The tap water in the vast majority of the US is superior to bottled water.

There are exceptions, though, so if health is your concern, you might want to test both your tap and bottled water.

> The tap water in the vast majority of the US is superior to bottled water.

I'm surprised this myth gets repeated so often on HN. It's not true- the standards for purified bottled water are quite high[0].

[0]https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/bottled-water...

1. The link you provided suggests that some bottled water comes from Municipal sources, ie. it is tap water. This would logically imply that the standards for bottled water are <= the standards for tap water, at least in those locations.

2. The original article you are commenting on suggests that bottled water contains more microplastics than tap water.

> This would logically imply that the standards for bottled water are <= the standards for tap water, at least in those locations.

That’s not how logic works. That there are instances of municipal water supplies whose quality is sufficient to meet bottled water standards doesn’t tell you anything about minimum standards for either municipal supplies or bottled water.

Further: I would expect quality of municipal supplies to vary widely. A city built on the side of a mountain with access to springs can just provide that water, and it’s still from “municipal” supply.

Do you have your sign reversed on that inequality? If the water comes from municipal sources, and the standards are higher for bottled water than tap (clearly stated in the link), then the quality of bottled water can be, at worst, equal to tap water.

Unless impurities are introduced at the bottling plant, or with the plastic bottles.

Municipal water has to get to your house though. How clean it is at the plant doesn't really mean much if you're in an area with bad pipes (and in many places they are).

Counties still have to do testing on the water provided by the distribution network.

Hell, in my county this information is easily available online and in libraries and is broken down by measurements in the processing plant vs measurements in the distribution network. http://www.fultoncountyga.gov/images/stories/WR2/2017/CCR_20...

This won't directly tell you if your pipes are bad (and Atlanta does have some areas that used lead pipes from the county supply to the home) but it's a pretty good indicator of the water quality in my area.

If you're really concerned, it's almost always a better investment to get your tap water tested and fix the pipes than it is to buy bottled.

Have you checked if there's anything wrong with your tap water? One-time water test is probably cheap compared to years of buying bottled.

I hope in that case you buy it in refillable 5g water cooler jugs, rather than small disposable bottles.

Yep, 5 gallon water jugs.