Bottled water is making companies like PepsiCo, the Coca-Cola Company and Nestle a combined profit of $110 billion a year, when in reality all they are doing is putting in bottles and selling the tap water we could get at home. So, if it’s just tap water, why are we so set on going to the store and buying it? The reason for this is that Big Bev has put fear of tap water into the minds of most people in the world. As far as the United States goes, tap water is relatively safe to drink, probably even more so than the bottled water, because the EPA has high standards and quality tests that the water must go through at the plants in cities where it is regulated. The Big Bev’s bottled water is controlled by the FDA, which is not as strict as the EPA when it comes to water. There have been tests run, comparing bottled water and tap water, showing that bottled has 6.31 micrograms of arsenic per bottle while tap water had less. Another issue with bottled water is that the bottle itself has both environmental and health issues linked to it.
Sources: Cliff Weathers, “The most brazen rip-off ever: How the beverage industry brainwashed you to fear tap water,” AlterNet, March 15, 2015, http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/03/the-most-brazen-rip-off-ever-how-the-beverage-industry-brainwashed-you-to-fear-tap-water/.
Student Researcher: Samantha Woods (Indian River State College)
Faculty Evaluator: Elliot D. Cohen (Indian River State College)