I have been in all-day Client meetings the past 2 days where access to the good old office water cooler is not possible. So, I have been drinking bottled water. I happened to notice on my .500 mL bottle of Dannon Natural Spring Water that it was bottled on 8/11/05 at 16:59. That was nice to know I guess. I also noticed right under those stats that it will expire in August, 2007. No more specifics were given. So, I thought to myself, how the fuck does water expire?

In case you are wondering, I’ll tell you. Water is known as the universal solvent. What that means is that it will absorb almost anything. So, even though it’s been on earth for millions of years, once you put water in a bottle it’s life is limited. It’s actually better for you to drink tap water than bottle water because fluorescent lights, the kind of lights that illuminate every convenience store in the world, help grow bacteria. During the bottling process, there are various processes used to clean up the water including filtration and ozonation. If too much ozone was added, the plastic will leach into the bottles. If too little ozone was added, bacteria can start growing immediately. Awesome!
Now, take that gross tap water. The tap water that arrives at your house is just hours from where it has continuously been tested for hundreds of contaminants. Even with a bottled date, I would prefer freshly tested water than water that has been in a bodega or in a corporate pantry for months. Next, if your teeth important to you you should almost definitely skip bottled water. While bottled water does not have fluoride, most city municipal systems add fluoride to their supply.
So, the next time you are at someone’s house or apartment and they don’t have a Brita, don’t worry. Turn on the tap. Forget the marketing bullshit that everyone is selling you. Relax. And enjoy a cold drink of water. Because its probably better for you than a bottle of Poland Spring/Dasani/Dannon/Deer Park/Evian/etc.

Don’t believe me? Check out this past episode of Penn and Teller’s Bullshit which showed that tap water is usually safer for you, and often better tasting too. Or, if you don’t like “comedy,” you can always peruse the NRDC’s report on bottled water titled “Pure Drink or Pure Hype?” which found that there are major gaps in bottled water regulation and that bottled water is not necessarily safer than tap water.