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Although much of bottled water marketing stems from capitalizing on fears about tap water purity, about 25% of bottled water actually is tap water! (Some estimates place this number as high as 40%.)
PepsiCo's popular "Aquafina" brand features images of mountains on its label. Of course, nowhere on the label does it mention that it is tap water from municipal water supplies! A PepsiCo spokesperson defended the depictions of mountains on the bottled tap water in a 1997 article in the Boston Globe, saying that Pepsi wasn't hiding anything, since anyone can find out the source of Aquafina by calling the toll-free number on the bottle cap.
According to the NRDC report, a brand called "Everest" has mountains on its label, yet it is reportedly tap water from Corpus Christi, Texas.
The brand "Spring Water" featured a picture of a lake surrounded by mountains on its label. The source for this water was actually a well in the middle of an industrial parking lot next to a hazardous waste site. The FDA actually ruled that this brand's label was not misleading, saying, "There is no claim to the effect that the location pictured in the vignette is the actual spring, we would not consider the label vignette to be in violation of our requirements."
The brand "Alasika" [sic] claimed it was "Alaska Premium Glacier Drinking Water: Pure Glacier Water From the Last Unpolluted Frontier, Bacteria Free." This water apparently came from the public water supply of Juneau. (Hey, at least it was from Alaska!) The FDA ultimately forced them to change the label, but only because they felt the claims about a lack of bacteria implied that the water was sterile, which it was not.
The FDA actually allows water to be called "spring water" even if it is pumped from a well and treated with chemicals. FDA rules now require that untreated water from a municipal water source be clearly labeled as such. But if the water is simply filtered (using systems that do not necessarily filter out certain contaminants), the labeling requirement is waived entirely, as in the case of Aquafina.
The use of descriptions and nomenclature that implies the exceedingly pure nature of bottled water was found by the NRDC to be "widespread." Their review of the advertising and promotions for 50 IBWA members found the following words commonly used: "pure," "purest," "purity," "pristine," "natural," "prepared by nature," "mountain water" and "healthy."
These broad marketing claims about the purity of bottled water are simply nothing more than platitudes. In the NRDC's study, about 25% of the brands tested had at least one sample whose contents violated California's strict health standards or warning levels. About one fifth of the brands had at least one sample that exceeded state or industry bacteria guidelines.
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Bottled water consumption in the U.S. has almost tripled in the last decade. In 1986, the average person in the U.S. consumed only 4.5 gallons of bottled water per year. Today, the average is 12.7 gallons. Reportedly, 54% of Americans drink bottled water.
Sales have taken off in recent years (in 1997, bottled water sales equaled almost $4 billion), largely due the public perception that bottled water is healthy and pure. Bottled water marketing regularly includes imagery of mountains, glaciers and bubbling streams, fostering the notion that bottled water is clean and the product of good old mother nature.
Malarkey.
In a four-year study of bottled water quality, the Natural Resources Defense Council found that bottled water is simply not necessarily cleaner or safer than big city tap water.
The NRDC study included the testing of over 1000 bottles of 103 brands of bottled water. About one third of the brands tested contained contamination in at least one sample. This contamination included synthetic organic chemicals, bacteria and arsenic.
The FDA is in charge of testing and enforcing standards for purity in bottled water. Their standards are actually less rigorous than that of the EPA's standards for city tap water! You heard it right.
There are no requirements whatsoever for bottled water to be disinfected or tested for parasites like cryptosporidium or giardia, unlike regulations for big city tap water that uses surface water sources. This means that bottled water could represent a health threat to people with compromised immune systems, such as the elderly or transplant patients.
Also, it's simply untrue to state that just because water comes from a well or a spring that it is immune from cryptosporidium or other microbial contaminants. Several outbreaks of cryptosporidium and other illnesses have been caused by water taken from wells or springs.
The exorbitant price of this assumedly pure and safe water just adds insult to injury. The average cost of tap water in California is $1.60 for 1000 gallons, while the average cost of an equivalent amount of bottled water is $900! Bottled water is about 240 times more expensive than tap water. Pricier, imported water in fancy little bottles can cost up to 10,000 times as much as tap!
And the actual cost of bottling water for the manufacturer is not more than a few cents per bottle, and may be as low as a fraction of a cent per bottle. So, for every $1.50 of your hard-earned dollars you spend on a bottle of water, about 1/3 of that is pure profit for the bottler. About 90% of the purchase price is going not for the water, but for bottling, packaging, shipping, marketing, retailing, other expenses and profit.
The NRDC's ultimate conclusion was that most bottled water apparently was of good quality, although some contained contamination. But it should not automatically be assumed that bottled water is purer or safer than most tap water.
(Source: NRDC's report on bottled water.)
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