The Water You Drink / Bottled Water - Pure Drink or Pure Hype?	Navigate This Article 1 2
submitted by Dr. Gary Farr - Contact the author here. Last Updated December, 23, 2002	Save Money! Check out our special offers here.

5. Bottled water marketing can be misleading.

Despite recent FDA rules intended to reduce misleading marketing, some bottled water comes from sources that are vastly different from what the labels might lead consumers to believe.

Chapter 5 shows that despite recent FDA rules intended to reduce misleading marketing, some bottled water comes from sources that are vastly different from what the labels might lead consumers to believe. One brand of water discussed in this report was sold as "spring water" and its label showed a lake and mountains in the background -- with FDA's explicit blessing. But until recently the water actually came from a periodically contaminated well in an industrial facility's parking lot, near a waste dump (a state whistleblower informed the local media after years of internal struggles, finally putting an end to the use of this source).[30] Another brand of water sold with a label stating it is "pure glacier water" actually came from a public water supply, according to state records.[31] While FDA recently adopted rules intended to curb such practices, those rules include many weak spots and loopholes (including those that allowed the water taken from an industrial-park well to be sold as spring water with a label picturing mountains), and there are very few resources to enforce them.

Water with one brand name can come from numerous different sources, depending upon the time of year, location of sale, or other market factors. Moreover, water from one source (such as the industrial-parking-lot well noted above) can be used and labeled for a half-dozen or more different labels and brands. In addition, according to government and industry estimates, about one fourth or more of the bottled water sold in the United States [32] (and by some accounts 40 percent[33]) is taken from public water systems -- tap water, essentially. Sometimes this tap water is bottled after additional treatment (such as carbon filtration or ozonation), and sometimes it is bottled with little or no additional treatment.

6. The long-term solution to drinking water problems is to fix tap water -- not to switch to bottled water.

Many people may choose to use bottled water because they prefer its taste and smell, or because it is convenient. Bottled water, in some cases, also may be needed as a stopgap measure when tap water is contaminated, rendering the water nonpotable (as in the case of a boil-water alert). In the long run, however, it is far better from an economic, environmental, and public health point of view to improve public drinking water supplies than it is to have a massive societal shift from consumer use of tap water to use of bottled water. We cannot give up on tap water safety. The reasons we have reached this conclusion include:

• Public health concerns. Bottled water sometimes poses its own potential health risks due to contamination. Furthermore, even if bottled water is completely pure, use of it can only somewhat reduce public exposure to contaminants in tap water; some people will continue to use tap water. Even if no one were to drink tap water, virtually everyone would continue to be exposed to some common contaminants (especially those that are volatile or can penetrate the skin) when showering, bathing, washing dishes, and cooking.
   
• Equity concerns. If those who can afford bottled water shift to it as their primary source of drinking water, only low-income people are left drinking tap water, its quality may then slip into an ever-downward spiral.
   
• Environmental concerns. Provision of water by underground pipe is energy-efficient and consumes far fewer natural resources per gallon than using bottled water. Placing water in bottles and transporting those heavy bottles around the country (or around the globe) consumes far more energy and other resources than using tap water. The manufacture of bottles also can cause release of phthalates, and other byproducts of plastic-making, into water, air, or other parts of the environment. And, ultimately, many bottles will be added to already overflowing landfills or incinerated, potentially adding to our environmental problems.
   
• Economic concerns. Bottled water typically costs hundreds of times more than tap water, even up to 10,000 or more times more than what comes out of your faucet. These costs cannot be easily borne by low-income people and should not have to be borne by the elderly, the immunocompromised, or chronically ill people in order to get water that is safe to drink. The $4 billion a year now spent by consumers on bottled water could be better spent on upgrading tap water supplies.

