Bottled Water Facts
Millions and millions of dollars are spent each week on advertising campaigns to give consumers the perception that bottled water comes from some pristine mountain spring or magical underground aquifer, assuring purity and quality. However, the fact is that bottled water is oftentimes little more than just tap water in a bottle... sometimes worse!
You see, the federal regulations that govern bottled water require it to be only as good as tap water, not better. There are no regulations or requirements that bottled water be any higher in quality than tap water, and according to some recent studies, it may often be of lower quality.
The fact is that people pay from $1 to $4 a gallon for the perception of higher quality, when in fact the quality of bottled water is at best unknown! Over 90% of the cost of bottled water is in the bottle, lid and label.
The bottled water industry is full of deception and questionable ethics. Industry lobbyists successfully fight every year to keep bottled water companies from having to abide by even the minimal health standards set by the EPA for tap water. The FDA, which regulates bottled water, states that "Companies that market bottled water as being safer than tap water are defrauding the American public."
In March 1999, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) released a report called "Bottled Water, Pure Drink or Pure Hype?" NRDC's report points out that as much as 40% of all bottled water comes from a city water system, just like tap water. The report also focuses on the fact that 60% to 70% of all bottled water sold in the U.S. is exempt from the FDA's bottled water standards, because the federal standards do not apply to water bottled and sold within the same state. Unless the water is transported across state lines, there are no federal regulations that govern its quality. According to the NRDC, "Bottled water companies have used this loophole to avoid complying with basic health standards, such as those that apply to municipally treated tap water." Also, all carbonated or sparkling waters are completely exempt from FDA guidelines that set specific contamination limits.
According to the NRDC study, "Even when bottled waters are covered by the FDA's specific bottled water standards, those rules are weaker in many ways than EPA rules that apply to big-city tap water." For instance, if we compare EPA regulations for tap water to the FDA's bottled water rules (these examples are quotes from the NRDC report):