(updated 12:30 p.m. with more comment from EWG, and statement from bottled water industry)
If the latest bottled water study was meant to scare consumers, then this one is sure to get the job done.
Washington D.C.-based Environmental Working Group released a report this morning stating that 10 popular U.S. bottled water brands contain mixtures of 38 different pollutants, including bacteria, fertilizer, Tylenol and industrial chemicals.
In many cases, some of the brands had levels “no better than tap water,” the report said.
“Americans paid $12 billion to drink 9 billion gallons of bottled water last year alone,” the watchdog group stated. “Yet, as EWG tests show, several bottled waters bore the chemical signature of standard municipal water treatment — a cocktail of fluoride, chlorine and other disinfectants whose proportions vary only slightly from plant to plant.”
The consumer watchdog group went on to name the two biggest brands that performed poorly in its study: Sam’s Choice sold by Wal-Mart Inc. and Acadia of Giant Food supermarkets.
The report did not list the other brands tested because it did not “want people to take away from the report that one bottled brand is safer than another,” said Bill Walker, a spokesman for the group’s California chapter.
EWG, instead, recommends consumers drink tap water, he said.
In California, Walmart’s bottled water bought in the San Francisco area was polluted with disinfection byproducts called trihalomethanes, which exceeded California limits for bottled water, the study said.
“Consumer confidence in the purity of bottled water is simply not justified,” the study concluded.
Both retailers defended their bottled water stating they meet health standards and requirements, according to an Associated Press report. The International Bottled Water Association called the EWG report faulty and misleading.
“The report provides results from of a market basket testing program that the EWG conducted on ten brands of bottled water in nine states and the District of Columbia. This is certainly not a representative sample of bottled water products, which the report acknowledges,” the trade group said.
Also, checkout the Register’s new Healthy Living blog by Jennifer Muir.
Tell us: What do you make of all this? Do you prefer tap or bottled water? I’m a big fan of bottled water, so this troubles me. Write in and let us know.
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blah yuk barf
No worrys - Tap Water has more than 140 contaminants with no enforceable safety limits found.
Which is worse 38 or 140?
(Source: http://www.ewg.org/tapwater/findings.php)
berkey water filters!!! they are the best!
everyone should ban Wal Mart!!!!
I still prefer the taste of bottled water. I bought a water filter and it isn’t the same. Gotta have my Desani, sorry
I agree, ban Wal-Mart.
Garbage in-garbage out. Nothing good comes from this trashy store, not even the people that shop there.
Very low class.
Well as to which is worse, tap or bottled, the EWG folks conclude that a carbon water filtering device does a much better job killing the contaminants in tap water and is much more cost effective (to say nothing of the environmental impact) than drinking bottled water.
Wal-Mart??? Why am I not surprised!
What are other Brands why you are talking about only two brands out of the 10 you are talking about it has been our practice to abuse anything which is sold by WalMart.
It would be appriciated if all brands are listed by Rank they got in the report and I would say publish list of all Brands evaluated and brands not evaluated.
I this one of those China thingys? You get what you pay for…
We need to know what the other 8 brands are as well.
I agree we need to know the other brand as this article seems biased to only point out Wal-Mart…
Troy/Alan/Silent girl:
I thought the same thing, when reviewing the report: “What are the other brands?” But, in hunting through the report documents, EWG did not list the other brands by name. This is why my original report stated “The report did not list the other brands tested.”
That being said, I finally got a hold of someone at EWG. A spokesman told me they purposely did not list the other brands tested, because, in general, they think all bottled water is a ripoff. This update is reflected above. Also, a rebuttal statement and link from the bottled water industry has been included.
Hope that helps….
Nancy
All bottled water is nothing but filtered tap water. The bootleggers used to run the white lightning through an old pair of grandmas pantie hose. The bottled water people didn’t like pantie hose so they use grandpas stained underwear. “”How do those old guys Taste”"?
I used to live in the San Bernardino Mtn’s, and occasionaly traveled home via the Old Waterman Canyon road on the way to Lake Arrowhead. About 3/4 mi. up the canyon road in-line with the steam cave area of the old Campus Crusade for Christ, next to the curb is a pipe and valve. Most days I’d see a truck filling up from the pipe marked Arrowhead Pure Mountain Water. I once stopped and asked the driver if he was filling from the municipal water source, he laughed, and said “yes”. He also told me that besides bottling it, it was forced through a carbon filter, and thats it.Cha-Ching!