Recommendations

• 1. Fix tap water quality -- don't give up and just rely on bottled water.
  For the reasons just noted, it would generally be better to upgrade and improve tap water quality than to have a part of society shift to bottled water. Those who dislike the taste and smell of their tap water may want to consider placing tap water in a glass or ceramic pitcher in their refrigerator, with the top loose to allow the chlorine to dissipate overnight. This also will allow volatile disinfection by-products to evaporate (though less volatile disinfection by-products may stay in the water). Overnight refrigeration in a loosely capped container eliminates the objectionable chlorine taste and odor, and the chilled water can be put in reusable sports bottles as desired to make it convenient to carry ice-cold water to the office, on trips, or when exercising. It also saves money and has environmental and other benefits, as previously noted.
   

• 2. Establish the public's right to know for bottled water as now required for tap water.
  Bottled water labels should be required to list any contaminants found in the water (as well as health goals and standards), the water's fluoride and sodium content, the health effects of the contaminants found, the bottler's compliance with applicable standards, the source of the water, and any treatment used. Labels also should indicate whether the water meets the EPA-CDC criteria for Cryptosporidium safety. The date of bottling and information on how to get further information also should be placed on labels. We fail to understand why, if bottled water is as pure as the bottlers say, they are so afraid of a right-to-know requirement. However, FDA has the authority to require such information on bottled water labels, has been required by the Safe Drinking Water Act to evaluate the feasibility of doing so, and therefore should move forward with rules requiring such disclosure for bottled water.
   

• 3. FDA should create a Web site and a phone-accessible information system on bottled water.
  FDA should add to its Web site and should make available, through a hot line, a user-friendly array of information on bottled water brands, including all of the basic information noted in recommendation 2, for each bottler. This bottled water information should build upon and expand the EPA hotline and web site that gives specific information on individual tap water systems and drinking water generally. The FDA hot line and Web site should make available the results of all government, industry, or other bottled water testing by certified labs for all brands. It also should include information on all inspections and recalls, and any other relevant consumer information on particular brands of bottled water.
   

• 4. Overhaul FDA rules for bottled water.
  The FDA rules for bottled water are weak and should be strengthened. If necessary, FDA should request additional legislative authority to adopt these changes. FDA should:
   

  • Establish standards and monitoring requirements for bottled water no less stringent than EPA's rules for tap water in major cities, including standards for all microbiological and chemical contaminants, specific and defined water treatment (including filtration and disinfection or strict source-protection requirements), operator-certification requirements, and unregulated-contaminant monitoring rules.
  • Set strict, up-to-date standards for contaminants potentially found in bottled water. These standards should be at least as protective of public health as the strictest regulations adopted by other authorities. Thus, the standards should be as stringent as possible for the bottled water industry and certainly should be no less stringent than the following: arsenic less than 5 parts per billion (ppb)(California Proposition 65); heterotrophic-plate-count bacteria less than 100 colony-forming units per milliliter at bottling (EU standard), 200 cfu/ml 5 days after bottling in 90 percent of samples (industry recommendation), and a maximum at all times of 500 cfu/ml; no parasites, pathogens, fecal streptococci (e.g., the recently renamed Enterococcus faecalis), Pseudomonas aeruginosa, sporulated sulphite-reducing anaerobes (EU natural mineral water rules); trihalomethanes less than 10 ppb (California law and industry model code); phthalate less than 6 ppb (EPA tap water); individual synthetic organic and inorganic chemicals (e.g., bromodichloromethane) equal to California's Proposition 65 levels. For other contaminants more strictly controlled under bottled water industry code than under current FDA rules or with EPA Health Advisories, FDA should adopt the industry or EPA recommendation.
  • Immediately finalize its 1993 proposed ban on coliform bacteria in bottled water.
  • Establish clearly defined criteria and protections for an "approved source" of bottled water under FDA rules, and require annual state reevaluation of compliance with these new "approved source" rules, including review of potential contamination problems.
  • Require bottlers to retain microbial test results for 5 years, and chemical tests for 10 years, as EPA requires for tap water.
  • Mandate a bottling date and "refrigerate after opening" statement on labels, in order to inform consumers who seek to minimize the chances of potentially excessive microbial growth and contamination in bottled water.
  • Require labs used for bottled water analysis to be certified by EPA or FDA.
  • Direct that water be tested daily at the plant for microbes, quarterly for chemicals during bottling, and quarterly in bottles after extended storage, especially for chemicals that can leach from bottles and for microbes that can multiply during storage.
  • Require quarterly reporting of test results to states and FDA, and reporting of acute violations within 24 hours to state and FDA officials.
  • Prohibit all sales of water contaminated at levels above FDA standards.
  • Apply FDA's standards to all intrastate bottled water sales.
  • Mandate that water bottlers be trained and certified.
  • Require state bottled water programs to be reviewed and approved by FDA, and FDA should oversee their effectiveness.
  • Establish clear mandatory recall authority for FDA through administrative order or a civil action.
  • Maintain an inventory, and register all water bottlers.
  • Cover all water sold in a bottle that is likely to be ingested by people, including "purified," "disinfected," "seltzer," etc., under the FDA bottled water standards -- as under California and other states' laws.
  • Conduct routine FDA monitoring of bottled water quality for waters sold across the country, as has been done in Canada for many years, and release the results, including brand names, to the public in published reports and on its website.

