Bottled vs. tap

Does bottled water really taste better than tap water?

Furman’s Environmental Action Group (EAG) sought to answer this question and more through a water tasting activity in the Trone Center which lasted from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm on Wednesday. The water tasting was a part of EAG’s Earth Week with Wednesday being designated as “Water Day.”

During the water tasting, participants were given samples from four jars indicated by color. Three were from different kinds of bottled water and one was from tap water. After the tasting participants were asked what their opinions were on the samples.

During one of the rounds of water testing, respondents agreed that the tap water sample was better than most of the bottled water samples. Other respondents didn’t see much of a difference.

“People say they like the taste of bottled water” said EAG co-president Monica Kraeger ’16 “so we wanted so see if people could actually tell the difference between bottled water and tap water in a blind taste test.”

One of the main goals of the tasting was to make students aware of the high quality of tap water Greenville has to offer. The combination of the cities’ natural pristine water sources such as Table Rock Reservoir and Greenville’s highly efficient water filtration system has given the city recognition as having some of the best quality tap water in the country.

As part of Water day, Dr. Wes Dripps’ ECOS class, a first year freshman seminar in the Engaged Living program, also constructed a replica of the bell tower out of plastic water bottles that had been recycled the previous day. “EAG has done structures in the past that represent the waste that we create so we thought a structure of the bell tower would be something that Furman students could identify with” Kragaer said.

Water has been one of the main themes of Earth Week among electricity, transportation, and waste which each have related activities and CLPs all culminating in the “Big Bang” festivities on Saturday outside the Trone Center from 12-5 pm with a water walk, local vendors such as Leopard Forest Coffee, a food truck, and live music.

(Image by Shutterstock.com)