Do you shrink from tap water?  If you do, you’re not alone, suspecting the water of containing contaminants and finding that it tastes or smells or even looks strange.

Instead, you have been drinking bottled water, like plenty of other Americans.  But you need to take a look at some of the negatives. For one thing, in many cases sellers are putting tap water into bottles, after filtering it. It’s not the spring water you might wish for. In addition, the bottled water may have more microbes in it than the tap water, since the FDA, regulating the bottlers, has more lax testing requirements than the EPA, regulating the tap water.

More drawbacks concern the plastic bottles used to hold the water. Sixty million water bottles PER DAY are used in America, and many of them end up in landfills.  Actually, this huge number shouldn’t really surprise us.  Each of us should drink gallons of water per day, right? Drinking it from plastic bottles will quickly mean a lot of discarded bottles.

In addition to creating a huge disposal problem, there’s a big health issue.  Clear plastic water bottles (with a recycling symbol #1, 3, or 7) are very likely to contain BPA, a controversial chemical that leaches out of the plastic, contaminating the water.

According to The Green Guide, an online magazine, a growing number of scientists are uncovering evidence of harm from BPA.  They are finding links to diabetes, infertility, cancer, and childhood hyperactivity, for a total of 104 independent studies showing bad effects from BPA.  At the same time, there are 11 studies, paid for by the industry, which show no harmful effects.  The FDA is choosing to side with the industry on the controversial issue and is allowing use of BPA.

You can find BPA in clear plastic bottles, of course. But it’s also in many other food containers, including canned food cans, baby bottles and toys, and wine vats.  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) tested a large number of Americans in 2004 and found that 95 percent of them had some level of BPA in their urine, according to the Green Guide.

Now, let’s remember that we were drinking bottled water because we wanted pure water, free of contaminants.  Well, bottled water isn’t going to do that for us! We can switch to glass, stainless steel, or plastic with a recycling number of 2, 4, or 5.

Heres how to drink pure water and also control what container I am using: I can get a home water filter , one that triple-filters the water coming out of my kitchen tap or icemaker.  I can bottle this water myself using glass or stainless steel containers, — or BPA-free plastic bottles with recycling symbol #2, 4, or 5.  And here’s the best part: it costs a lot less!  I purify my own water for about eight cents per gallon.

A home water filter can give you with just the abundant, pure water you need, in BPA-free containers of your choosing.  Save money too! Remember, purer from your home water filter costs just 8 cents per gallon.