Experts: Tap just as good as bottled water

Every year, Jeff Knight gets a chance to meet with his colleagues across the state for a unique taste test that probably won't show up on the Food Network anytime soon.

It's the Georgia Association of Water Officials annual conference, where public utility workers gather to taste-test tap water samples from nearly every city and town in the state.

"I've tasted water from across the state, and I might be biased, but I think Athens has the best water in Georgia," said Knight, an environmental engineer with Athens-Clarke Public Utilities. "I'd put our water up against anyone else's in the country."

It's common sense that water is essential to good health - and to just feeling good. But as local environmentalists celebrated the EcoFocus Film Festival in October, they reminded people that H2O doesn't have to be expensive to be good for you. (The Athens-Clarke Public Utilities department sponsored free screenings of the film "Tapped" for the festival, a documentary that attempts to debunk many commonly held notions about bottled water.)

Ensuring Athens' pride-worthy water purity, the public utilities workers use different tests on the water, some of them hourly, both inside the treatment facility and at taps across the county to screen for any germs, chemicals or pollution that contaminate the water. Athens-Clarke water exceeds the Environmental Protection Agency's standards in most categories, according to the utility's annual water-quality report.

Water for the body

Water plays many different roles in the human body, including regulating temperature and metabolism, carrying nutrients and lubricating joints and muscles, among many other, more subtle biological processes, said Kim Hunter, clinical nutrition manager at St. Mary's Hospital.

The average adult needs 1.5 to 2 liters of water a day, though how much water a person needs depends on diet, overall health, activity and climate, Hunter said.

People who are mildly or moderately dehydrated might have muscle cramps, an increased heart rate, lightheadedness and irritability. The severely dehydrated might be unable to walk or even stand. Although 6 to 8 cups is a good rule of thumb, Hunter said humans get water from all the food and fluids we take in, not just from bottles and taps.

And on that note, the stuff from the faucet is just as good as water from exotic springs or a purification factory.

"The best source of water is tap water, unless yo