Bottled water

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Bottled water is drinking water, usually spring water or mineral water, or simply water that has been treated, and sold in a sealed bottle. The worldwide bottled water industry is worth an estimated $22bn annually.

It is preferred in areas where the water is either too polluted or infested, but nowadays, it is starting to be popular over tap water because it usually contains far less fluoride and chlorine, which are often included in tap water during processing. Fluoride is sometimes added to tap water or bottled water is to prevent tooth decay. It is typically added at the rate of one part per million and has no taste. There is also a certain snob value to more expensive brands of bottled water.

Bottled water in the United States

Bottled water is a somewhat contentious topic in the United States. Many charge that the consumption of the more expensive brands of bottled water is just snobbery. In addition, a lot of the bottled water is actually very close to tap water.

Bottled water history in USA

The increased use of bottle water in US recently may have been contributed to several factors. In 1993, Cryptosporidium caused 400,000 people to get sick in Wisconsin. This led to a sensitized media which widely reported another far smaller water infection that happened in Washington, DC in the year 2000. Environmental Protection Agency mandated that tap water should have no more than 10 parts per billion of arsenic. A highly reported attempt was made to change the requirement from the previous 10ppb to 50ppb. Coupled with these widely reported incidents is a trend where many Americans are getting health conscious, resulting in bottled water securing its place in their daily lives.

Regulations

The United States' bottled water industry may seem to be highly regulated and scrutinised for provision of correct information on the labels of the bottles. The basic fact is that the nutritional information on the water bottle has to be precise and that is where the legal precision ends. Tap water in the U.S. is regulated by the EPA but bottled water is regulated by the FDA which has assigned far fewer employees to inspections and enforcement.

To put this into an example Evian, famous water brand, actually fills its water for the US market from a US water source and in legal terms is a product of France as it is owned and operated by a French company. Also bottled at source statement on the bottle means nothing further than what it states, however the source of water is left to our immediate presumption that it is bottled in France.

While it is often claimed that bottled water is required by the FDA to be taken from a "protected source", meaning a source that is known to be free of pollution and bacteria, and regularly checked for same, there is no such regulation. Bottled water suppliers are required to use an "approved source", which the FDA defines as:

[approved source] means a source of water...that has been inspected and the water sampled, analyzed, and found to be of a safe and sanitary quality according to applicable laws and regulations of state and local government agencies having jurisdiction.

However, it does not define guidelines for which regulations may be considered applicable, nor set requirements for water sources in the absence of applicable laws. Additionally, bottled water suppliers are not required to document the approval of their sources, so the "approved water" requirement is often termed a "regulatory mirage".

Whereas municipal water sources are required to use a certified laboratory to ensure their water meets standards for bacteria and pollution, to inform consumers of contaminants in water, and to report all violations. Municipal sources test water before it leaves the processing plant, but the pipe systems to your tap are largely unregulated and aging. In fact, water bottlers are permitted to sell contaminated water if their labelling notes the water contains "excessive bacteria" or "excessive chemical substances". Water bottlers are additionally not required to test for the presence of E. coli, cryptosporidium, giardia, asbestos, or organic compounds such as benzenes; [1] (http://www.nrdc.org/water/drinking/bw/chap4.asp) however, most bottled water is heavily tested.

Another misconception that is well covered by the bottled water industry is the statement of what kind of water is in fact in the bottle, whether mineral, purified, artesian etc. As stated earlier individual states regulate with individual laws what mineral content needs to be in the water for it to be "mineral water" in the US the minimal mineral content is 250 parts per million of minerals in a litre of water, this is very low! So mineral water in the US would only qualify as spring water in the other countries.

The Penn & Teller Tasting Test

In 2003, Penn & Teller, a Showtime television network program, conducted an informal taste test of bottled water. They found about 75 percent of New Yorkers preferred tap water to bottled waters. They also hired a "water sommelier" to sell US$7 bottled water to the patrons in a fancy Californian restaurant. The water sommelier filled each bottle with a garden hose directly from the tap, however, people claimed to know the difference between a bottle of eau du robinet (French for "faucet water") and Agua de Culo (Spanish for "ass water") before they were informed of its source. In the end, the hosts Penn and Teller, jokingly offered to sell their brand of water for US$150 per bottle.