Riverside Water

Riverside’s water is groundwater from wells in the Bunker HillBasin and RiversideBasin. Tap water is regulated by the EPA, while bottled water is regulated by the FDA which has no reporting requirements. The EPA is more strict and requires local utility agencies to provide an Annual Water Quality Report which must show any violations of drinking water quality standards. Local health departments often provide testing services or provide lists of labs that do water testing.

One of the drawbacks of bottled water is that the water is being shipped, potentially, thousands of miles to consumers. Vehicle emissions from the transportation of bottled water is also contributing to poor air quality. Also, plastics can take up to 1,000 years to biodegrade, and even then, it is only broken down into fine particles, it will never be fully absorbed into the environment, or utilized by the environment for its nutrients like organic matter is. Recycling is not 100% effective either, the plastics are used to create lower quality products, which still require the incorporation of new plastics, releasing toxic chemicals in the process. Excess plastics that are incinerated release even more toxins into the air. Not only that, but the production of plastics requires the use of oil and energy that could be used to fuel cars.

I took a look at the website for the Environmental Working Group for tap water to see if I could get a better idea of how Riverside water compares to other cities in California. Interestingly enough, and much to my surprise, Riverside’s water is NOT the worst water out there! While Riverside exceeded health guidelines for 15 chemicals found in the water, it still did not rank among the worse. Pomona's water found 24 chemicals that exceeded health guidelines, Redlands and Corona’s water both exceeded guidelines for 23 different chemicals!

In my opinion, it never hurts to filter your water one more time before you put it into your body. Get a Britta or other filtration system for your personal use!