A four year study on over 1000 bottles of water showed over 22% contained contaminants above state limits!
Bottled water has become a big business in the United States and sales have tripled in the past 10 years to about $4 billion a year. Over half of all Americans drink bottled water and over a third consume it regularly. We see the ads on television – towering mountains, sparkling glaciers, forests with fresh springs. But is this marketing of crystal-clear, fresh and clean water accurate? According to a four-year study by the NRDC – bottled water, it seems, isn’t always what its cracked up to be.
In fact, no one should assume that just because he or she purchases water in a bottle that it is necessarily any better regulated, purer, or safer than most tap water. It turns out that bottled water sold in the United States is not always filtered and not necessarily cleaner or safer than most tap water, according to a four-year scientific study recently made public by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).
The NRDC’s study included testing of more than 1,000 bottles of 103 brands of bottled water. While most of the tested waters were found to be of good quality, some brands were significantly contaminated.
About one-third of the waters tested contained levels of contamination including synthetic organic chemicals, bacteria, and arsenic (some of which exceeded allowable limits under either state or bottled water industry standards and guidelines). In fact, about a quarter of all bottled water is actually bottled tap water, according to government and industry estimates (some estimates go as high as 40 percent).
Learn more about the NRDC’s Four Year Bottled Water Study.
