Is piped water better than bottled water?
Author : teriannOne day I was so thirsty that I felt as if I had been walking through the Sahara desert for a few days.
I decided to purchase a bottle of water from a local vendor.
The cost of the water was $100.00.
I was astounded at the cost, but as I was desperate, I bought and drank the water. Although I was thirsty, there was a faint aftertaste that I did not like and I begun to wonder what was really in those bottles of water that we love to drink.
The ingredients on the bottle of water I bought only read, ‘Purified Drinking Water’. Of course, that is an easy claim to make since I can’t very well test if the water has been purified or not.
There are also varying degrees of taste with bottled water. Some bottled water has a crisp or fresh taste while others have a faint metallic taste which is not refreshing.
So if it is all ‘purified’ water why don’t they all taste the same?
Is it dangerous to drink bottled water?
Well the safety of drinking bottled water is subject to personal opinion.
However, some people are of the opinion that the plastic bottle which houses the water is not good for our health.
They claim that when the bottled water is left in a hot car for hours then tested it had absorbed a lot of the plastic and changed the molecules which makes it carcinogenic (a cancer giving substance)
Others think that the shelf life of bottled water can affect its quality. Check your bottled water the next time you buy it and you will clearly see a ‘best by’ date stamped on.
Why does bottled water need an expiration date?
Piped Water
Piped water has always had a bad reputation as being ‘dirty’. However I happen to know a lot of persons who drink water straight from the pipe and swear by its refreshing taste. The best thing is that it costs less than bottled water!
Here in Jamaica, the National Water Commission just won an award as having the ‘best tasting’ water in the region.
So we certainly are doing something right!
What’s your take? I know I will be saving my money and taking piped water with me!
Teri Ann Renee Paisley
Gleaner Online Writer
Tags: bottled water
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8 Responses to “Is piped water better than bottled water?”
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Piped water is better. water shouldn’t have an expiration date. we have one of the best piped water in the world
I have had one experience where after consuming about two thirds of the contents of one of the larger containers, a distinctly unpleasant and stale odour could be detected coming from the container…..that was it for me.I now prefer to take my chances with chlorinated piped water….which I had used for most of my life!
Terri Ann, pure water does not have a taste. So, when you taste water and it has an aftertaste, or it tastes better than another water sample, this is usually caused by an introduction of substances into the water, whether at source, during the processing, from the container or a combination of any of these. Tap water in Jamaica has a quality that is heavily dependent on where it was processed. The award, for example, was given to water taken from the Seaview plant. I don’t think that the much of Portmore’s water would have been competitive. Now, if pure is defined as having pathogens less than a certain part-per-million (we never put zero when I used to analyse water), then almost all bottled water and tap water would be considered “pure”. However, pure water, from a laboratory point of view, is without chemicals, sediments, pathogens or any kind of substance that may interfere with tests for pathogens or any kind of scientific work. In fact, most persons do not like to drink scientifically pure water because it has no taste. Well, as pure as we can get since I have never seen anyone in the scientific community claim to produce water that was 100% pure.
By the way, I prefer piped water since it has better ingredients than bottled water.
Thanks for the info Kent, I enjoy learning from my readers.
Buying unknown water from just any vendor is a bad idea. Anyone can buy plastic water bottles and caps and stick a label on it. Pure water or distiller water is actually not healthy to drink too often. Pure water will leach out all the chemicals it comes into contact with, including minerals from your body.
One of the biggest problems with water in Jamaica is that the water coming out of you tap will either be directly from NWC or from your storage tank. No one cleans out their tanks so they are all contaminated with mildew, mold, Mosquitos and other materials. When it is coming from the tank, you generally get diarrhea after drinking it, unless you have an iron gut!
When the tanks are empty during the drought, they should be cleaned and flushed.
years ago 60 minutes did a program
which showed a very popular expensive
water being catch from a pipe & bottled
not from a spring as they claimed (wont
name) This under cover investigation
opened my eyes.
I cant see JAs water as the best I have
been hospitalized with diarrhea after carelessly drinking the piped water while
out of town…Drs diagnosis, the water at
times carries a dirty color and I have
noticed bad odor from the water in Kingston too.
I have a filter on my pipe now I fill
a bottle overnight and freeze to take with
me whenever I step out,it saves me money &
I am never thirsty out & about.
I refuse to drink water with any bleach in
it,& the tap water boiled taste so bad.
I believe lots of bottled water are from
the tap and impurities eventually seep from the bottle then gets into ones system
Very interesting Jojo, thanks for commenting!