If there are no studies on this field, I would appreciate your attempt!

In many countries the drinking water ist the best controlled "food", nevertheless many people in this countries consume mineral water. This causes  waste of energy and a lot of emissions.

Another impact may be: If people consume mineral water, why should we take so much care of our drinking water? The rules for the protection of our drinking water may be weakened in future.

If there are no studies on this field, I would appreciate your attempt!

In many countries the drinking water ist the best controlled "food", nevertheless many people in this countries consume mineral water. This causes  waste of energy and a lot of emissions.

Another impact may be: If people consume mineral water, why should we take so much care of our drinking water? The rules for the protection of our drinking water may be weakened in future.

Dear Rudolf,

I totally agree with you. Thank you very much for your comment.

With my best regards

Prof. Bachir ACHOUR

Dear Prof.Bachir Achour,

In many countries the "Drinking water" supplied to the community also need to go through a whole lot of processes like production, transport, distribution, and consumption but the cost attributed may be subsidized by the State/Government. Packaged drinking water or Packaged Mineral water mostly produced by private players need to go through the same processes with additional step of packaging. Here the cost might not be subsidized. But if one tries to compare between the two lot many factors need to be assessed. I am sure if one gets into the socioeconomics of these two the results will defiantly be mind boggling.  

Dear Vinit,

Thank you for the interest you have given to my question. Thank you very much for your valuable comments.

With my best regards

Prof. Bachir ACHOUR

Dear Prof,

Earlier posts were quite aptly put. I have the following points to add -

Dear Arun,

Thank you very much for your valuable comment. It is really appreciated.

With my best regards

Prof. Bachir ACHOUR

Dear Prof.Bachir Achour,

The fight about drinking water will be one of the big battles in future. Everybody who has good drinking water resources should handle it very carefully.

If we rely on bottled water we will get in dependence of big companies or other countries with all implications.

By the way, we should not waste our good drinking water for flushing our toilets, washing our cars or streets...

Best regards

Rudolf Ritt

Dear Rudolf,

I fully agree with you. Thank you very much for this valuable comment.

With my best regards

Prof. Bachir ACHOUR

Of course,Drinking water is more ecological than mineral water,but in  many places pure drinking water is not available,hence people have to depend on mineral water

Dear Susan,

Thank you very much for your comment.

With my best regards

Prof. Bachir ACHOUR

In my opinion Yes

Dear Marianne,

Thank you very much for your reply.

With my best regards

Prof. Bachir ACHOUR

I don't think this should be limited to "mineral water." Any sort of bottled water creates the same environmental issues, I would think, for sure.

The problem is not so simple. People drink bottled water not because they enjoy polluting, but because the water from the tap has to be treated with substances such as chlorine, to eliminate bacteria, and other substances. For example, to prevent leaching of lead into the water, from any old lead pipes still in the water system. Any decent and responsible municipal water system has to treat the water, and more so when the municipal water comes from reservoirs and not close-by mountain springs! 

So, people buy spring water, which has none of these substances, and tastes better. And might even be healthier.

If one wants to reduce the use of bottled water, even in countries in which the drinking water is supposedly "safe," then their concerns have to be acknowledged and addressed. Me, I find the convenience of a tap outweighs the taste, but that's just me. People do get dramatic when matters of personal health are at stake, so they won't easily accept outright dismissing of their concerns.

Hi All,

You all are discussing mineral water (essentially bottled water) having in mind the water inside the bottle is sourced from clean springs or from high mountains where there is no human activity and hence unpolluted. I think no one has considered the bottled water that is available in many countries. At times the source water is Seawater that is processed through multistage flash desalination. The obtained desalinated water is primed with some nutrients such as calcium before distribution. As a major portion of essential minerals for humans are supplied through drinking water we often find there is a danger of deficiency of minerals in population consuming such water.

A second scenario is some private bottling units doing business by filtering ground water, passing through some deionizer and claiming it is mineral water. We are neither sure of the mineral content nor the bacterial load in such water. So, not all is good on the mineral water front.

People may avoid drinking straight from tap water as they could have experienced some metallic taste and must be wondering about what all it contains. What they forget is the water could be standing water and by allowing some water to initially flow out the problem of taste could be overcome. There should be lot of encouragement to monitor piped water and results should be freely available to the general public. The general public also should be encouraged to cross-check the quality by conducting its own test. Such a situation will lead to municipal authorities being more responsible resulting in better maintenance of lakes and reservoirs, proper treatment of water before distribution as well as maintaining water quality till it reach the end users. I think everyone will welcome this scenario.

In my opinion giving a yes/no answer to the original question ("Is the drinking water more ecological than mineral water?") wouldn´t take into account the complexity of the issue. It strongly depends on the lokal circumstances.

for the drinking water (tap):

What kind of ressources are used? what kind of treatment is necessary to achieve drinking water conditions? how far the water has to be transported?

for the mineral water (bottles):

what kind of packing is used (one way, reuseable)? Transportdistances? What kind of transport ist used?

i would suggest to see some publications on life cycle analysis (e.g. http://css.snre.umich.edu/publication/comparative-life-cycle-assessment-bottled-vs-tap-water-systems) to try to get an overview on the issue.

Mr. Valsaraj, Mr. Handl,

you are right, when you claim a more differenciated viewing, Europe is not Africa, and water and the circumstances are different!

Dear colleagues,

my friends of GaBi from Germany sent these links to your question to me. You will find further links under the keywords "tap water" and "LCA".Drinking water can not be bet.

