Evidence for Drinking Tap Water

•  It is generally safe - according to hundreds of studies around the world, drinking tap water that follows the World Health Organization's guidelines for drinkable water is considered as healthy or even healthier than drinking bottled water. The United States, Canada, and countries in the European Union all abide by WHO's guidelines for drinkable water. For instance, in England, 99.97% of test analysis performed on water passed the stringent WHO tests in 2018 and most of the United States also reported similar results.
•  Environmental conservation - by drinking tap water, consumers reduce the amount of plastics that end up in the environment. Plastic waste is destroying oceans, wildlife, and earth. Additionally, studies also associate bottled water with a hefty carbon footprint i.e. some reports estimate around 82.8g of CO2 for a half-liter bottle. Another disadvantage of filtered water production is the fact that each liter of bottled water is produced from up to 4 liters of water from production and filtering.

Evidence against Drinking Tap Water

•  Regulations do not guarantee safety - even though there are strict regulatory procedures in place to ensure tap water is safe to drink, there are many instances where these regulations fail in ensuring safety. Recent issues include the presence of lead in tap water in Flint, New Jersey and Chicago and PFAS that was found in 30 regions in the United States and Europe. The problem of presence of microplastics in drinking water is also rampant especially because we don’t know the impact of microplastics on humans yet.
•  Pathogens in tap water - there is a higher probability of tap water containing bacteria, viruses, and parasites than filtered water. Some of the pathogens present in tap water can be harmful to human health. An example of a harmful bacteria in water is E. coli, which can cause diarrhea, vomiting, cramps, nausea, headaches, fever, fatigue, and even death sometimes.