Bottled WaterUpdated 23 days ago
A little known fact about bottled water is that it's less regulated than tap.
Many popular bottled water brands have shown levels of arsenic, lead, and microplastics. That's to say nothing of the cost and environmental impact. One of our staff with a master's in environmental policy wrote this article on bottled water if you'd like to learn more.
The article states, "According to the FDA, bottled water companies are permitted to package and sell water from municipal taps, artesian wells, mineral water, natural springs, and drilled wells. Surprisingly enough, they aren’t required to disclose the source water itself. If you’re looking for transparency, municipal systems are required to publish an annual Consumer Confidence Report (CCR) that discloses characteristics about the source water, treatment techniques, and other distribution information. The bottled water industry also frequently packages and distributes groundwater from dug wells. Groundwater can often be more susceptible to pollution than surface water because it’s not regulated by the federal government. Groundwater acts as a catchment for surface water runoff and agricultural pollution, not to mention its increased risk of arsenic contamination."
We are not able to recommend specific brands of bottled water or whether bottles or cans are better.
Many popular bottled water brands have shown levels of arsenic, lead, and microplastics. That's to say nothing of the cost and environmental impact. One of our staff with a master's in environmental policy wrote this article on bottled water if you'd like to learn more.
The article states, "According to the FDA, bottled water companies are permitted to package and sell water from municipal taps, artesian wells, mineral water, natural springs, and drilled wells. Surprisingly enough, they aren’t required to disclose the source water itself. If you’re looking for transparency, municipal systems are required to publish an annual Consumer Confidence Report (CCR) that discloses characteristics about the source water, treatment techniques, and other distribution information. The bottled water industry also frequently packages and distributes groundwater from dug wells. Groundwater can often be more susceptible to pollution than surface water because it’s not regulated by the federal government. Groundwater acts as a catchment for surface water runoff and agricultural pollution, not to mention its increased risk of arsenic contamination."
We are not able to recommend specific brands of bottled water or whether bottles or cans are better.
If you are curious about the water quality of these brands, you should be able to look up the website of the manufacturer (usually it's on the packaging) and look for a "Water Quality Report" or "Water Analysis" for the water you're drinking.