Nutrition 5 discussion responses

1. I have been asked on multiple different occasions if I preferred tap or bottle water when going out to eat. My boyfriend and I are big seltzer drinkers so usually we opt to get sparkling or seltzer water when going out to eat. However, there are some places where we may order a drink and also a glass of water with it. If given the option, we will always choose bottled water. At home, we have a refrigerator with a built-in filter so that is typically where we drink our water from. I can’t remember the last time either of us drank tap water. The only time we really “consume” it is when we brush our teeth. We are also conscious of buying bottle upon bottle of water unnecessarily and don’t love the idea of using a ton of plastic bottles when we really don’t need to. Instead of keeping plastic disposable bottles in the house, we both have washable and reusable water bottles that we fill from the filtered fridge water when we go to work each day. For us, the decision was easy because it really does help the environment, and it also is incredibly more cost effective to use the water we have in our home rather than spend money constantly on buying on 12–16-ounce plastic bottles every week. The filter in the refrigerator may have been a little more expensive at first, but it’s worth it in the long run. Especially since we live in a town with hard water, you never really know unless you test the tap water what amount of chemicals or minerals are in it and can be potentially dangerous to consume in large quantities. Overall, I believe drinking filter water is the best option over tap or even bottle. Based on environmental factors, spending a little more money up front on either a pitcher filter, tap attached filter, or a refrigerator with a filter can help save you money and save the environment in the long run.

2. In all honesty, I have never been asked if I wanted tap or bottled water at a restuarant, I assume they go and fill up the carafe, or the glasses on the table with tap water. Usually, I drink filtered brita water that comes from the sink; if that makes sense. I havea container at home that I fill with tap water, which is then filters the water. Sometimes I’ll drink bottled water, but rarel, I fill up my re-usable water bottles with the filtered water from the sink more often.

 

Some pros to drinking bottled water is that it is extremely convienent; being that you can walk into any store, and whether it’s a grocery store, or a gas station, or even a hardware store, there’s always a fridge, or vending machine accessible to purchase drinks. This also applies to how highly available bottled water is considering it can be found anywhere. Bottled water is also safer to drink than tap water, doesn’t have a risk of being contaminated unlike tap water. Bottled water can be easily stored; whether in the house, or on the go, it can be brought anywhere. However, there are some cons to drinking bottled water. It is not as cost effective as compared to tap water; more expensive. It is also not a method of saving money, considering you have to constantly purchase a case of water bottles or a single bottle of water, whereas you can constantly refill a cup or re-usable water bottle, and not pay as much as you would for a bottle of water. Bottle water also poses a potential health risk considering bottles are made of plastic, and the plastic is made from petroluem oil, which can inevitably leak through the plastic and into the water in the right conditions. An example of this would be if the water was in a car or in the sun for too long, heating the plastic up, dissociating the solid form, allowing chemicals to leak into the water. And because the plastic is made of oil, it actually promotes the use or increase in use of fossil fuels. And the production of the plastic bottles actually utilizes more water than the water going into the water bottles. Overall, tap water is more cost effective, more environmentally friendly, and doesn’t pose as much of a health risk as compared to bottled water. 

3. I have been asked at certain restaurants whether I want tap water or bottled water, most of the time I go with tap water. When I am home, I drink water from the water dispenser. The United States has one of the safest and most reliable drinking water systems in the world. Every year, millions of people living in the United States get their tap water from a public community water system.The first thought I have when it comes to the different pros of drinking bottled water is that bottled water tastes exponentially better than tap water. In addition, bottled water can be easily stored and is easily accessible. The cons of drinking bottled water are that it’s more expensive and it poses health risks due to the chemicals in plastic.The worst part about bottled water is its negative and harmful effects and that it contributes to global warming and causes pollution. In addition to its destructive effects on the environment, bottled water also has its financial disadvantages because bottled water is about 3,000 percent more expensive per gallon than tap water ($0.02 per gallon).After doing more research on this topic, although I have known and learned about the harmful effects of drinking bottled water there are definitely more studies showing just how much it can harm our health. What surprises me is that even though contaminated bottled water could cause gastrointestinal illness, neurological disorders, and more millions of bottled waters are sold in the US every day. Even using “BPA-free” plastic products could be as harmful to human health. I think overall, tap water is safe and the better option, the best thing to do is to stay updated and informed with the information regarding the cleanliness of the water in your state and specifically your town. This information can be found online and would allow you to make the best and safest decision for your health.

 

4. Yes, I’ve been asked at restaurants if I have wanted tap water or bottled water. At home, I normally drink bottled water, but I have been trying to get into the habit of using tap water to make lemon water every day. It may sound weird, but I prefer the taste of bottled water over water from the sink unless there is some form of lemon or lime in it. One pro of bottled water is that it may be safer because although tap water is highly regulated, certain areas may still be contaminated if regulation is not kept up with, especially in private wells. Another pro is that it may be more convenient than tap water and easily accessible to take on the go. Some cons are that bottled water can become expensive over a certain period of purchases and it is not environmentally friendly. Using reusable water bottles with tap water is healthier for the environment and leads to less pollution (“Bottled water vs. tap water: Pros and cons”). The obvious environmental impact of bottled water is as stated in the previous sentence. It leads to pollution and negatively impacts the environment. Although some may recycle their plastic bottles around 70-75% are actually never even recycled. 70-75% of plastic bottles are taken to landfills where they essentially never break down. Also, the production of plastic bottles requires the extraction of certain oils which release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere (“Environmental impacts of bottled water”, 2018). Compared to bottled water, tap water is more environmentally friendly, especially in reusable water bottles. As discussed before, financially, bottled water will cost more over an extended period of time. Cases of water can sell for between $3-5 or even single bottles can sell for $5. A one-time purchase may not be a lot but spending this type of money over an extended period of time can really add up. Finally, both tap water and bottled water are about equal in health impacts and safety, however, as discussed before private wells may become unsafe if regulations are not kept up with. The FDA, food and drug administration, regulates bottled water while the EPA, environmental protection agency, regulates tap water. Both use similar standards in regards to purifying water in both cases (Zeratsky, 2019). Overall, I feel like one’s decision to drink tap or bottled water is based on preference and environmental impacts. 

5. When looking at water its one of those things i do feel like they have a taste as weird as some people make it sound. In which case I drink bottled waters as the sink water is not only nasty but has many bad bacteria in the water depending on the state you live in. When looking at pros and cons to drinking water from a bottle or sink it can be difficult depending on who you ask as i feel like everyone has different standards for water. Now a days you can go to the store and find a good 15 different types of water varying from some crazy low prices to some crazy high prices. It makes you think what makes the water so different from one another for the prices to change so drastically. The pros would be it definitely is healthier as tap water tends to have a lot of bad things in it for you. Not to mention it has been noted that tap water down south Florida per say when i lived there its unhealthy. To which case you can notice food quality being different from the water quality around the state. Looking at these bottled waters you will tend to see price change since they will be water from different areas of the country or world. The cons being the plastic build up of everyone drinking bottled waters. Though this has been a problem for a long time people work all around the world to make sure that the problem with bottled does not get to bad. You will notice people say New York pizza is always the best some will say that it is because of the quality of water that is in the area. Now if you go to the south the pizza is going to taste very different than something we get up north.