How Tap Water Should Be Considered A Gift For Citizens From Their Government

In the fourth chapter, “Fouling Our Own Nests,” of Unquenchable: America’s Water Crisis and What to do About It, Robert Glennon discusses the dangers of water contamination that plague many parts of the United States. His main claim that water pollution requires the help of the entire population stems from an unmentioned warrant: contaminating the national water supply with chemicals from individual communities and industries is detrimental to American society. In order to strengthen his argument, Glennon showcases the impacts of local contamination issues on larger populations and utilizes quantitatively intimidating statistics to solidify his position and inspire his readers to fight for better water regulation.

Drinking water provided by a municipality, “tap”, is regulated by the EPA. Additionally, the Safe Water Drinking Act requires all states submit annual reports regarding public water system violations to the EPA. The EPA determines Maximum Contaminant Level Goals (MCLGs) for tap water. The goals are the levels at which a consumer could perceivably drink

In a qualitative study performed in the United Kingdom, “the majority of participants associated bottled water with having fewer impurities than tap water, and were more likely to trust the quality of bottled water than tap water” (Ward). Individuals with well water should also be attentive to the purity of their water supply, as it is not even held to regulation standard. Looking at the facts though, bottled water is regulated by Food and Drug Administration in equivalence to the Environmental Protection Agency who holds the public officials accountable for the standards of tap water (Hogan & Larsen). This is not to say, though, that there is not human error on both sides that can cause room for contamination of a drinking supply and jeopardize the safety of the

Water is one of life’s most precious resources. Without it, life as we know it would cease to exist. Almost all life is dependent on water for survival. Humanity uses water in almost everything they do in their daily lives, whether that be for consumption or production. However water itself is not enough to sufice, clean water is required for life to thrive. Dirty untreated water can be the cause for death as well, so it is integral that water be kept clean. The government has enacted laws to ensure that our water is maintained and kept clean. These laws cover industries, plumbing, and sanitation among other things. Unfortunately, the city government in Flint Michigan willfully failed to provide safe water for its citizens.

In Flint Michigan, nearly 100,000 residents are drinking lead contaminated water. (QuickFacts). We are not discussing a third world country on the other side of the globe, but rather a city in the United States. It would seem as though the land of opportunity, and the land many flee too should be able to provide clean drinking water. However, in the United States 310,000 children aged 1-5 are found with an unsafe level of lead running through their blood stream. (Lead 8). In Flint alone, 8,000 children under the age of six have been exposed to harmful levels of lead. The agencies and government that was put into place to protect the public from these issues is often turning a blind eye, and often allowing the public to continue to drink this contaminated water. A major part of the problem is that lead water pipes run throughout cities across the United States. Although it would very expensive to replace all the water pipes running through Flint, not replacing the pipes could potentially continue to do more harm to the ecosystems, and to the communities they are in. (rst2)

The difference in regulations of checks and balances is that the EPA requires cities to carry out stringent testing and done so hundreds of times to ensure safety for the populations they serve. Conversely, the FDA leaves it up to the manufacturers to deem their product safe (Crane, 2011). This fact is unsettling at best, considering that forty-five percent of the water deemed “pure” is repackaged from municipal water facilities (Crane, 2011).

In a world where society has the opportunity to access almost anything in an instant, quick access does not end when it comes to food and beverages. Nowadays there is no waiting with options like fast food, take home meals, and more specifically, bottled water. Despite a quick and easy outlet to water from taps within homes, Americans purchased over 9 billion gallons of water in 2011. This massive and productive industry continues to grow each year by over 5% (“Bottled Water Pros and Cons”). The production of bottled water, compared to tap, has many disadvantages including long term health issues, damage to the environment, and expenses. Consequently, the benefits of bottled water

Drinking water filtration systems are quickly rising in popularity as purified water has become big business. Water filters are everywhere, and they come in all sizes, from filters for one gallon to those cleaning water for an entire house. The bottled water market is growing as people concerned about the safety of the water they drink trust water companies to provide them with the service of drinking water filtration and a filtered product that's worth the price. However, it has been proven that tap water, particularly in cities, is full of contaminants that are not healthy to consume. But bottled drinking water is not the solution to the problem of contamination. The industry is not well-regulated, and most bottled water is no healthier than

