Does Bottled Water Beat Tap?
Bottled water has become a popular item, with global sales of $35 billion. Americans consumed six million gallons of bottled water and spent $7.7 billion in 2002. Strolling down almost any supermarket’s beverage aisle will reveal spring, aquifer, artesian, glacier, mineral, purified, oxygenated, and other waters from all over the world. So what do all these terms mean, and is bottled water really “better” than tap? First let’s look at the types of bottled water. A spring is where water comes up through the earth’s surface. Spring water is either bottled at the spring source or taps into the same aquifer that feeds the spring. Aquifer water means the water comes from a well that is tapping into an underground water source (an aquifer). Artesian water comes from a confined aquifer that, when tapped, forces the water above the surface of the aquifer. Glacier is self-explanatory. Mineral water has not less than 250 parts per million of total dissolved solids (e.g., minerals, trace elements
