Both the Government Accountability Office and the Environmental Working Group, a research and advocacy organization, recommend in reports being released Wednesday that bottled water be labeled with the same level of information municipal water providers must disclose.
The researchers plan to urge Americans to make bottled water "a distant second choice" to filtered tap water during their testimony before a congressional subcommittee Wednesday morning.
Bottled water — an industry worth about $16 billion in sales last year — has been suffering lately as colleges, communities and some governments take measures to limit or ban its consumption. As employers, they are motivated by cost savings and environmental concern because the bottles create unnecessary waste and can be hard to recycle.
Bottled water sales were growing by double-digit percentages for years and were helping buoy the U.S. beverage industry overall. But they were flat last year, according to trade publication Beverage Digest.
Beverage Digest editor John Sicher said some consumers are turning on the tap during the recession simply because it's cheaper.
From 1997 to 2007, the amount of bottled water consumed per person in the U.S. more than doubled, from 13.4 gallons to 29.3 gallons, the GAO report said.
The issue on Wednesday though, before a subcommittee of the Energy and Commerce Committee, was less about waste and water quality concerns and more about the mechanics of regulating bottled water.
As a food product, bottled water is regulated by the Food and Drug Administration and required to show nutrition information and ingredients on its labels. Municipal water is under the control of the Environmental Protection Agency.
The two agencies have similar standards for water quality, but the FDA has less authority to enforce them, the GAO said, and the environmental agency requires much more testing.
The GAO noted the FDA also has yet to set standards for chemicals called phthalates, found in many household products, while the EPA limits their presence in tap water.
In a survey of officials in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, the GAO found they think consumers are misinformed about bottled water.
"Many replied that consumers often believe that bottled water is safer or healthier than tap water," according to the GAO report.
The Washington, D.C.-based Environmental Working Group said in its report that consumers do not get enough information to determine which water best for them.
Both groups said some bottled water brands include the same information required of tap water providers on either labels or company Web sites.
The GAO called for more research but said the FDA should start by requiring that bottled water labels tell consumers where to find out more.
Community water systems must distribute annual reports about their water's source, contaminants and possible health concerns.
Consumers should know where all their water comes from, how it is treated and what is found in it, said Richard Wiles, senior vice president for policy and communications for the Environmental Working Group.
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- JanforGore
- added this
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They should also know the environmental impact of it.
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Canteen+sink= your not an idiot. Bottled water was stupid in the begining and is even stupider today. Ethos water= $3.50 your a fucking retard.
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buy a filter if your tap is crap
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Ice Mountain used to pump water out of Lake Michigan, filter it for bottling, then dump the waste back into Lake Michigan. Counter-effective, no?
Hopefully the agreement reached yesterday will limit that.
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why are they still pushing for bottled water? its so lame. killing mother earth and soooo much trash!!!!! it annoys me that they have to pass laws for charged water and its state of cleanliness.
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Bottled water (plastic waste) or Tap water (Nitrate waste to people), what is the better way ?
Most high population areas in the world have no drinking water quality, still need bottled water. The low cost home drinking water machine with LED UV sterilizing yet to industrialize.
The big cities are the worst with Nitrates from animals or humans in the city water, not to remove. The plumbing system of city and home distribution is not serviceable, mostly clogged by bacteria friendly limestone, gardia, cryptosporidia....etc. a simple filter does nothing here, just grows more bacterias on the filter.
Water bottle recycling started for a Motorola cellphone
model. I agree the high CO2 impact of transporting water over miles. But to avoid this millions of Dollars need to be invested in a second drinking water quality line to every home. No one can treat 200 glns for bathing for low cost, but 10 liters drinking water, that come in a second line, or water by air in humid areas.So what to do ? In Europe we recycle almost every water bottle. I don't trust tap water, hundred years old system, many homes still with lead joints. You can not know what's behind your faucet.
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ask yourself why the FDA does not list Flouride as one of the ingredients in bottled or tap water...[[[Dont trust anyone]]]
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- FuriousLion
- 5 months ago
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Yep. I'm totally over bottled water. Just filter my tap water and drink happily. I don't trust the plastic bottles either.
