Why Tap Water?
South Africans are served with the highest quality drinking water. Our country’s standards compare well with World Health Organisation limits, which have been adopted as standards for the European Union and other developed countries, including Canada and Australia.
Current Bottled Water Standards and Government Regulations in South Africa are still very lax with no official body having the authority and teeth to enforce or police the requirements. Any standards that are being adhered to are purely voluntary. While this makes this industry particularly attractive as a small business venture it also leaves and enormous opportunity open to unscrupulous operators supplying the public with sub standard quality of Bottled Water. (1)
For those who feel tap water is any less clean than bottled water, filters may be purchased; buying filter cartridges once or twice a year requires much fewer resources than buying bottled water each day.
It is convenient having purified water on tap, and not having to go and buy 5L bottles every week, and store them in your home somewhere.
This solution is not only safe and convenient but up to 100 times cheaper than drinking bottled water. According to Tony Marchesini, director of water purifying specialists, H2O International SA, the cost of filtered tap water ranges from between R0.03 per litre and R0.16 per litre – depending on the model of water filter installed. The cheapest bottled water one can buy at the moment at major retailers costs R11.89 for five litres, making it R2,38 per litre.
Filling up from the Tap into a suitable container means you avoid all the hazards of Bottled Water (see our Why Not Bottled Water section).