The Effects of Bottled Water and Tap Water on Corn Plants

The Effects of Bottled Water and Tap Water on Corn Plants

Delcia Ogle and Sarah Pointer

Introduction

Do corn plants grow better using bottled water or tap water? According to the NRDC (1) most of the bottled water that they tested were free of contaminants. The FDA (2) has set regulations specifically for bottled water to make sure that the water they buy is safe. When producing bottled water the distributors must follow the current good manufacturing practices (CGMP) regulations that are made and enforced by the FDA. The water must be sampled, analyzed, and ensured to be safe and free of contaminants. Other regulations include that they use the proper equipment, bottling procedures, and recordkeeping. The FDA also oversees and inspects the plants regularly. Bottled water is made and monitored specifically for human consumption. Stephen Kay, vice president of the IBWA, says member bottlers are selling the quality, consistency and safety that bottled water promises. Thornley, of the Minnesota Department of Health, says consumers can expect bottled water to be safe and clean. When Luins Williams, owner of Premier Label Water Company, was asked about tap water he exclaimed "What are you, suicidal? Would you really take a glass, put it under the tap where you live and drink that? The city puts chlorine in it, but other than that it's still filthy. (3) So we have come to predict that corn plants will grow better in bottled water than tap water. Also, it is predicted that the number of seeds germinated and days to germination will be shorter for the plants grown with bottled water.

Materials and Methods

The corn plants were placed in a jiffy garden soil. The plants were covered with a plastic covering to produce a green house effects. In total there were sixty plants. Every other day at 3:30 p.m. the plants were watered. Half were watered with bottled water and the other half were watered with tap water. The bottled water brand that was used was Aquafina. The amount of water was two sprays from the water bottle per each plant. The plants were kept in the same condition. This was to ensure that light exposure and temperature were the same for each plant groups. All plants were grown in the same jiffy garden soil. The type of corn seeds were the same for each group. Therefore, each group was grown in the same environment. The following day upon planting the corn seeds they were checked each day and it was recorded how many seeds germinated in each group. Then every two days each plant's height was measured. Then the