The War on Tap Water - Earth Day

“Bottled or tap?”

This is the question we are not only asked frequently at restaurants, but we also ask ourselves every time we reach for a glass of water. Subconsciously, the answer is almost always bottled.

It’s a good time to think about water as October 18 marks the 52nd anniversary of the 1972 Clean Water Act in the U.S, which largely came about because of the very first Earth Day in 1970, when 20 million people across the United States marched, demanding clean air and clean water.

While not everyone has access to clean drinking tap water from a tap – what’s shocking is that for many of us that do – we still prefer plastic bottled water. Why? Because tap water is losing the PR war with plastic bottled water.

Consider this terrible truth – producing one billion plastic bottles requires 24 million gallons of oil, and given that a staggering 79 percent of all the plastic ever made remains in polluting landfill sites around the world, why are we asking for our water to be served to us this way?

The public’s perception of plastic bottles as ‘better’ than tap water has been shaped by clever marketing campaigns. Brands like FIJI and Smartwater lure the public with their appealing names and promises of purity. Consequently, about 39 percent of participants in a recent Harvard study thought bottled water was superior to tap.

But, that’s not always a fair comparison. This March 2024, the FDA recalled over 78,000 cases of Fiji, due to the presence of three strains of bacteria and elevated manganese levels. This was followed in April when the FDA issued a second bottled drinking water recall, this time for a brand called “Waiakea Hawaiian Volcanic Water’. While neither contaminants were considered life threatening and the Fufi Water recall was eventually downgraded to a Class III category recall – both cases illustrate that bottled water is not immune to issues. However the one that is perhaps most worrying is around plastics getting into bottle water.

One concerning study revealed that the average liter of bottled water can contain up to 240,000 tiny pieces of plastic, 90 percent of the plastics they found were so tiny that they were classified as nanoplastics. These particles are even smaller than microplastics, which are typically visible to the eye and roughly the size of a grain of rice. When microplastics break down further, they form nanoplastics, measuring less than 1 µm in size. This tiny size allows them to penetrate the body’s cells and tissues.

Recent research has found microplastics in human blood, feces, and major organs. The health implications of these plastics are rapidly emerging with evidence suggesting associations with serious human health issues, including cell death and the decrease of immunity.

EARTHDAY.ORG’s own report, BABIES Vs. PLASTICS, published in November 2023 highlighted the risks these tiny plastic pieces present to babies especially: interrupted maternal-fetal communication, damaged DNA, autism and other endocrine disruption issues such as early onset puberty and cancers, including the prostate gland of fetuses were all associated with plastics. More research is needed to study the impact of plastic fragments, microplastics and nanoplastics, on human health as well as the plastic-related chemicals these particulates leach out into us and the environment.

How can you avoid drinking plastic particles and plastic related chemicals ? Where possible opt for tap water because according to research from 2022 by the National Institute of Health (NIC), in Bethesda, Maryland, tap water in the US at least contains less plastic contaminants than bottled water.

The U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is responsible for regulating tap water in the United States, and monitors for 90 known contaminants in tap water.

In San Francisco, a city that provides one of the best water qualities in the U.S, tap water is tested more than 10,000 times before being distributed. In April, 2024, the EPA announced new rules known as the National Primary Drinking Water Regulation (NPDWR), which covers six per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) which are chemicals that resist grease, oil, water, and heat and are commonly used in plastic products. The EPA is anticipating that the new ruling will “prevent PFAS exposure in drinking water for approximately 100 million people, prevent thousands of deaths, and reduce tens of thousands of serious PFAS-attributable illnesses”.

In addition, the EPA announced $1 billion in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to help states implement rigorous PFAS testing and treatment at public water systems and to help owners of private wells address PFAS contamination.

There have been cases of tap water being deemed dangerous, albeit not from plastics. For example in 2014 in Flint, Michigan, the local authority switched their municipal water supply source from Lake Huron to the Flint River. This corroded water distribution pipes, which then leached lead directly into tap water. But hopefully instances like this are rare.

Bottled water meanwhile is monitored for safety and reliability by the U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA manages bottled water as a food product, which means that bottled water does not have to be tested by certified laboratories for quality testing or for reporting test results.

The other added benefit of tap water is that much of it is fluoridated. Fluoride is added at low levels because it’s been shown to harden the enamel layer of teeth which builds up our resistance to tooth decay.

Tap water is significantly more economical than single-use plastic bottled water. Consumers who regularly buy bottled water pay approximately 3,000 percent more than those who drink tap water. Although costs can vary by household, the average annual water bill is around $300, translating to about a penny per gallon, while bottled water costs about $1.44 per gallon.

What’s more, an estimated 20 million metric tons of plastic end up in our environment annually- polluting the soil and our precious water table and ultimately and ironically, ourselves.

However, public skepticism over tap water persits which is helping to drive the ever expanding $46 billion U.S bottled water market, making it one of the fastest-growing industries in the world today.

We are so habitually used to having a plastic bottle of water ready and in our grasp, that it is easy to forget about good old tap water.

Psychologically, humans rely on two systems to motivate behavior; system 1 is responsible for making immediate decisions, while system 2 is about making analytical decisions. It is hard to switch to the latter system, because it requires more thinking and much more reasoning. So, when faced with the option of bottled or tap water, humans will tend to pick the one they are most familiar with, which is increasingly plastic bottled water. Even though it’s much more expensive, it is destroying the planet and poisoning our bodies with plastic particles and chemicals.

Let’s face it: switching to tap water isn’t just a matter of convenience; it requires us to break free from our ingrained habits. To make a meaningful change, we must learn to actively engage System 2 when it comes to our water choices. By consciously allowing our values to guide us, we can opt for tap water and help mitigate the waste and pollution associated with single-use plastic bottles, paving the way for a cleaner, healthier environment for future generations.

To help protect our communities from plastic buildup, and inform policymakers on plastic pollution and its underlying causes, consider donating to the EARTHDAY.ORG campaign to End Plastics. By uncovering the systematic problems within plastic use, including the misinformation regarding tap water, we can make a difference for our planet – and our own health, because every plastic water bottle sold is one more bottle too much.