The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently recalled 150,000 containers of a certain type of bottled water. The specified product tested positive for coliforms, which are “bacteria present in the digestive tracts of animals, including humans, and are found in their wastes,” according to the New York State Department of Health. The presence of these coliforms indicates an increased risk of contracting a water-borne illness.

The recall, in this case, mainly impacted a few mid-Atlantic states.

Bottled water certainly has a valuable place as a beverage, especially during a water emergency. But because your tap water most likely meets all federal, state or provincial drinking water standards, there's no need to buy bottled water outside of an emergency.

As we say in Plain Talk about Drinking Water, bottled water can cost up to 1,000 times more than municipal drinking water, which is about 0.004 cents per gallon ($0.001 per liter) compared to as much as $8 per gallon ($2.11 per liter) for bottled water. On the environmental side, 1.5 million tons (1.36 million metric tons) of plastic are used each year to bottle water and much of that can end up in landfills.

Tap water is proven to be safe, far less expensive and better for our environment. Reaching for tap water seems like the obvious choice.