Bottled Water Vs. Tap Water: Health Spotlight

planetgreen.discovery.com:

According to a study by the Environmental Working Group, bottled water is just as polluted as a tap water. In fact, twenty percent of bottled water has more chlorine than California's state regulations will allow in tap water.

Read the whole story: planetgreen.discovery.com

Comments

[JaneLazgin]

06:03 PM on 05/05/2009

As an employee of Nestlé Waters North America, I can attest to my company’s commitment to produce consistently high-quality products. While we support people drinking more water – whether it comes from a spring or municipal source – bottled water and tap water are not the same.
Public water is mostly safe to drink, but comes mostly from surface water and can occasionally experience a spike in pathogens or chlorine by-products. Our spring waters (e.g. Poland Spring) come from sheltered groundwater sources and are more isolated from these risks. Even when we bottle public water (for Nestlé Pure Life), we apply additional specialized filtration most public systems do not. In addition, our water is bottled under sanitary conditions and tested multiple times each day. Finally, the sealed bottle itself provides a barrier to outside exposure, which in turn, preserves the quality of the water. Visit our Website to view quality reports for all of our brands.
I'd also like to point out that none of our bottled water brands were included in the Environmental Working Group study. To read our full response to this report, please visit Nestlé Waters North America’s press center, via our corporate Website.
Sincerely,
Jane Lazgin
Director, Corporate Communications
Nestlé Waters North America

[wm1066]

03:56 PM on 04/28/2009

When they talk of bottled water are they talking about the one gallon jugs of spring water or the 16 oz bottles of designer water?

[breathestolive]

04:44 PM on 04/28/2009

Both. Any. All of the above.

[alexandra hamilton]

03:25 PM on 04/28/2009

So the bottlers are doing it for a profit and not for the good of humanity. What else is new?

[apduncan1]

02:22 PM on 04/28/2009

"... bottled water is just as polluted as a tap water. "

And it is more expensive than gasoline!

[truthartbeauty]

01:15 PM on 04/28/2009

I'm out in the country south of houston and have a well.....900 feet down and get pure underground water. It is tested in a lab and is free of all contaminates.

[breathestolive]

01:28 PM on 04/28/2009

You are very fortunate.

[TeeLolly]

12:56 PM on 04/28/2009

I keep a pot of tap water on my floor furnace for humidity in winter. It quickly develops a tan residue that becomes crusty, like thin plastic, and can be chipped off in pieces up to 6" long and 1" wide. My bottled water doesn't develop this residue. From time to time, my tap water has the faint aroma of sewage. My bottled water never does. My tap water always tastes bad. My bottled water doesn't. I buy the largest containers of bottled water I can find, and drink out of smaller vessels. Until my tap water stops smelling like sewage--even occasionally--I'm sticking to bottled water.

[breathestolive]

01:27 PM on 04/28/2009

It would be cheaper to buy a filter that attaches to your tap, or one that you pour water into, like a Brita. And more effective, too.

[berryessence]

12:39 PM on 04/28/2009

WHEN THE CITIES IMPROVE TAP WATER.... I WILL DRINK TAP WATER.

The last time I drink tap water..... I had a SCARE of cryptospiridium because a "backflow" of bacteria and other excrements from the pipe didn't filter properly.

That was 10 years ago. NOW I use PUR Water Filtration system, 7 Aluminum Bottles to take my water when I needed. All are 32 ounces

[breathestolive]

12:29 PM on 04/28/2009

It's foolish to buy bottled water, both from an economic standpoint and from an environmental one. Not only does it waste the resources of making the plastic bottles (heavily energy consumptive), but plastic is derived from petroleum.

But the biggest environmental disaster of all is that encasing water in plastic bottles keeps the water out of the natural cycle of evaporation/rain/evaporation. We have a real emergency situation on Earth, partly because of bottled liquids, but also because of the proliferation of toilets, ice machines, and water heaters, all of which also keep water out of the system. In addition, when you pitch a partially finished soft drink or unused ice into a plastic trash bag, that liquid, too, gets trapped away from the environment.

I'm convinced that global warming is partially caused by this issue of water "shortage", caused by our hoarding of it in this manner.

[Guitarsandmore]

11:27 AM on 04/28/2009

If this story is true than why do fish die when I put them in tap water? And why do fish live for years when I put them in arrowhead springwater without even so much as a filter?

This story is bogus propaganda.

[JScott]

11:06 AM on 04/28/2009

And after all the taxpayers have paid for the waterworks to move all that water around, especially in California, you'd think folk would take advantage of what their tax dollars bought and use tap water.