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tax that shit! and reinvest the windfall in death squads to eliminate the effete, pampered fools who believe they are healthier by drinking "electrolyte-enhanced" water out of a bottle. (or invest in clean energy or something, pfft)
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it seems totally reasonable to require the bottled water industry to employ the same standards of labeling as any other product sold for food consumption.
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I drink tap water. When I am desperate for a container, I buy a plastic bottle of any variety and assume that it is also tap water.
I see the big deal, because buying your own bottles is equally as good and it doesn't then contain lies. It's also less wasteful, considering the amount of Americans who do not recycle.
I recycle all my bottles, and I urge others to do the same.
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- lolitanimatronic
- 5 months ago
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a test was done on filtered water machines in l.a. at supermarkets. the findings were; tap water with less clorine and dangerous levels of bacteria in most cases. osch hardware has a $12 charcoal filter that makes filtered water for 6 months before filter replacement.
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Where I'm from upstate NY we bottle pure underground
spring water called nirvana in Boonville NY and its pure spring water .What I don't like is the plastic bottles.there are spots you can pull your car over and fill large bottles or jugs out of a pipe in the side of a hill and it gets tested
all the time and it has no fluoride.Its great for coffee and its better than tap water with fluoride (aka toxic waste)
All the other stuff is crap! -
stop being a wimp. drink the damn tap water and let your kidneys handle the rest. God forbid your ever in a survival situation and must drink REAL natural water!
IF the water from your faucet hasn't killed you or anyone else, then I would wager its safe to drink...despite what ever micro contaminants might be in it.
Your grandparents drank tap water, your parent drank tap water....WTF makes it impossible for you to?
bottled water drinkers are nothing more then uppity, environmentally callous, wasteful, wimpy, hypochondriacs!
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I know people who only give their dogs bottled water. Nothing's too good for their babies. Ugh.
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My stomach actually hurts when I drink our city water. You can smell the chemicals when you turn on the tap.
I tested multiple companies and chose the one I believe is best. It comes from a natural spring, it has no odor, tastes great and doesn't hurt my stomach. I wish it came in recycled glass bottled.
I checked the company and it's sourses out before commiting to it.
I refill containers from the stoneware crock I purchased through them.-
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- nursediesel
- 4 months ago
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i am drinking from my nalgene with water from my brita and i couldn't feel more like im helping, even in the slightest way.
i would have probably bought at least 6 or 7 bottles of water if i didnt have this (i reuse plastic ones I buys for about a week, then recycyle them b/c they get dingy)
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- MissAmanda
- 4 months ago
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We used to drive up to a fresh water spring that was on state land and collect water about once a month. It was continually tested and pure. Then a few years ago they started adding purifiers to it for prophylactic reasons. So that ended that!
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- nursediesel
- 4 months ago
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I proud of the fact, i don't buy something I already pay for at home. I'm also proud of the fact, my body can and has adapted to tap water so I don't curl up like a wimp and cry if I drink it.
I understand not drinking dangerous or bad water. But Im quite sure the vast majority of bottle water drinkers just think that bottle water is clean and tap is dirty by default.
Next, bottle water drinkers will be buying purified air and carrying around huge oxygen tanks...looking a everyone else like...eewww how do you breathe that stuff!?
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Well, I was in my local supermarket this evening, and took a trip down the bottled water aisle. Yes, this grocery store actually has an entire AISLE devoted to all kinds of bottled water. Regular "spring" water, "vitamin" water, "flavored" water... any kind of water you could think of. And at the beginning of the aisle was a sign in a holder that advertised Nestles bottled water. I just happen to have a black sharpie marker in my purse, so I took it out and wrote all across the top of the sign these words:
" BOTTLED WATER IS A SCAM."
I sure hope some people see that and think twice before buying this deceptive lie and the BS rhetoric of these companies that want you to believe that unless you have water in a stylish BPA laced bottle, you aren't part of the "in" crowd.
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- JanforGore
- 4 months ago
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This is great. ;-)
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- JanforGore
- 4 months ago
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