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Tap vs. Bottled ; � �, ;,S 1,---t'' Thanks in part to aggressive marketing, the bottled . Is tap water cheaper water industry has successfully convinced us all r,^ ,,; that water purchased in bottles is a healthier alternative 7 " than soda? to tap water. However, according to a four-year study ! ' 2 -' Yes!You can refill an 8 oz. glass of tap conducted by the Natural Resources Defense Council, 't;""""• water approximately 15,000 times for bottled water is not necessarily cleaner or safer than v the same cost as a six-pack of soda pop. most tap water. In fact, about 25 percent of bottled J, And, water has no sugar or caffeine. water is actually just bottled tap water (40 percent according to government estimates). How long can a person The Food and Drug Administration is responsible go without water? for regulating bottled water, but these rules allow for Although a person can live without food for less rigorous testing and purity standards than those more than a month, a person can only live required by the U.S. EPA for community tap water. without water for approximately one week. For instance, the high mineral content of some bottled waters makes them unsuitable for babies and young When was drinking water children. Further, the FDA completely exempts bottled first regulated? water that's packaged and sold within the same state, which accounts for about 70 percent of all bottled water The Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) of 1974 sold in the United States. represents the first time that public drinking water supplies were protected on a federal (national) level People spend 10,000 times more per gallon for bottled in the U.S. Amendments were made to the SDWA in water than they typically do for tap water. If you get 1986 and 1996. your recommended eight glasses a day from bottled water, you could spend up to $1,400 annually. The Seventy-one percent of Earth is same amount of tap water would cost about 49 cents. Even if you installed a filter device on your tap, your covered in water: how much is annual expenditure would be far less than what you'd drinkable? pay for bottled water. Oceans hold about 96.5 percent of all Earth's water. For a detailed discussion on the NRDC study results, Only three percent of the earth's water can be used as drinking water. Seventy-five percent of the world's fresh check out their Web site at www.nrdc.org/water/ drinking/bw/exesum.asp. water is frozen in the polar ice caps. How much water do we use every day? The average person in the U.S. uses 80 to 100 gallons Lead in Home Plumbing of water each day. (During medieval times a person If present, elevated levels of lead can cause serious used only 5 gallons per day.) It takes 2 gallons to health problems,especially for pregnant women and brush your teeth, 2 to 7 gallons to flush a toilet, and young children. Lead in drinking water is primarily 25 to 50 gallons to take a shower. from materials and components associated with service lines and home plumbing. We are responsible for When was chlorine first used in the providing high-quality drinking water, but cannot U.S.? control the variety of materials used in plumbing In 1908, Jersey City, New Jersey and Chicago, Illinois components. When your water has been sitting were the first water supplies to be chlorinated in the U.S. for several hours, you can ‘ „c minimize the potential for lead -t, ). ' . 0.'exposure by flushing your tap -.1 /f - How much water is in our for 30 seconds to 2 minutes ' u�...:� ,' ..� atmosphere? before using water for drinking or ”—/ ;'4 Forty trillion gallons of water are carried in the cooking. If you are concerned about e/ Y atmosphere across the U.S. each day. lead in your water, you may wish to 1 - .. havewater tested. Information `� our •' y . _amu How much water is in our bodies? on lead in drinking water, testing Water makes upalmost two-thirds of the human methods, and steps you can take to body, and 70 percent of the brain. minimize exposure is available from the Safe Drinking Water Hotline or at www.epa.gov/lead. _ 56