Water Filters or Bottled Water

With the increase in demand for pure water, beverage industry has hit the jackpot by manufacturing bottles to supply pure and natural water. This is right now one of the hottest and most selling products with over multi-billion dollar market segment worldwide. 

Ever year millions and millions of dollars are spent in running advertisements campaign to educate customers to drink bottled water which is prescribed to be pure and have come from the mountain springs or underground aquifer. In reality bottled water is a little over the tap water in a bottle.  (There should be as big a ad campaign for water filters!)

UNTIL TODAY, THERE ARE NO STANDARDS INTRODUCED BY THE GOVERNMENT WHICH DIFFERENTIATE A BOTTLED WATER TO BE PURER OR SAFER OR BETTER THAN TAP WATER!

Maximum number of bottles are packaged and sold in same state to avoid any regulations. There is absolutely no guarantee or assurance or government requirements which states bottle water should be of any higher quality that the ordinary tap water.

NRDC or the Natural Resources Defense Council did release a report in March 1999 called “Bottled Water, Pure Drink or Pure Hype?” as per this report, almost 60 to 70 percent of the bottles water does not qualify on the water standards defined by FDA due to the fact that the bottled water is sold within the state itself. The standards made by the federal government would apply when the packaged bottled water is transported outside of the state.

Following are the examples quotes from the NRDC report:

* It’s not confirmed that city tap water contains fecal coliform or E.coli bacteria. FDA bottled water rules do not have any restriction or prohibition which says bottled water can have either a certain amount or any type of coliform bacteria.

* City tap water arriving from surface water to be disinfected and filtered. Whereas bottled water does not have to go through federal disinfection or filtration requirements.

* Two common tests are conducted in most cities for Giardia or Cryptosporidium which are famous water pathogens primarily responsible for diarrhea and various other intestinal problems. Bottle water companies don’t even have to go through this test.

* City tap water still has to undergo standard check to indentify certain levels of toxins or chemicals like phthalate that could lead to cancer like problems. Phthalate is chemical mostly leached from plastic including plastic bottles.  Bottled water companies are exempted by FDA from undergoing this test for chemicals.

The NRDC reports concluded that “Therefore‚ while much tap water is indeed risky‚ having compared available data‚ we conclude that there is no assurance that bottled water is any safer than tap water”

Therefore, now it is very clear that the amount of money we pay per gallon thinking the water is pure, clean and safest of them all is in fact not so sure to be judged as ‘unknown’ on its actual quality.