Bottled Water: quality

A large misconception that most bottled water companies are happy consumers have is the idea that bottled water is actually better for you. Well, most of the time this simply isn't the case. Over 40% of bottled water is actually straight from the tap. Sometimes bottled water is even worse for you: The Environmental Law Foundation has sued eight bottlers for using words such as "pure" to market water that contains bacteria, arsenic and chlorine. Now for some fun facts about the regulations on bottled water:

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):
* City tap water can have no confirmed E. coli or fecal coliform bacteria. FDA bottled water rules include no such prohibition (a certain amount of any type of coliform bacteria is allowed in bottled water).
* City tap water, from surface water, must be filtered and disinfected. In contrast, there are no federal filtration or disinfection requirements for bottled water.
* Most cities using surface water have had to test for Cryptosporidium or Giardia, two common water pathogens that can cause diarrhea and other intestinal problems, yet bottled water companies do not have to do this.
* City tap water must meet standards for certain important toxic or cancer-causing chemicals, such as phthalate (a chemical that can leach from plastic, including plastic bottles); some in the industry persuaded the FDA to exempt bottled water from the regulations regarding these chemicals.