Is Filtered Tap Water Better than Bottles or Jugs?

Published on 18 January 2025 at 16:11

Hello all!

This blog is going to be about how the water we choose to drink impacts the health of not only our bodies, but the earth's body as well. This topic is more well-known, but I realize that as consumers we tend to take what we are given - for example, with Brita filters being a home name, more people tend to invest in Brita before comparing products/checking how often they need to be replaced!

And some of us still rely on water bottles, jug subscriptions, or even RO (reverse osmosis) refill stations - so I wanted to speak about the amazing resource that is *adequately filtered* tap water.

Environmental Health

Single -use plastics are not biodegradable, and are not made to be reused. Within the realm of recyclables, plastic bottles and containers make up nearly half of the volume (with humans going through roughly 143 million tons each year)- and most of the plastics we use are definitely not being recycled.

Most of our plastics in end polluting our natural resources, and either shedding or completely becoming microplastics. Microplastics are found everywhere now: our soil, our wildlife, and our human bodies.

This is a concern for the environment, because plastics come with negative consequences - for instance, causing dysfunction and disease in wildlife and transporting pollutants. What's more, is that this planet's soil is already in need of a regenerative spa-day.

Those in the regenerative agricultural world are also aware that depleted soil = lifeless soil = bad soil for growing food. The microplastics not only make this issue worse, but also add another layer to the human health issue (first pesticides - now plastics?). Microplastics also change soil functioning by impacting its microbiome. Healthy soil is much like our gut - it needs its healthy bacteria doing specific jobs!

Aside from the issues created by plastics themselves, the plastic bottle supply chain also comes with consequences.

It takes fuel and excess water to produce these bottles. This contributes to our overall carbon footprint, while simultaneously wasting water. Refillable jugs are definitely ideal if you are opposed to filtering your tap water - but then you are still storing your water in BPA and its cousins (masquerading as "BPA free").

If you store water in a 5 gallon jug, consider buying a Tritan jug! So far, its the safest plastic material we have to use - it isn't made with any sort of BPA, and doesn't leach into water (This is the material used in our portable hydrogen water bottle!).

Human Health

While researching for this article, I found that microplastics reminded me of molecular hydrogen in their reach. Plastic readily travels throughout the body, impacting numerous organs on a wide scale in the same way that molecular hydrogen does.

This is great for hydrogen gas, but terrible when it comes to tiny hormone-disrupting particles wreaking havoc on our bodies.

Plastic bottles and jugs leach these particles into drinking water as they sit, and especially when exposed to heat. Water filters give you the ability to have a water supply "on tap" (WINK). Zero plastic, zero waste. And if your filter is as great as mine, it'll also give you unlimited access to hydrogen water and ozone water (to wash your produce) as well.

How is Water Filtered?

Our counties should retain adequate water safety standards. But what qualifies as a safe level varies for different contaminants and substances, depending on who you ask (with many disagreeing on chlorine levels, for instance).

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) has a cool tool that compares your local water levels with against the EWG's standards (which are meant to be more aligned with real human health, in theory). Additionally, not all counties even meet state, or county-determined levels. In most cases, filtering your tap water is the best way to get sustainable with your water consumption.

Activated Carbon

Activated carbon is one of the most effective materials in filtering contaminants like viruses and bacteria from water, as well as heavy metals and all known herbicides and pesticides.

You might encounter this material on its own, or as one step in a multi-layered filter.

Reverse Osmosis

Reverse osmosis (RO) is a process where water is forced through a semipermeable membrane. Non-water particles get caught through the filter, while clean water moves on.

It's up to 99% effective at removing contaminants, and is the sort of filtration that is used at water refill stations.

(Fun fact - One of our cool hydrogen filters uses RO and UV disinfection EYES.)

Conclusion

Although tap water might not outright be everyone's cup of tea, choosing to filter yours is one big step towards reducing the detrimental impacts of the water bottle/jug industry on human and environmental health. Ideally, free filtration systems would be part of our infrastructure (🤷🏻‍♀️).

But until then, make sure that you truly invest in your family's water (filter). I went all out on my filter, and acknowledge that it has everything but the kitchen sink - which isn't "for everyone". But it's been one of the best purchases I've made, because it's upped my family's general wellbeing in multiple ways as a result.