Americans spent about $15 billion dollars\u00a0on bottled water last year. Bottled water sells for\u00a0300 times\u00a0the\u00a0cost<\/a>\u00a0of tap water – at\u00a0 minimum. Bling H2O sells individual bottles for $40. Their marketers attribute that price tag to a \u201c9 step purification process\u201d and aesthetic crystal-infused lining of the bottle. Bling H2O represents the zenith of ultra premium market of bottled water. How did we get here?<\/p>\n Pictures of pristine, rolling rivers pasted over serene mountain landscapes, giant billboards of celebrity endorsements, and all the suggestive bottle names that come with them have led the public to perceive bottled water as pure and superior to tap water. But what if I told you you that bottled water is nowhere near as pure as these advertisements suggest?<\/p>\n According to the director of the Natural Resource Defense Council, Eric Goldstein, \u201cno one should think that bottled water is better protected or safer than tap water.\u201d\u00a0One study<\/a>\u00a0found that\u00a01\/3\u00a0<\/strong>of the sample brands contained bacterial and chemical contaminants<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 including carcinogens, yuck!<\/p>\n In fact,\u00a0the FDA reports<\/a>\u00a0that 75% of bottled water comes from company selected water source; however, the remaining 25% comes from community or municipal source water. \u00a0As it turns out, tap water is firmly regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency. Tap water is constantly\u00a0<\/strong>checked<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0for biological, chemical, and radioactive contaminants while bottled water is not<\/strong>. You can see why tap water in the States is actually pretty safe for you – hell, the water companies are even using it!<\/p>\n The hyper-frequent transportation of bottled water over long distances has a direct increase on greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution, and fossil fuel consumption. The use of plastic bottles increases the amount of solid waste discarded.<\/p>\n Cities around the country are already getting into the practice of trading in plastic bottles for tap water. San Francisco city employees are\u00a0banned<\/a>\u00a0from buying bottled water when tap water is available; Ann Arbor banned commercially bottled water at city events, and Salt Lake City is looking to eliminate bottled water from their city limits entirely.<\/p>\n![\"Tap](\"http:\/\/bluelivingidea.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Tap-water-vs-Bottled-water.jpg\" "\\"Tap-water-vs-Bottled-water\\"")
<\/a>Fresh, pure, premium, and safe might be some of the words that come to mind when we think about bottled water<\/a>. But the question remains: Is bottled water really\u00a0better\u00a0than tap water? At first glance, you might assume so. But when we take a closer look, it turns out bottled water isn\u2019t really all that it\u2019s tapped out to be\u2026<\/p>\nThe Truth About Bottled Water<\/h3>\n