ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — What’s safer, tap water or bottled water? The answer may surprise you, experts say.
In a move towards “greener” schools and a sustainable, eco-friendly water industry, Millburn Public School administrators will soon have water bottle filling stations available for all of their students.
“Thanks to the generosity and efforts of PTOs and the BOE, water bottle filling stations are now available at all Millburn Township elementary schools and Millburn Middle School,” administrators announced last week.
Stations at Millburn High School will be installed soon, administrators said.
Bottled water is regulated by the Food and Drug Administration; whereas tap water is regulated more strictly by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Bottled water consumers are often drinking tap water that has been processed, packaged and shipped, damaging our environment and ultimately costing up to thousands of times the price of drinking this same water straight from the tap.
Bottling companies often take water from sources that local residents depend on for drinking and recreation, thus reducing the availability of local resources for others that depend on them.
One study found that the manufacture, production and transportation of bottled water uses 1,100 to 2,000 times more energy than the treatment and distribution of tap water.
Millburn isn’t the only Essex County school district to recently install water bottle filling stations.