Americans have turned into bottle babies in the last few years, with bottled water the second most popular drink in 2005, according to the International Bottled Water Association. Filled with pure, sparkling water from springs or from deep in the mountains -- or so consumers hope -- bottled water has taken on the luster of a health drink. In many cases, however, bottled water is no healthier than what comes out of your home tap. In fact, in some cases, it's the exact same water, the National Resources Defense Council, or NRDC, reports.
Sources
Finding out exactly where your bottled water comes from is not easy, the NRDC says. Not all states are required to keep lists of where water bottled in their states comes from. Water labeled as coming from a municipal source or a community water system comes from tap water, which might or might not undergo additional processing when bottled, according to the NRDC. A four-year review of 1,000 bottles of water from 103 different manufacturers conducted by the NRDC found that around 25 percent or more contained nothing more than tap water, sometimes further treated and sometimes not.
Regulations
The packaging and safety of bottled water is overseen by the Food and Drug Administration, which sets Current Good Manufacturing Practices for processing, checking for bacteria and other contaminants, and safe transport of bottled water. However, the FDA exempts water packaged and sold within the same state from federal regulations, which accounts for 60 to 70 percent of all bottled water products, website Environment, Health and Safety Online, or EHSO, reports. According to Consumer Reports, bottled water is actually less regulated than tap water because the Environmental Protection Agency, which oversees tap water, imposes stricter regulations on tap water than the FDA does over bottled water. Stricter regulation could help ensure that bottled water contains no harmful ingredients, the NRDC says.
Contamination
Municipalities must test their water using certified labs and issue safety reports annually if the city contains more than 10,000 residents, under the Safe Drinking Water Act, or SDWA. Bottled-water manufacturers, on the other hand, don't have to use certified labs or report their findings to the FDA, even if their products contain more contaminants than allowed by law. In the NRDC study, around 22 percent of the bottles tested exceeded the legal state contamination levels of some chemicals. Consumer Reports found that in one review, 22 out of 25 samples had unacceptably high levels of lead, chlorine and the bacteria E. coli, all of which could make you sick if consumed in high amounts.
Plastics
The realization that many plastic bottles, including baby bottles, can harm not only the environment, but also the people who drink from them has led to new standards on certain plastics used in water bottles. But standards for plastics in water bottles are often not as stringent as those set by the SDWA. Acceptable levels of the plasticizer DEHP -- a chemical used to make polyvinyl chloride plastics and tied to hormone disruption -- have not been set by the FDA for bottled water. Consumer Reports also found residue of BPA, another hormone-disrupting plastic now banned from use in children's bottles in some states, in the samples tested. Continued exposure to harmful chemicals in plastic could increase your risk of developing cancer, according to EHSO.
References
- National Resources Defense Council: Bottled Water
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration: FDA Regulates the Safety of Bottled Water Beverages, Including Flavored Water and Nutrient-Added Water Beverages
- Environment, Health and Safety Online: Bottled Water -- Pure Drink or Pure Hype?
- Consumer Reports: Is Tap Water Safer Than Bottled?
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