Water: Bottled or Tap?

In the article "Bottled or Tap" the author, Dr. Joe Schwarcz, talks about the controversies involving how much water a person should drink per day and whether or not bottled water is better for us than tap water.

Dr. Schwarcz argues that the only reason that we intake eight bottles of water is due to a study back in nineteen forty five in which the Natural Academy of Sciences recommended that people drink one milliliter of water for every calorie consumed. On a two thousand calorie diet this would be two liters of water or approximately eight glasses. This is the only reason we have this eight glasses per day rule and that there hasn't been any long-term studies to verify the assumption. He says that we need about one liter per day for proper kidney function and to sweat breathe and defecate properly and that any extra water dilutes the urine but does not help flush any more toxins out of our system.

The idea of "flushing" toxins out with special water or water volume is only used by "unscrupulous marketers" on late night infomercials to sell product and does not have a dramatic impact on actual removal of toxins from the body. Dr. Joe believes that around five bottles per day is an acceptable amount to drink and that you should mainly just drink when you are thirsty to stay hydrated. Replace the water you use up. If you are exercising than drink more.. etc.

Dr. Joe makes a very good point about bottled water. Even if it is better for our bodies the amount or fossil fuels we consume to extract, produce, and ship the bottles of water are producing way more harmful effects in our environment than the few molecules of chlorine or calcium or other chemicals found in our water. I agree that everyone drinking only bottled water is a problem because of the disposable nature of the water bottle.

I think that maybe a better solution might be to invest on more industrial size filters for public drinking fountains so that the water at the fountain tastes better and is filtered to reduce the amount of chemicals in the municipal tap water systems. We should encourage more people to not buy the plastic bottles that aren't able to be recycled and encourage them to buy re-usable containers such as Nalgene bottles that can be refilled and reused. We all need water to live but we also need clean air and foods that aren't full of pollution. We should do our best to reuse what we have and make as little waste as possible. A little reuse can save a lot of cleanup and a lot of energy in production as well as the pollution that goes along with it.