You may assume that buying bottled water is the most effective way to make sure you aren’t consuming any contaminants that could be floating about in your tap or well water. While it may seem like the best solution, that bottled water you’re buying could be doing you, your wallet, and even the environment far more harm than good. Still on the fence? Below we’ve listed 5 reasons why you should stop buying bottled water. Read on to learn why you should ditch the plastic, and how you can save money and still have pure drinking water in your home.
1. Plastic bottles are not sustainable
Let’s start with the most pressing concern: the environment. The high demand for plastic water bottles means we use a large number of fossil fuels to create more and more plastic, which in turn, increases the amount of carbon emissions that go into the atmosphere and destroy our ecosystems.
And the problems don’t stop there! Once a plastic bottle has been used, incorrect recycling means they can (and very often do) end up in the ocean. In Ireland and the UK alone, approximately 38.5 million plastic bottles are used every day, with only a fraction of them being recycled. The rest end up in landfills or polluting our oceans and waterways. These bottles take hundreds of years to decompose, leaching harmful chemicals into the environment in the process.
If your water bottle has found its way to the big blue, it will break up very slowly into micro-plastics which are incredibly damaging to marine life. Micro-plastics can even make their way onto your dinner plate having been consumed by the fish you bought for tea!
2. It’s waste of money
When you’re caught short on the move and need to top up your liquid levels, the attraction of a bottle of water is clear – it seems cheap and easy, right? Well, perhaps, but it’s not as cheap as you might think. Putting aside the enormous cost to the environment, when you add up all the bottled water you’ve purchased over the years, the cost quickly racks up.
It may not seem like a lot, but that adds up—especially if you tend to buy single-serve plastic bottles, and price can vary drastically depending on the brand. Bottled water can be on average 1,000 times more expensive than tap water. If you think you’re saving money buying in bulk, you’re wrong. The average family can easily spend over €400 – 600 per year on their bottled water habit.
3. Bottled water can lead to health issues
The plastic that stores the water could be harmful to your health. The biggest offender is BPA, also known as bisphenol-A. Some research shows that BPA can seep into food or beverages from containers that are made with BPA. Exposure to BPA is a concern because of the possible health effects on the brain, behaviour and prostate gland of foetuses, infants, and children.
While less damaging, even BPA-free bottles are not fail-safe. Many of the compounds used in their construction are similarly dangerous to human health. Additionally, most plastic water bottles are made from plastic known as PET or polyethylene terephthalate. On hotter days PET can start to release toxic antinomy into the water.
But, plastic toxins aren’t the only dangers of plastic water bottles. Microplastics – tiny particles of plastic released as your bottle gradually breaks down – enter your body as you drink.
They may seem innocuous in size, but microplastics have been shown to cause damage to human cells and can pass from mothers to their unborn children. Worryingly, regular day to day use of plastic water bottles will expose you to levels of microplastics significant enough to cause harm.
4. Bottled Water Is Not Necessarily Cleaner
Contrary to popular belief, bottled water is not always the purest option. The water is not tested in many cases, so you really don’t know what you’re drinking.
In general, tap water is far more regulated than bottled water, so you can sure of its quality. Of course, how clean your tap water is will depend on where you live, but you’ll often find that your bottled water is not far off your tap water in terms of metals and other things (a small amount is not dangerous, but higher amounts can cause problems).
5. Many Brand Are Selling You Tap Water
The quality of the bottled water you buy is going to vary quite a bit. Much of it is nothing more than municipal water that goes through some filtration at the bottling plant.
The National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) estimates around 25% comes straight from the tap, and some of it isn’t even further treated. Manufacturers of bottled water are good at marketing. They use the right words to make you think their product is the purest, most refreshing water imaginable.
Remember, water filtration is something you can do in your own home if you choose.
Filtered water is better than bottled water – hands down
Tap water can be quite different in terms of quality and taste depending on where you live, the plumbing in your home, and your personal preference. It’s certainly possible that your tap water isn’t the best to be drinking.
Bottled water is certainly not the only solution!
A water filter can transform your tap water, making it safe and enjoyable to drink. Products like reverse osmosis systems provide you with the purest, most-refreshing water right at your tap.
Ditch the single use plastic bottles for good and take better care of both yourself and the environment. Making the change is simple and it makes a real difference.
If you’d like to learn more about our water filtration system, get in touch with our team for a free consultation.
