Thursday, March 5, 2009

Bottled Water Study: No Different from Tap Water

By Phyllis Wheeler

An October, 2008, analysis of bottled water showed many chemical contaminants in each brand analyzed at levels no different from those in tap water.

The Environmental Working Group of Washington, DC, purchased 10 bottled water brands in nine states and the District of Columbia. A lab found traces of 38 pollutants, averaging eight pollutants per brand. In addition, four of the brands showed bacterial contamination (http://www.ewg.org/reports/bottledwater).

EWG found that two of the brands were the same, chemically, as tap water. These are Walmart's and Giant's store brands, which contained byproducts of chlorine disinfection. In addition, Giant's brand held traces of fluoride. The amount of chlorine byproducts was too high for standards set by the state of California and bottled water producers.

The lab at the University of Iowa found pollutants ranging from caffeine and Tylenol to arsenic, radioactive isotopes, ammonia and nitrate (fertilizer residues), and solvents, propellants, plasticizers, and others.

The researchers conducted an additional test, intended to measure estrogen-mimicking, carcinogenic chmicals found in plastic bottles typically used for bottled water. Breast-cancer cells in a lab dish were given water samples from the study and compared to a control. One brand spurred a 78 percent increase in the breast cancer cells, as compared to the control.

Bottled water isn't necessarily any safer than water from the tap. The laws governing it are based on tap water standards, after all. The EPA's tap water standards form the basis for the FDA's bottled water standards, the EPA points out (www.epa.gov/ogwdw/faq/faq.html). But that's not the perception by many Americans, who are drinking 9 billion gallons of bottled water per year, spending an average of $3.79 per gallon for it.

You can make a wise decision by spending just 8 cents per gallon on a home water filter, which you can install at your kitchen sink. It can provide you with clean pure water, which you can put in safe containers of your choice.

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