Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Welcome to an exciting report on water, the universal liquid.
My name is Tony Hue and over the next
5-7 minutes we will examine not only the similarities but also
the differences between bottled water and tap water.
What is water exactly?
Well, you can find it almost anywhere in the world
in the form of glaciers, lakes, and oceans.
It's tastes like nothing and we use it in
our everyday lives.
How about the water that we drink?
There is the water we can get from the faucet and
the water that comes from plastic bottles.
But, are the two different from one another?
Many people think so due to advertising campaigns
bottled water companies to deceive consumers
that their water comes from pristine mountain
water sources or other natural habitats.
Recently, however, well-known bottled water companies
like Aquafina and Dasani that their water
is really just regular tap water.
Tap water??
Although some may argue that they both come from public water sources,
both bottled water and tap water have different retail costs
and regulations that set them apart.
Here now with a report on how much it costs
to buy bottled water and tap water is Rich Allen.
Rich?
Do you remember the last time you paid for your tap water?
Yeah, me neither.
It's so cheap, it's practically free.
In fact, if you were to drink the recommended
8 glasses a day of water from tap water,
it would only cost 49 cents a year.
You can keep the change.
Bottled water however can be ten thousand times more expensive.
At approximately $2.50 per liter, or $10 per gallon
that's more expensive than gasoline.
Regular bottled Evian water for about $2 can get you
one thousand gallons of tap water.
So, why is bottled water so expensive compared to tap water?
Well, there are three main factors that contribute
to the cost of bottled water.
There's packaging, transportation, and recycling.
The process of producing plastic bottles
drains millions of gallons of oil every day.
Similarly, transporting bottled water long distances
across long distances on boats, trucks, and trains
burn even more fossil fuels.
Recycling the billions of plastic bottles presents
yet another daunting, if not, impossible task.
With over 86% of all plastic bottles ending up as garbage
or litter in the United States
bottled water companies and the federal government must
spend billions of dollars each year to help recycle them.
All of these various costs determine how
much Americans must pay for a bottle of water.
I'm Rich Allen, reporting in San Francisco.
Back to you Tony.
Thanks Rich!
In our next segment, we'll discuss our next topic: regulation.
In the United States, tap water is regulated by the
Environmental Protection Agency, or the EPA.
Bottled water is regulated by the Food and Drug Administration
, or the FDA.
To learn more about the significance of this
we go back again to Rich Allen.
Rich?
Thanks Tony.
The EPA and the FDA sets different standards
on the water they regulate.
Well, here's the major distinction.
While the EPA sets tough, stringent rules on tap water,
the FDA is the complete opposite.
You see, for example, the EPA requires
hundreds of tests on tap water and prohibits the
sale of any water that contains E coli. or other bacteria.
The FDA only requires bottled water to be tested for contamination
once a week.
In fact, the agency allows some levels of bacteria
contamination in bottled water.
Here's another alarming comparison for you.
The EPA employs hundreds of workers to maintain and
regulate its tap water.
The FDA has only one.
Another fact you should keep in mind
is that bottled water companies don't have
to let consumers know if their water is contaminated.
You might want to think twice the next
time you open another bottle of water.
I'm Rich Allen, reporting in San Francisco.
Back to you Tony.
Thanks again Rich for another intriguing report.
Before I conclude this special broadcast,
I want to go back to the beginning with you
and recall what we had known at the beginning about water.
As human beings, we know about the water
we can find in nature
and the water that we use.
We focused on the water that we use
and asked ourselves whether it was the same thing.
However, we found out that there were two
distinct types of water.
Tap water...
And bottled water.
It is true that nearly 25% of bottled water comes from
public municipal sources.
Despite that, we presented two differences that set them apart.
Retail cost and regulation.
Tap water is a lot cheaper than bottled water.
and is regulated by stricter standards by the EPA
as opposed to the more lenient standards
by the FDA imposed on bottled water.
Based on these reasons, bottled water and tap water
cannot be considered to be the same thing.
Well, there you have it.
My name is Tony Hue and I thank you for listening
to a special report on water,
See you later and goodbye.