Building Trust in Tap Water Over Bottled Water
For the past 10 to 20 years people have been and still favoring bottled water over tap water to
fulfill their drinking needs. I believe people have lost their trust in their tap water. A main reason
for this loss in trust was the Flint, Michigan water crisis that occurred in 2014. Flint, Michigan
began experiencing major issues with the quality of their tap water when the water district in an
attempt to save money swapped their source water from the Detroit River and Lake Huron to the
Flint River. The Flint River’s water characteristics were different from their original and was
highly corrosive. The water system did not feed a corrosion control chemical to keep the interior
walls of the water mains from dissolving. The corrosive water did break down the inner wall of
the water mains causing pieces of the inner lining to flake off into the water supply. These flakes
caused the water to become discolored, have an odor, spread bacteria, and produce high levels of
lead. The lead levels became dangerously high in many areas throughout Flint and many people
sick. I got so bad that it killed a dozen people there. During the crisis the citizens in Flint had to
absolutely depend on bottled water and water trucked in for extremely good reasons. Flint is still
going through remediation to take of their problems. They experienced a rare situation and
taught the world a valuable lesson on tap water safety and quality.
Almost 95% of the tap water in the United States is perfectly safe for drinking. Central
Alabama is home to some of the finest tap water in the country. I am a surface water treatment
plant manager and I have the privilege to be behind the scenes in the tap water industry.
Sometimes I do interact with the community about the quality of their tap water. We receive
complaints from time to time about water quality and 99% of the time it has nothing to do with
the tap water but instead with their drains. The 1% of the problems we experience are usually
from water age and those are easily alleviated by flushing which sometimes involves educating
the customer on how the water system works. If they have an extra-long service line to their
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Building Trust in Tap Water Over Bottled Water
house, they customer is instructed to run their water for a few minutes in the morning to draw in
fresh water from the distribution system and flush out everything that has been sitting in their
service line. The drain issues are typically caused from grease, mold, and bacteria build ups in
the customer drains. When they turn their faucet on the drains are hit with chlorinated water and
a smell is released in the air. I go out to sample and test the customer’s water to be sure there are
no issues, to interview them, and to hopefully educate them. I usually find that most if not all the
customers I talk to will not drink the tap water. They insist on drinking bottled water. Customers
tell me that they do not trust the water and they believe that it is harmful or poisonous. I do my
best to review the consumer confidence report with them to show them and explain that the water
is safe but the scientific and technical jargon is misunderstood, complicated, and a lot of times
over their head. Frankly speaking it can be confusing to me at times as well. The public is putting
their trust in bottled water because it is tangible. They can see it and hold it in their hands. Many
of the people I have come into contact with do not understand that there are separate pipes
underground for separate functions such as drinking water, wastewater, and storm water.
After I sample and run a potability and bacteriological test on the customer’s water from their
home or business I share all the information with the customer via a phone call and a letter. Plus,
I keep a database on all information. Most times the customer is extremely gracious, and they tell
me in one way or another that they have gained faith in the water system because I took the time
to meet with them, answer their questions, sample the water, and even drink the water myself to
prove to them that it is safe. Most of these customers live in poorer areas of the city and county.
I inform the customer the cost savings of using tap water over bottled water by showing them the
savings. I explain that the price of tap water here costs about $0.01 per gallon of water compared
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Building Trust in Tap Water Over Bottled Water
to a gallon of the Wal-Mart brand of bottled water which costs around $1.01 per gallon. This is
tremendous savings for people who are low income.
Trusting a water system is difficult for a lot of people because they see it as a local
government entity. The customer gaining trust and confidence in the quality of the tap water
would not only lead to savings for the customer but also savings to the environment as well. The
waste from bottled water piles up in landfills when the bottles are disposed of in garbage cans.
Up to 60 million plastic bottles are dropped in landfills across the country every day. A lot of the
waste ends up on the ground where it sometimes ends up in the water ways. If they were
disposed of properly, they would be recycled and put to a future use. There are recycling centers
in the area but there is not a curbside pickup program. I believe more people would recycle if it
was convenient for them.
When you think about it bottled water is one of the most wasteful products that is frequently
purchased. It takes about three liters of water to make just one liter of bottled water. Yearly
bottled water production in the United States uses roughly 17 million barrels of oil to make the
plastic bottles for the American consumers. There is also a significant carbon footprint associated
with the required transportation of bottled water to the consumer. For instance, Fiji bottled water
can travel up to 9050 miles to reach the consumers in the United States. It was found that the
carbon footprint of transporting local bottled water in Italy is about 300 times greater than tap
water. Plus, Fiji water made a terrible ad campaign years ago by stating that it was a far superior
drinking water compared to the city of Cleveland, Ohio’s tap water in which Cleveland took
major offense. Cleveland took it upon themselves to set the record straight on their drinking
water and had comparisons made between Fiji’s and their own water. The report showed that Fiji
had elevated numbers of arsenic and other contaminants but still not over an action level.
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Building Trust in Tap Water Over Bottled Water
The United States Congress recently passed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law which is a huge
investment to correct the nation’s aging infrastructure and a large part of it will be used on water
utilities. While there are many water systems in the country like the one I work at that are in
good condition, there are still some that are lacking in many areas and do not produce water at a
high standard. Throughout the United States there are many water systems in disrepair and
struggling to get by. Many of these systems cannot afford the repairs and upgrades they require
but they also cannot afford to have fines from the state and the EPA over substandard quality
water. Aging infrastructure is finally going to get some attention that it desperately needs with
the proposed $55 billion dollars invested in by this new law.
This new law should help eliminate lead service lines in all water systems. Lead joints, repairs,
piping, and laterals are being identified right now in order to meet the goals of the new EPA lead
and copper rule. These lead lines that are being identified are being replaced all the way to the
customer’s home in some instances to ensure the lines containing lead have successfully been
removed. There are many challenges and changes coming to tap water quality in the United
States over the next 10 years because of the new laws being enacted. Hopefully this can also
lessen our dependence on bottled water in this country as well. Bottled water has its place in the
United States as a convenience or maybe a luxury. Bottled water however extremely necessary in
times of emergencies such as hurricane landfalls, earthquakes, floods, and any other kind of
natural or man-made disaster. I believe it is overused and there is a far safer and cheaper
alternative in tap water.
If we keep heading down the same path we are on and have been on for many years now with
choosing bottled water over tap water, it will be felt by future generations in the form of
pollution and excessive waste. It can take up to 450 to 1000 years for plastic bottles to
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Building Trust in Tap Water Over Bottled Water
biodegrade in and on the Earth. The amount of waste will continually grow year by year if habits
do not change. We must use tap water wisely and depend on it more. I believe that is being a
good steward of the planet. Tap water is clearly the better option in most cases as of right now.
Hopefully that will all change soon with the upcoming changes in the laws and the Bipartisan
Infrastructure Law.
Maybe the EPA could come up with some kind of grading system for water systems to be
stamped on all consumer confidence reports along with all the other water quality information.
Imagine if your local water system was making a D- for the past couple of years. This would
cause the community to start asking questions and demanding answers to why their grade is so
low. Is this low-grade impacting health and safety? I would hope the community would demand
something be done about it and get themselves involved. I believe this grading system could be
implemented in order for a better quality of life for the community and the ecosystem. I also
hope something like this would help communities gain trust and confidence in their water system
and the employees who work hard for quality because it is part of their community too.
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Building Trust in Tap Water Over Bottled Water
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Building Trust in Tap Water Over Bottled Water
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