Is Bottled Water Healthier Than Tap Water in The Netherlands?

Contestant #3 in our blog contest: Article by Paula van Dun

I visited the waterfilterladysblog and the first line that caught my eye was the line “Are you still drinking bottled water?” My answer to this is no. I seldom drink bottled water. I drink the water as it comes out of my tap. I live in the Netherlands in a region where the water is pretty soft and clean. There has been a test comparing tap water and bottled water in the Netherlands. The results were that bottled water was not healthier than tap water.
 
However, my husband and I are planning to move to Turkey in about 5 years. You can not drink water from the tap there. You can get sick from it. Everybody there drinks bottled water in Turkey. For families there are services that deliver very large bottles at your home. Although that does not cost the world it will be cheaper in the long run to buy your own water filter system. No messing with ordering new bottles all the time. I will definately consider to buy such a system when we are going to live in Turkey. Because of the te temperatures I will surely drink a lot more water there than in Holland.
 
Pure water is good for the human body but there are more usages possible. Some machines like a waterboiler or a coffeemachine or an iron for laundry will last longer if you use water without chalk. When you have an aquarium f.e. with discus fish you want to fill it up with clean water since these fish are very sensitive. I know there are also plants that do not like chalk in the water at all.