Water!

It wasn’t until recently that I actually stopped to think about where my home’s tap water comes from. Maybe for some people it has crossed their mind, but not mine. All I knew was that I get a bill every month from the Riverside Public Utilities that shows how much water we have used. Therefore, I found this assignment in my environmental science class to be really interesting. Where does my home’s tap water come from? After doing some research I was able to figure out that Riverside’s water is actually ground water from wells located in the Bunker Hill Basin and Riverside Basin. Interesting huh? However, I found it kind of scary that I found this information on a Water Quality Report from 2010 which explained about the possible contaminants in water sources. This report included things such as viruses and bacteria from sewage, salts and metals from runoffs, along with radioactive contaminants from oil and gas production. On a good note though, there are regulations of course in order to ensure that the tap water coming out of our faucets is safe, such as limiting the amount of contaminants in waste provided by public water systems. I also found out that water utilities treat nearly 34 billion gallons of water every day to remove any kind of contaminants.  I don’t know about you, but the idea of possible contaminants in my drinking water is still creepy to think about.

Another fact I found really interesting, is that in the United States, bottled water and tap water are regulated by two different federal agencies. The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) regulates bottled water, while the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) regulates are tap water. When it comes down to ground water and drinking water the EPA has issued extensive regulations on the production, distribution and quality of public drinking water, including regulations on source water protection, operation of drinking water systems, contaminants levels, and reporting requirements. Now, when it comes to bottles water I noticed that under our statutory authority, the FDA regulates bottled water as a food. It requires that manufacturers must be responsible for producing safe, wholesome, and truthfully labeled food products, which also includes bottled water. The FDA has also established specific regulations which include standard of identity regulations, standard of quality regulations, and current good manufacturing practice regulations. At the end of the day regulations on our tap water is a lot stricter and enforceable.  

It has been noticed by many that bottled water has become a popular beverage. According to the Beverage Marketing Corporation, the amount of bottled water consumed in the United States has doubled over the past 10 years. However, there are actually many concerns and drawbacks when it comes to the safety of bottled water, and has actually been labeled as expensive and wasteful. Plus, when you narrow down the facts, it may not be as safe as you think. Actually, the EWG (Environmental Working Group) found a total of 38 contaminants in the water of 10 popular brands. If consumed over a long period of time, some of these contaminants were said to cause cancer or other health problems.  Moving on to our environment, I can’t even stress how hurtful and hazardous water bottles can be. Most of the time bottled water is shipped from far away, even though most of them end up close to home in a landfill, creating thousands of tons of global warming pollution and other air pollution. I feel that the best way to reach a long term solution with this tap vs. bottled water idea is just to make tap water safer for everyone.