  5. Annual inspections should be required.
  FDA should conduct annual inspections (or fund annual state inspections) of all bottling facilities and of their water sources.
   

• 6. Institute a "penny-per-bottle" fee to assure bottled water safety.
  We recommend that a fee of one cent per bottle of bottled water sold should be instituted, to be placed in a trust fund for use without further appropriation by FDA to pay for a stringent bottled water regulatory program. The fee, which we estimate would raise more than $30 million dollars a year, should fund improved FDA implementation, random testing, a public Web site, state and federal inspections, and funding and oversight of state programs and bottlers.
   

• 7. Set a deadline for transferring the bottled water program to EPA if FDA lacks the resources or will to implement it effectively.
  FDA has made it clear that bottled water protection is a low priority. If FDA concludes that making bottled water comply with the same requirements as tap water is unduly burdensome, or that the preceding recommendations to achieve that goal are not of sufficient priority to claim FDA resources, the program should be transferred to EPA, which already regulates tap water. FDA should be given no more than 18 months to demonstrate, by overhauling its rules and program, whether it wishes to retain the program. If such an overhaul does not occur, the program should be automatically transferred to EPA. EPA should be given six months to apply the rules applicable to big city water systems to bottled water; of course, the rules should be modified where they would be inapplicable to bottled water (as where EPA rules require monitoring at the tap). EPA also should be provided the revenue from a penny-per-bottle fee on bottled water to carry out the program. We make this recommendation for transfer with some uneasiness, since EPA's tap water regulatory program suffers from its own serious deficiencies and resource constraints. However, on balance we believe that if FDA continues to lack the will and resources to address bottled water issues as the sales skyrocket, even an inadequate EPA bottled water regulatory program could hardly be worse than FDA's current effort.
   

• 8. Establish "certified safe" bottled water.
  In light of the poor government regulatory performance, an independent third-party organization such as Green Seal or Underwriters Labs should establish a "certified safe" bottled water program. Criteria for inclusion would be that the water always meets the strictest of all standards, including FDA, IBWA, international (e.g., EU and WHO) and state rules, recommendations, and guidelines, meets all EPA health goals, health advisories, and national primary drinking water regulations, is tested at least daily for microbial contaminants and quarterly for chemicals (monthly if using surface water or other water subject to frequent water quality changes), meets source-water protection criteria, is protected from Cryptosporidium in accordance with EPA-CDC guidelines, is disinfected, and is surprise inspected twice a year by independent third-party inspectors. The certifying organization should establish an open-docket release of its inspection, testing, and compliance evaluation results. While the current NSF and IBWA seals are intended to provide such a stamp of approval, we believe a more independent and open body imposing stricter standards and making all testing, inspection, and other collected information readily available to consumers (including on the Web), would provide greater consumer confidence in the certification.

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