Bottle Water: No better than tap

[HKofsesshoumaru 673]

Bottled water has contaminants too, study finds

By JEFF DONN, AP National Writer Posted Tue Oct 14, 2008 9:17pm PDT

6 votes

Buzz up!

Sweden's second city Gothenburg has decided to stop buying bottled water due to environmental concerns and will only provide civil servants with tap water, a city councillor said Thursday.(AFP/File/Teh Eng Koon)

- Tests on leading brands of bottled water turned up a variety of contaminants often found in tap water, according to a study released Wednesday by an environmental advocacy group.

The findings challenge the popular impression — and marketing pitch — that bottled water is purer than tap water, the researchers say.

However, all the brands met federal health standards for drinking water. Two violated a California state standard, the study said.

An industry group branded the findings "alarmist." Joe Doss, president of the International Bottled Water Association, said the study is based on the faulty premise that a contaminant is a health concern "even if it does not exceed the established regulatory limit or no standard has been set."

The study's lab tests on 10 brands of bottled water detected 38 chemicals including bacteria, caffeine, the pain reliever acetaminophen, fertilizer, solvents, plastic-making chemicals and the radioactive element strontium. Though some probably came from tap water that some companies use for their bottled water, other contaminants probably leached from plastic bottles, the researchers said.

"In some cases, it appears bottled water is no less polluted than tap water and, at 1,900 times the cost, consumers should expect better," said Jane Houlihan, an environmental engineer who co-authored the study.

The two-year study was done by the Washington-based Environmental Working Group, an organization founded by scientists that advocates stricter regulation. It found the contaminants in bottled water purchased in nine states and Washington, D.C.

Researchers tested one batch for each of 10 brands. Eight did not have contaminants high enough to warrant further testing. But two brands did, so more tests were done and those revealed chlorine byproducts above California's standard, the group reported. The researchers identified those two brands as Sam's Choice sold by Wal-Mart and Acadia of Giant Food supermarkets.

In the Wal-Mart and Giant Food bottled water, the highest concentration of chlorine byproducts, known as trihalomethanes, was over 35 parts per billion. California's limit is 10 parts per billion or less, and the industry's International Bottled Water Association makes 10 its voluntary guideline. The federal limit is 80.

Wal-Mart said its own studies did not turn up illegal levels of contaminants. Giant Food officials released a statement asserting that Acadia meets all regulatory standards. Acadia is sold in the mid-Atlantic states, so it isn't held to California's standard. In most places, bottled water must meet roughly the same federal standards as tap water.

The researchers also said the Wal-Mart brand was five times California's limit for one particular chlorine byproduct, bromodichloromethane. The environmental group wants Wal-Mart to label its bottles in California with a warning because the chlorine-based contaminants have been linked with cancer. It has filed a notice of intent to sue.

Wal-Mart spokeswoman Shannon Frederick said the company was "puzzled" by the findings because testing by suppliers and another lab had detected no "reportable amounts" of such contaminants. She said Wal-Mart would investigate further but defended the quality of its bottled water.

The researchers recommend that people worried about water contaminants drink tap water with a carbon filter.

**why am I not surprised?

[Myk JL 1,731]

I knew the whole thing was a fad.

[gokuDX7 2,871]

This is why they have filter systems for sinks and fridge water. Use them!

[Myk JL 1,731]

This is why they have filter systems for sinks and fridge water. Use them!

I gotta get a new one for my sink... Maybe one for the fridge as my the lid for my current water container is cracking... I don't think I'll ever do the shower filter... Maybe that's just getting carried away... or not...

[Ladywriter 7,783]

Bottled Water: The Height of Stupidity

When they use the words tap water they are primarily talking about urban/suburban public drinking water, not well water in rural areas. I was fortunate enough to be raised on well water (Skaneateles Lake aquifer) and in the house I've been in for almost ten years now also uses a well. Fluoride is added to ALL public drinking water.

What's in your water?

before I had 1408 everything went into the blog

[Myk JL 1,731]

Bottled Water: The Height of Stupidity

When they use the words tap water they are primarily talking about urban/suburban public drinking water, not well water in rural areas. I was fortunate enough to be raised on well water (Skaneateles Lake aquifer) and in the house I've been in for almost ten years now also uses a well. Fluoride is added to ALL public drinking water.

What's in your water?

before I had 1408 everything went into the blog

You're almost making me miss Well Water... Damn... If only that trailer somehow had Cable...

[Kite 3,263]

isnt american bottled water typically the same as tap water, that has gone through better filtration technology

coke released ''dasani'' in the uk, people were outraged when it was found to be tap water that had gone through further filtration.

coke apologised, and withdrew from the market wasting millions ;p

all our botled water sold is natural spring water, but that doesnt stop the mass amount of wasted plastic

[gokuDX7 2,871]

I gotta get a new one for my sink... Maybe one for the fridge as my the lid for my current water container is cracking... I don't think I'll ever do the shower filter... Maybe that's just getting carried away... or not...

Na, just for drinking water. Showers wont matter much since you have the hot water running anyway. Well, unless the water is brown or looks weird lol.

[Sledgstone 8,672]

isnt american bottled water typically the same as tap water, that has gone through better filtration technology

coke released ''dasani'' in the uk, people were outraged when it was found to be tap water that had gone through further filtration.

coke apologised, and withdrew from the market wasting millions ;p

all our botled water sold is natural spring water, but that doesnt stop the mass amount of wasted plastic

All that wasted plastic. \ They should make everyone pay a bottle deposit on all plastic containers so people would recycle them.

[HKofsesshoumaru 673]

All that wasted plastic. \ They should make everyone pay a bottle deposit on all plastic containers so people would recycle them.

I agree. They should make people pay deposits on a lot of things, like plastic bags at grocery stores. There is a lot of plastic wasted there and not everyone is catching on to the cloth bag idea.