By Abby Barry

This question is always asked and no one really knows what the right answer is. Is it better to drink bottled water or tap water? We don’t think much of it but when the topic comes up it can be a debate. I think tap water is better for you because you never know what could be in the plastic bottles.

Many people argue this topic and you always see people carrying around plastic bottles but what most people don’t know is that the plastic bottles are not as pure as they think. Bottled water is only regulated by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) but all tap water is regulated by the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency). The EPA is required to send out an annual water quality report to all of the tap water people use.

People also know where their tap water is coming from; sometimes that is not the case with bottled water. Bottled water is not required to send out any report to people or companies which also makes drinking tap water a better idea.

Most people don’t think of how much safer tap water than bottled water. A lot has to do with the actual bottle itself. There are chemicals found in the bottles that are also found in products like shower curtains, baby toys, cosmetics and fragrances. More than 25% of the bottles from plastic water bottle companies comes from municipal supply and suppliers are not required to buy the source of the water on the label. Since they aren’t required to put sources on the label it could be worse than your tap water from your house.

One of the most argued topics is that people should start using reusable bottles filled with the water they can use at home instead of using a plastic one. Our country could save a lot of money by buying a reusable water bottle instead of wasting a plastic one. Every year Americans throw away about 50 billion plastic water bottles instead of recycling them. The energy people waste to make water bottles could be used to power about 190,000 homes. Last year an average American used about 167 plastic water bottles but only recycled about 38 of them.

Americans could solve the problem of wasting plastic and money if we cut down on using plastic water bottles.