Best

Peter

USA http://www.deq.state.or.us/lq/pubs/docs/sw/LifeCycleAssessmentDrinkingWaterFullReport.pdf

Schweiz (deutsch): http://www.svgw.ch/fileadmin/resources/svgw/web/Wasser-Eau/SVGW-Artikel-%C3%96kobilanz-Trinkwasser-esuservices_2014.pdf

Schweiz (englisch): http://esu-services.ch/fileadmin/download/jungbluth-2014-article-LCA-TapwaterAndBeverages.pdf  

If you want to consider the whole ecological  impact of bottled systems you have to bear in mind the currently beginning problems with plastic particles in the oceans and nanoparticles in our environment and our food. But how to handle this effect in a comparative study?

Dear Rudolf,

that is the job of Ganzheitliche Bilanzierung which we are developing for the last 27 years. 27 PhD are already done. The Company "think step" serves the market world wide with the GaBi Software.

Bachir

There are three types of water available to the general public. Potable tap water which I assume you mean to be drinking water, bottled (still) water (for general consumption) and bottled mineral water. 

I am fortunate to live in Australia where potable tap water is available in all capital cities and most other towns and across Australia. For the last number of years the capital cities and the the other towns have reverted to full cost recovery of their potable tap water. Tape water is usually billed as price per KL and there is is sliding scale depending on how much you use.

Tap water at the town where I live is a few $ per KL which works out at points of cents per Lt. Bottled water sells for about $3.00 per Lt this is about 1000 times the cost of tap water. The cost of bottled water includes collection, bottling, transport costs, price of the bottle (of which disposal is an issue) plus a profit margin.

As to which one is more ecological from a cost point the answer is tap water.

Mineral water is often more expensive than normal bottled (still) water. Plus if it comes for overseas there is the cost of global transport an the ecological foot print of that.

From an ecological point of view tap water is better then bottled water and much better than mineral water.

Regards

Martin O'Rourke

Dear Martin,

Thank you very much for your valuable comment. It is really appréciated.

With my best regards

Prof. Bachir ACHOUR

Hello! I found your question really interesting. 

Ecologically, I do find drinking water (tap) more ecological than mineral water (bottles) for 2 reasons;

1. There is so much expenditure and usage of other resources and materials such a plastic for bottled water and since plastic is a non-renewable resource - this also damages the environment in terms of energy and costly usage but this is also why people continue to buy this for security and belief that this was more controlled.

2. Tap water is delivered through a pipe system and sometimes it may not be transported properly in other places; making it not suitable for drinking and the question of how this water is treated in order for this status to happen is also important BUT this would cause less damage and control towards our environment and population in general. I suggest that governments should prioritize in this concern in order to help their citizens trust and maybe even learn on how to produce and create their own satisfactory tasting tap water. 

I do believe that your study would depend on the location you will conduct it because I am Biology Student from the Philippines and the tap water we have that comes out from our sinks are not suitable for drinking. I do look forward to seeing the results of this proposed study!

Dear Betina,

Your comment is really relevant. It opens the way to discussion. thank you very much for your point of view.

With my best regards

Prof. Bachir ACHOUR

Dear Bachir,

Corporate Accountability International is a non-profit, membership-based, grassroots organization that works to protect people and the environment from dangerous and irresponsible corporate practices. Bottled water is big business. But in terms of sustainability, bottled water is a dry well. It's costly, wasteful and distracts from the brass ring of public health: the construction and maintenance of safe municipal water systems.

Want some solid reasons to kick the bottled water habit? We've rounded up five to get you started.

1)     Bottled water isn't a good value.

2)      No healthier than tap water.

3)      Bottled water means garbage.

4)     Bottled water means less attention to public systems.

5)     The corporatization of water

Bottled waters deserve some special attention because they are not always as pure as you might expect them to be.

Here are some reasons not to choose bottled water:

1.       Dangerous toxins from some plastic water bottles can leach into your water.

2.       Bottled water is often just purified municipal water and lacks essential minerals. (Brands like Dasani and Aquafina are cleaned-up city water.)

3.       Purifying, bottling and shipping water requires vast resources and uses more water than when you get your water from a pure source in the first place.

 What can you do?

There's a simple alternative to bottled water: buy a stainless steel thermos, and use it. Don't like the way your local tap water tastes? Inexpensive carbon filters will turn most tap water sparkling fresh at a fraction of bottled water's cost.Conserve water wherever possible, and stay on top of local water issues.

·         Tap water is municipal water that comes out of the faucets and has been treated, processed and disinfected. It is purified with chlorine and generally has added flouride. But one of the byproducts from using chlorine in our drinking water is linked to cancer1.

·         Distilled water can be any kind of water that has been vaporized and collected, leaving behind any solid residues, including minerals. Distilled water has no minerals in it at all.

·         Reverse osmosis water has been forced through membranes that remove larger particles, pollutants and minerals. Reverse osmosis water is usually acidic2.

·         Deionized water has had ionized impurities and minerals removed from it but not bacteria or pathogens.

MINERAL RICH WATER

The best water to drink is naturally clean, pure and full of naturally occurring minerals:

·         Well water comes from a hole drilled in the ground that taps into a water source. A pump brings it to the surface. If you do not have access to city water, then you would need a well.

·         Natural spring water flows up from a natural spring and is bottled at the source.

·         Artesian or spring waters come from a natural source but are bottled off-site and are processed and purified.

·         Mineral water could be natural spring water or artesian water, comes from an underground source, and contains at least 250 parts per million (ppm) of dissolved solids, including minerals and trace elements.

All of the types of water mentioned above have essential minerals and nutrients like magnesium, potassium, and sodium.

Regards,

Prem Baboo

Dear Prem,

Thank you very much for your valuable and accurate comment. I highly appreciate your contribution to the discussion.

With my best regards

Prof. Bachir ACHOUR