Bottled water better than tap water?

Many people may mistakenly think that pricey bottled water is better than tap water and they are willing to pay a much higher price to use bottled water.

The fact is that the majority of brands of bottled water in the market are simply tap water from an unknown source, the Environmental Working Group said on its website.

The EWG spent 18 months surveying all brands of bottled water from the market and found that only two bottled waters disclose water sources and treatment methods on their labels and offer a recent water quality test report on their websites, Ozarka Drinking Water and Penta  Ultra-Purified Water.

And the non-profit science-based environmental health organization said just 18 percent of bottled waters disclose quality reports with contaminants testing results. Of those that disclose the information are all eight Nestle domestic brands including Poland Spring, Nestle Pure Life, Arrowhead, Calistoga, Deer Park, Ice Mountain, Ozarka and Zephyrhills, according to the EWG.

Municipal water districts are required by law to disclose water safety information while bottled water companies are not required to provide such information.

One possible concern about the bottled water is the packaging material.  Polycarbonate plastic contains bisphenol A, a chemical that has gained recognition from the National Toxicology Program that bisphenol A may alter behavior and the brain and it may also reduce survival and birth weight in fetuses in animal studies.

Animal studies have revealed that prenatal exposure to low-level bisphenol A can change development of the prostate gland and breast, resulting in a high risk of cancer in late life.

By David Liu - davidl at foodconsumer dot org