AMARILLO — As temperatures begin to heat up and Texans reach for something refreshing to cool them off, a nutrition expert with the Texas Agricultural Extension Service reminds consumers bottled water isn’t any better than tap water.
“Water doesn’t have any significant nutritional value,” says Dr. Mickey Bielamowicz, Extension nutrition specialist.
What’s more, just because a bottled water might taste better, that doesn’t make it safer to drink. And sometimes, bottled water comes right out of a public water supply system.
A public water system is any system that supplies water to more than 15 connections or 25 or more people.
“Any tap water from a public water system that’s regulated by the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission is tested at least monthly and has to meet state and federal public drinking water standards,” explains Dr. John Sweeten of Amarillo, an Extension irrigation and water management engineer.
Public system waters must meet two standards. First, water must be safe for drinking and is tested for 80 or more specific chemicals, including bacteria and mineral and inorganic compounds. The secondary standard applies to aesthetics and utility/usefulness of the water — usually its taste.
“Due to the scrutiny given, the water supply in our state is very safe,” Sweeten says. “Bottled water is lower in minerals and salt. It may taste better, but it’s not necessarily safer.”
It is well known that a lot of the water in Texas is hard, affecting not only its taste but reducing the life of hot water heaters and other fixtures.
“Here at the Amarillo center, we use water that has gone through reverse osmosis to remove minerals. Our water is relatively high in salinity — it comes from an old salt basin in New Mexico. The mineral content scales up the coffee pot and the coffee maker.”
Another point-of-use water system available is activated charcoals that filter out bacteria from water, Sweeten explains.
According to Sweeten, much of the water in Texas has an undesirable taste factor but does not present a health problem in most cases.
“If someone is on a restricted sodium diet, they’d be better off with bottled water or reverse osmosis,” he says.
In one case, though, health concerns have given rise to innovative water usage. The Seymour Aquifer Area is a prime place for using bottled water, Sweeten says, because of the nitrate level in the water.
“Here we have an example where farmers are adjusting levels of fertilizer on fields because of the nitrate in the water. That’s a savings because they’ve learned to use nitrate in the water to their advantage.”
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