4 reasons to drink water from the tap

Not all chemicals are bad. Without chemicals such as hydrogen and oxygen, for example, there would be no way to make water, a vital ingredient in beer”“Dave Barry

I hate when people complain about high gas prices while they joyously drink bottled water.

Here’s a quick fact: bottled water can be more expensive than gas. Individually, it might cost $1.00 for a 16 ounce bottle, equating to a whopping $8.00 per gallon. It gets better when you buy in bulk, where a bottle may be as low as 30 cents, but that still equates to $2.40 a gallon.

Just as I avoid paying ATM fees, I avoid drinking bottled water and have forever improved my finances. These small purchases really do add up to savings over a longer time, like a month or a year. By avoiding a $7 case purchase per week, I can stash $365 each year into my savings. In three years, that’s over $1,000 saved because I don’t drink bottled water.

Of course, I would never advocate a position just because it is cheaper. I’ve done some research about my preferences and risks (just as you should) before coming to a conclusion. Here are four key factors I considered before I decided bottled water is not worth $1,000 every three years.

1. American tap water is usually safe

“[In general] it is definitely safe for you to turn on the tap,” says Jack Hoffbuhr, executive director of the non-profit American Water Works Association, which represents 57,000 water industry workers from treatment plant operators to regulators. Compared to other countries, America has one of the best water systems in the world, he says.

2. There’s no evidence that bottled water is safer

Despite all the hype, the NRDC concludes, “While much tap water is indeed risky, having compared available data, we conclude that there is no assurance that bottled water is any safer than tap water.” Scientists at the University of Geneva arrived at the same conclusion, and add that, in 50 percent of the cases they studied, the only difference between tap and bottled water was that the latter contained added minerals and salts, “which do not actually mean the water is healthier.” In 1997, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization concluded that bottled water does not have greater nutritional value than tap water.

3. Can you taste the difference?

Rarely can people taste a difference between tap and bottled water. Try this test and tell me if you really can differentiate:

1. Take two bottles of your favorite bottled water.

2. Have a friend dump one and fill with regular tap water and mark the bottles in such a way so only he/she can tell them apart.

3. Refrigerate both bottles for two hours so the temperatures are the same.

4. Take the tap water bottled water taste test.

Having trouble telling the difference? While water taste and quality varies depending on location, tap water quality here in the U.S. is generally quite good. In our informal testing, our tasters could not tell the difference between tap water and a leading bottled water brand.

4. Bottled water has its own environmental issues (not a direct cost to me, but it is a societal cost)

The WWF argues that the distribution of bottled water requires substantially more fuel than delivering tap water, especially since over 22 million tons of the bottled liquid is transferred each year from country to country. Instead of relying on a mostly preexisting infrastructure of underground pipes and plumbing, delivering bottled water-often from places as far-flung as France, Iceland or Maine-burns fossil fuels and results in the release of thousands of tons of harmful emissions.

Based on these four opinions, I reserve drinking bottled water for emergencies like earthquakes or times when I am on the road and a tap is unavailable.

I’m certainly not a water authority to tell you what to drink, so if you’re still skeptical of tap water, at least consider cheaper alternatives. Bulk delivery waters services can be as low as $1.50 per gallon (seven 5-gallon containers for $52), and filtered water is roughly $0.25 to $0.30 a gallon. Or consider making a bigger change, like installing a household filtration system, which I read some where can average out to as low as $0.07 per gallon.