tap water vs bottled water

Why do Americans drink more than 30 billion bottles of water a year? It's pretty simple, really. Hype. We think that bottle watered is safer, healthier, or more pure because the multi-million dollar corporations that sell bottle water tell us so.

Water is good for you. In the last year, I've made the transition from drinking several unhealthy sodas a day to drinking, almost exclusively, organic juice, and, of course, water. More recently, I've gone from drinking mostly juice to drinking mostly water. I used to buy bottled water at the grocery store in bulk, never thinking that there was any reason not to. When I sat down to research my bottled water habit further, this is what I found:

- About 25% of bottled water (most of the affordable bottled water companies) comes from municipal water supplies, meaning: it's tap water. Aquafina, Dasani, and many other companies are packaging the same tap water that you have access to for pennies on the dollar.

- Scientific studies have shown that tap water is just as safe as bottled water. As a matter of fact, tap water is safer than bottled water because tap water is regulated by the EPA, while bottled water is regulated by the FDA. The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) is much stricter, and has a lot of people dedicated to making sure tap water is safe, while the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) doesn't even have a single person dedicated to bottle water, and their health standards are much more lax.

- Studies have also shown that there is not a taste difference between bottled water and most tap water. This is an exception in some areas, but not most. If your water doesn't taste great (and make sure it's not just your head telling you that, try a blind taste test) then filter it! Even the most basic Carbon filters will remove the trace amounts of sulfur and chlorine that cause bad taste in tap water. But, chances are, you don't even need one of these. Also, most refrigerators that dispense water filter it (and chill it!) first.

- You can buy 1000 gallons of tap water for the price of one bottle of water. A gallon of bottled water costs more than a gallon of gas, even at today's prices!

- Water bottles are made from natural gas and petroleum, oil. The amount of oil used to produce water bottles each year could power 100,000 cars a year instead. Only 23 percent of water bottles are recycled.

America has some of the best tap water in the world available right at your faucet... drink it?!

With all of that being said, Penn and Teller - who are more than a bit over the top (language and annoying personality) but... this is pretty straight forward - and the ending is key.