Funny? Maybe, but Safe

Many Southern Californians buy bottled water because they do not particularly like the way their tap water tastes. That’s fine, and understandable, and has nothing whatever to do with whether the tap water is safe or unsafe. Colorado River water, for instance, tends to have a high natural salt content, thus affecting its taste.

But a lot of Southern Californians are buying bottled water, and costly in-home water-filtration systems, out of fear--unfounded fear.

Consider this advertisement for one form of filter system: “Your Water: Is There More There Than Meets the Eye?” The ad implies that tap water may be contaminated with all sorts of chemicals, including proven and suspected cancer-causing agents. An ad for another well-known filtering system claims that it produces “water you can trust,” while implying that tap water may contain potentially hazardous chemicals.

Flyers for some other systems and bottled-water services are even less subtle. Examples: “You Are Drinking Toxic Chemicals” and “Do Not Use Your Tap Water for Drinking and Cooking.”

The curious thing is that Californians may spend about $1 for a gallon of bottled water and have no more assurance of getting a safe product than that they receive from the tap for less than one-tenth of 1 cent per gallon. While many bottled-water firms are reputable and closely check their products for impurities, the state Assembly Office of Research has noted that “state law contains no specific requirements to make bottled or vended water more wholesome or safer than tap water.”

The sale of bottled water has become a phenomenon. Americans spend about $900 million a year for bottled water, and 45% of that is sold in Southern California. Southern Californians buy 360 million gallons of bottled water a year--about 15 gallons per capita. Again, the cost is near $1 a gallon--much of which goes for packaging, marketing and advertising.

The fact is that tap water is probably as safe to drink as any bottled water. It is monitored by local water agencies under state law and supervision. Of course, if you think that the tap water tastes funny, that is something else.