Is Bottled Water Safer than Tap Water?

The question on whether on whether bottled water is safer for drinking than tap water is marked with many controversies and therefore it is a subject of discussion. This paper seeks to discuss reasons as to why bottled water is not safer than tap water. The National Resource Defense Council confirmed that the rules regulating bottled water were not sufficient to guarantee the people’s safety. The food and drug administration was responsible for the bottled water at national levels and allowed carbonated water (NRDC, 2008).

Further to this, bottled water is not often tested for bacterial or any other contamination and this creates loop holes for unsafe water to be bottled. Bottled water has been confirmed by the Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC) through a four year research review to be not necessarily safe. This research study was inclusive of the safety standards that regulate the bottled water industry in comparison with the national rules governing the tap water.

The NRDC after carrying out test on over 1000 bottles come to the conclusion that a reasonable percentage of all bottled water was just tap water, which was not treated (NRDC, 2008). The fact that different water bottling companies exist and carry their bottling procedures differently need to be appreciated right at the beginning of this paper otherwise its content could be generalized unnecessarily. This is because as per the National Resource Defense council, some companies’ product was found to satisfy the safety rules but others proved to be contaminated by harmful chemicals which were put with an aim of improving test.

Research studies have shown that plastic bottle which are commonly used for bottling water have some chemicals which can disassociate and leach into the water. These chemicals are known to affect testosterone which is a vital hormone in human beings. References Natural Resource Defense Council. (2008). Bringing Safe Water to the World. Retrieved August 11, 2010, from http://www. nrdc. org/international/safewater. asp