With a Reverse Osmosis Water Filter you can make healthy, pure drinking water at home.
Are you surprised? You get what you pay for at Walmart and I wouldn’t be surprised if this water was actually imported from China — 70% of their other products are.
It seems like Walmart is selling a new poisonous or toxic product every month — remember when they had to recall all of that dog food because it was killing pets?
Ban Walmart!
I have nothing against tap water. If they could make it taste better, I’d be all for drinking from the tap. That is the only reason I drink bottled. I’m even picky on which bottled water I drink… I hate the taste of Arrowhead, for instance.
Yeah, not all bottled water tastes the same to me. I don’t like the taste of Arrowhead either. The Stater Bros. version also tastes a bit off to me.
I currently like Sparkletts and the Ralph’s brand, Mountain Dairy, I think it is. Just started trying the Nestle brand bottled water, Nutri-life, or something like that.
Best bottled water is Auqafina, followed by Dasani! As far as store brands,who knows. Walmart rocks,tell me what store doesn’t sell china products?
bottled water in Santa Ana is bad too I bet
STOP!!! First, consider the source. Any company from San Francisco should automatically be looked at carefully. Second, their water is bottled in the United States by American workers. I work for the company that bottles and runs the exact same tests on Walmarts water. IT IS NOT CONTAMINATED and it is clean. My family and I drink it, and will continue to drink it!!! Several hundred American jobs could be on the line because some fake company doesn’t like Walmart. It is rediculous that people automatically ASSume Walmart gets everything from China and children were used in sweat shops, but this report is FAKE. Please research all the facts before blogging just to bash Walmart.
With a name like ‘Melendez.’.. of COURSE you’re a Wal-Mart shopper.
What does that have to do with ANYTHING? This is supposed to be a helpful site…not one person’s forum to bash at will. Very inappropriate along with your other comment about people who shop at Walmart. Tell us, do you follow all of them home and, if not…where do you get your information?
Figures walmart would do that to the american public. They dont care for thier employees, why should they care for anyone else.
The best bottled water by far is Fiji. If you do a side by side taste comparison with any other water, tap or bottled, you will be amazed. Unfortunately, it’s too expensive for my budget.
Now lets not associate the employees with the water. They aren’t responsible for this.
And NO I am not an employee!!
Heck not everything is produced in the good ol USA anymore. Not our cars, clothes hardly nothing. I too wish they would identify the other sources of the contaminated water. Hell, water is water we’ve been drinking it for centuries and we will continue to drink it for centuries. Just like the other food scares, did it prevent people from eating hell no. Why should it stop us now? Come on people….think!!!
Dasani is made by Coca Cola Company. Its filtered tap water as well.
I buy Walmart’s distilled water by the gallon. Whatever its flaws or sources, my cats haven’t licked the faucets.
WHEN did it become necessary for us to tote around bottles of water EVERYWHERE WE GO?? I have a shop in PA…people come in for five minutes CARRYING WATER! For what? I have lived to 54 (so far) and done so on TAP WATER. Recently, my vet suggested distilled water for the male cats because tap water has ingredients that may be bad for their urinary tract health. So, I set out to do my homework. I am going to purchase a counter-top distiller, possibly AquaVie, still researching. We can all “name-drop” until the cows come home but bottled water is fad that came had its hay day in the 90’s and is still running. Me..I am not paying ANYONE 1.00 plus for a bottle of water. I wonder how long the tooth-whitening strip fad will last :/
“Yet, as EWG tests show, several bottled waters bore the chemical signature of standard municipal water treatment — a cocktail of fluoride, chlorine and other disinfectants whose proportions vary only slightly from plant to plant.”
Am I the only one who doesn’t find this necessarily a bad thing? Let’s not forget that before these modern day treatments — as early as 100 years ago — water born illnesses were prevalent everywhere. It was only after the introduction of choline — first in New Jersey — that we saw cases of Typhoid drastically diminished. I’ve done some work for the American Chemistry Council and I can honestly say that chlorine water treatment has certainly helped in raising our life expectancy.