Every day, we are inundated with messages about the choices we make when it comes to nourishing our bodies.  So, have you thought about the water that you drink?  Do you prefer bottled or tap?  Can you tell the difference between the two?   When you’re thirsty, do you head for the nearest convenience store with its selection of branded bottled water?  Or, do you head for the sink to get some tap water?  Do you filter your tap water?  Does it matter?

It does. And, it matters not just because of the repercussions drinking contaminated water might have on your health, but also because Americans spend more money in one year on bottled water than on iPods or movie tickets: $15 billion in 2006 and an estimated $16 billion in 2007.

Bottled water is regulated – although that regulation is somewhat lackadaisical – due to the Food and Drug Administration‘s limited authority under the Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act (“FDCA”).  Municipal water sources are regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency under the Safe Drinking Water Act (“SDWA”).  Yet, essentially, whether you drink tap or bottled water, you are drinking the same water.  Your bottled water is likely sourced from a municipal water utility or rural groundwater source, as in the case of Pepsico’s Aquafina,  Poland Springs or Nestle.

From: rumplo.com

The differences between the two regulation schemes loom large.  Whereas municipal water utilities must provide annual public reports under the  Right-To-Know provisions of the SDWA, bottled water makers are under no such obligation.  The list of pollutants regulated under the SDWA hasn’t been updated since the act’s passage in the 1970s.  And, despite the fact that more than 6,000 pollutants can be found in our water sources, the SDWA regulates just 91 known carcinogenic pollutants.  So, does a more stringent regulatory scheme make tap water better than bottled?

No.  In fact, you might very well be paying a bottled water company to drink the exact same water flowing out of a faucet at home.  As the water market war escalated in the early to mid 2000s,  the source of  water seemed to multiply.  Simple categories of water expanded.  Suddenly, a consumer could purchase artesian water, purified water, mineral water, or spring water just to name a few.  But, whereas the Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1996 require water utilities to issue Right to Know Reports to their customers before July 1 of each year, water bottling companies such as Poland Springs or Nestle do not.

As consumers, we balance various considerations:  convenience, cost, ethics.  If after controlling for pollutant content, bottled and tap water (or tap water purified with a filter) are identical, which will you choose to consume?

Posted by Krystyna on January 25, 2010 at 1:25pm.