may often be problems with tap water so it is a no brainer to get your tap water tested regularly to ensure that it is safe to consume. For the purposes of this article however let’s assume that you have tested your water with us and it has proved safe on all parameter checked for.

The allure of bottled water can be quite appealing. It comes in a variety of brands all with ergonomic and fashionable designs. John Jewell however coined bottled water to be “the marketing trick of the century”. Perrier were the first ones to enter this market in the 1970’s. Nobody would have known that they would reach such heights simply by bottling a nearly free commodity in plastic, putting a label on it and selling it for a price on par with many soft drinks.

There are three main points of argument you could consider when debating the superiority of tap water over bottled water.

• Tap water may be Healthier

Ireland has some of the best quality tap water in the world. It has to pass a variety of standards to be deemed safe for human consumption. It is also disinfected sufficiently to ensure it has no harmful bacteria in it. Bottled water may be sitting in the bottle for a large period of time before it is consumed and contains no disinfecting additives.

One must also consider the health implications of the plastic from the plastic bottles it is served in leaching into the water. There have been a lot of claims in the last 10 years that the chemicals in these plastic bottles may be damaging to human health.  

As a result many claim that tap water may in fact be healthier than bottled water.

• Where do you think bottled water comes from?

You can get spring water and water bottled on sight at natural sources. However these only make up a portion of the bottled water market. Where do you think the other portion of bottled water comes from? Some secret water spring beneath the desert?  No, a tap.

In America it is estimated that 40 percent of bottled water comes from a municipal source, AKA a tap.  In this sense you are just paying an astonishingly high mark up on your regular old tap water.

• Bottled water destroys the environment

If neither of the above arguments have swayed you, maybe your altruistic sense of environmentalism will. Plastic bottles are normally a by-product of oil. They are made and often only used once and then do not decompose for thousands of years. Long after you have drank your overpriced water the bottle may be floating around the ocean interfering with wildlife.

For this reason tap water is not just better for you, it’s better for the planet.

I feel the arguments for drinking tap water remain pretty strong. However at this stage it is important to mention that if you consume tap water, use the money you save from buying bottled water to purchase a water test regularly. It is important to test your water at regular intervals to ensure it is free from any harmful impurities.

For a water test follow this link:

https://www.h2olabcheck.com/product/full-check