This act guarantees assurance to every American that the water that they consume is drinkable. These regulations for drinking water only applies to public water systems. The EPA updates its unregulated list of contaminants that can appear in water every five years. That’s a long time to be waiting. The standards for drinking water is also reviewed every six years and amended if necessary. Why not add on another year on to the five we already have to wait and review what’s in our public drinking water, right? Most tap drinking water contain chemicals such as chlorine and fluoride, and as we know already, that’s the last chemical you want in your body. Chlorine and other chemicals put into the water are very likely to react with other organic chemicals in the water and have the potential to create new substances in the water that may act as carcinogens. A carcinogen is any substance or organism that possesses the potential to cause cancer to living tissue. Even water pipes contribute to the adding of toxic chemicals and metals to the water (Corriher, para. 1-5). Tap water as compared to bottle water can be just as bad for your health so really, what’s all the fuss about when it comes to debating on whether tap water is better than bottled water and vice versa? If tap water isn’t healthy for you, and neither is bottled water, what’s

However, 80 students (59.3%) admitted they do not know water’s regulation; 33 students (24.4%) feel water bottles do have more regulations than tap, 16 (11.9%) students believe bottled water do not have more regulations and finally, 6 (4.4%) feel they have the same regulations. Though it may be surprising to some, tap water is held under more rules and regulations than bottled. This is because different organization regulates bottled and tap. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is in charge of tap water and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates bottled water (Goodman 2009). Because the EPA regulates all public water systems, along with wells and collection systems, the EPA sets the standards for drinking water. According to the Natural Resource Defense Council, “tap water in most big cities must be disinfected, filtered to remove pathogens, and tested for Cryptosporidium and giardia viruses. Bottled water does not have to be” (Postman 2016). Knowing this proves the fact that bottled water may not be healthier than tap. The Natural Resource Defense Council has determined “25 percent or more of bottled water is really just tap water in a bottle–sometimes further treated, sometimes not” (Postman 2016). It can then be assumed, consumers may be misinformed about the quality of bottled water. Besides, water regulations, the majority of the students (105) were aware that bottled

Many Americans may suffer from drinking contaminated water and not even know it. For example, In Flint Michigan, they were once getting a nice clean water supply from Lake Huron, but they had to pay the city of Detroit. So the city council decided they could cut costs by using the water from the Flint River. The river was known to the local people as filthy and thought that it was a joke switching to the river water. Once they switched their water supply to the river they had noticed the water was brown and looked dirty. After testing they found out the river water was nineteen times more corrosive compared to the Lake Huron water since it so corrosive it eats at the water. With 50% of the water lines in Flint Michigan being lead this also

Drinking water is vital to the health and well-being of human life, without it, life does not exist. Human bodies are composed of 60 percent water. Drinking healthy water is important to maintain a healthy balance of body fluids. Tap water and bottled water in general are safe to drink, the question is how safe and what are you willing to pay to consume healthy, safe water. Most Americans assume the Environmental Protection Agency is protecting our citizens by monitoring water quality, contaminant levels and potential health effects. Burke (2016) noted, “This was not the case for residents of Flint, Michigan, where citizens were exposed to high levels of lead because of government

The demand for bottled drinking water has been growing rapidly since the 1980s, increasing nearly 400% in the last decade according to the Council of Bottled Water Manufacturers, as a result of declining consumer confidence in the safety and quality of municipal water supplies. In response, individuals and businesses are purchasing bottled drinking water for use in their homes and offices. Free of contaminants and government-monitored, bottled waters are derived from protected springs or wells or are produced by purifying and processing water from public water supplies. Consumer demand for bottled water is expected to continue to increase, as water supplies worldwide are deemed undrinkable or unhealthy.

Sanitary water is imperative for survival. In the United States people use clean water for drinking, household needs, agriculture, recreation, industry and commerce and thermoelectricity (CDC). Sanitary drinking water is most important, because contaminated drinking water can become a serious health hazard. One of the most dangerous water contaminates to human health is lead. Lead is considered a dangerous heavy metal contaminate, which generally cannot be seen in water. In drinking water lead can have adverse effects on the health of both children and adults (EPA). Approximately 18 million Americans are provided drinking water that violates the federal lead level safety standards (guardian).

Have you ever had any concerns about bottled water? Do you think that bottled water consumption should be banned? Bottled water is water packed in plastic containers and sold for human consumption (Health Canada, 2013). Currently, the amount of bottled water consumed has increased considerably since many people feel it is safer drinking bottled water than tap water (Parent and Wrong, 2014). According to The Statistics Portal, the global sale of bottled water took a leap from 161, 589 to 181, 608 liters from 2009 to 2011. Only in the United States, each American citizen consumed around 32 gallons of bottled water in 2013, thus meaning an equivalent growth of 15, 94% over 2009 (The Statistics Portal, 2014). In fact, due to good portability, bottled water has been helpful in both simple and complex situations such as daily exercises and natural disasters. Even though having those few considerable advantages, bottled water still have been less beneficial; especially due to the negative impacts in the social, health and environmental fields.