Some people prefer to drink their water straight from the tap while others walk around all day with a plastic bottle in their hands. Other H2O “hybrids” start their day with a sealed plastic bottle, then periodically refill with tap water.
So is a glass of water better than a bottle of water, or is it all pretty much the same stuff? It all depends on how it is treated and where it comes from.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, all drinking water, both bottled and tap, comes from similar sources, including rivers, lakes and underground aquifers. Its flavor is dependent on factors such as its source and quality of the water (including its natural mineral content) and how, or if, it is treated.
Some bottled water can even come from municipal water sources, but that fact must be reflected in its label. If the water is treated with distillation, deionization or reverse osmosis, the bottle does not have to reflect its municipal source, according to the International Bottled Water Association, the trade association representing the bottled water industry.
According to city of Temple water officials, bottled water has nothing over its tap water.
The city uses two water treatment plants, both in the area of Parkside Drive near Belton, and takes its water from the Leon River about 3.5 miles upstream from Belton Lake.
The city’s conventional plant was built in 1939 but has gone through numerous upgrades over the years. The city’s high-tech membrane plant was put into operation in 2004.
Nicole M. Torralva, assistant director of public works for the city, said the city works hard to come up with high-quality drinking water.
“Here in the Temple plant we meet the requirements every day, checking water and making sure we’re in those established limits,” she said. “We’re looking at the water every day several times a day at different locations in the system.”
The two plants produce water that is tested by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality based on EPA standards. The commission provides an annual report to cities. The EPA requires water systems to check for more than 90 contaminants.
Johnnie Reisner, manager at the Temple plants, said the conventional plant uses a chemical process and the membrane plant does not, although the water from both plants flows into the city via common pipes.
The conventional plant is given a series of chemical treatments that clear the water of sediments. It is filtered and has chlorine and fluoride added before it is sent into the city for use.
“At the membrane plant the water comes out of the river and runs through our microfiltration system with no chemical addition,” he said. “It’s a lot simpler version as far as treatment of water and a lot of people are going to that now because of the complexity of conventional versus membrane.”
He said bottlers often use a membrane system.
“They take a city’s tap water and they run it through a filtration system and then they bottle it,” he said.
Although Ms. Torralva says she prefers drinking city water, she sees the value of bottled water.
“We really do a lot of business at lunch time and we always drink city water,” Ms. Torralva said, adding that it is less expensive. “We have a good system here - our plants work well.”
But, she said, bottled water is convenient when a tap is not available.
The plant manages a lab and a staff of 16 people who help keep it running, including testing on a regular basis.
“We know hour by hour what we need to do to make sure that the water coming out meets the state standards,” she said of the city’s 24-hour a day, 365-day-per-year water operation.
The last drinking water quality report, submitted in 2007, showed the city meets or exceeds all EPA drinking water requirements, including commonly used additives such as chlorine and fluoride.
The report says, “Drinking water, including bottled water, may reasonably be expected to contain at least small amounts of some contaminants. The presence of contaminants does not necessarily indicate that water poses a health risk.”
The report says that when drinking water meets federal standards, there may not be any health-based benefits to buying bottled water or filtration devices.
According to the EPA, some bottled water is treated more than tap water, while some is treated less or not treated at all.
Bottled water costs much more than tap water on a per gallon basis, but bottled water is valuable in emergency situations. Some bottled water may be an option for people with weakened immune systems.
Figuring out what is in that bottle of water is all about reading the labels.
In addition to volume and nutritional claims and contact information, the label may include the type of water, its source and the way it was treated.
Bottled water product names do not necessarily specify the location of water in the bottle, according to the EPA. For example, “mountain water” does not necessarily come from a snow-covered peak.
The FDA regulates bottled water as a food product and the EPA regulates tap water as a utility. The FDA must review all new regulations for tap water to determine if they are applicable to bottled water, according to the organization.
