Babies, children, and pregnant or breastfeeding
mothers should not be drinking tap water!
Pure water is vital to our children's health
and development and must be a priority. To
that end, Healthy Child has researched many
different water filters to find the best one
and offer it to parents at the lowest price
possible. The Aquasana AQ-4000 Counter Top
Filter was voted "Best Buy" by
Consumers Digest Magazine 2003, 2004, 2005,
2006! And Healthy Child is pleased to
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Bottled Water, is it better?
According to the National Water Quality
Association, 56% of all people are worried
about the quality of municipally treated tap
water. This, along with the desire for better
tasting drinking water, has fueled tremendous
growth in the bottled water industry. We can
all remember, not too long ago, when the bottled
water section at the grocery store consisted
of a very small allotment of counter space,
primarily devoted to a few gallon jugs of
distilled water. Today, bottled water enjoys
a major section of the beverage isle and the
prestige of being the fastest growing segment
of the entire beverage industry, not to mention
the most profitable.
The bottled water industry has become the
target of some of the largest corporations
in the world. Clorox Bleach Co., Pepsi Cola
and Coca Cola are just a few of the recent
entrees capitalizing on this highly lucrative
market, with Clorox being the biggest participant
in the bottled water business. Pepsi Cola’s
“Aquafina” and Coca Cola’s
“Dasani” almost instantly became
each company’s most profitable product!
If we just take a common sense look at the
companies controlling this industry, who are
certainly not known for their health consciousness,
we will begin to understand the misconception
that has been created around the quality of
bottled water. Millions and millions of dollars
are spent each week on advertising campaigns
to give the perception that these bottled
waters come from some pristine mountain spring,
when in reality many of them come from a municipal
water system just like your tap water does.
Both Pepsi’s Aquafina and Coke’s
Dasani are bottled at one of many bottling
plants across America where municipal water
is used as the source, as is the case with
many leading brands.
The regulations that govern bottled water
only require it to be “as good as”
tap water. There are no assurances or requirements
that bottled be of any higher quality than
tap, and according to some recent studies,
it may often be of lower quality.
In March of 1999, the Natural Resources Defense
Council (NRDC) released a report called “Bottled
Water, Pure Drink or Pure Hype?” and
petitioned the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
for improvements in the FDA’s bottled
water regulation program. The changes called
for would simply require that the FDA’s
bottled water rules be “no less stringent”
than EPA’s tap water guidelines and “no
less protective of public health”. NRDC
’s report points out that as much as
40% of all bottled water is actually tap water
in a bottle.
The report also focuses on the fact that
60 to 70% of all bottled water sold in the
U.S. is exempt from FDA’s bottled water
standards, because the Federal Standards do
not apply to water bottled and sold within
the same state.
Only water that is transported across a state
line is required to meet federal standards.
Bottled water companies have used this loop
hole to avoid complying with basic health
standards, such as those that apply to municipally
treated tap water. Also, all carbonated or
sparkling waters are completely exempt from
FDA guidelines that set specific contamination
limits.
According to the NRDC study, “even when
bottled waters are covered by FDA’s specific
bottled water standards, those rules are weaker
in many ways than EPA rules that apply to
big city tap water.” For instance, if
we compare EPA regulations for tap water to
FDA’s bottled water rules: (these examples
are quotes from the NRDC’s official report)
City tap water can have no confirmed E.coli
or fecal coliform bacteria. FDA bottled water
rules include no such prohibition (a certain
amount of any type of coliform bacteria is
allowed in bottled water).
City tap water, from surface water, must be
filtered and disinfected. In contrast, there
are no federal filtration or disinfection
requirements for bottled water.
Most cities using surface water have had to
test for Cryptosporidium or Giardia, two common
water pathogens, that can cause diarrhea and
other intestinal problems, yet bottled water
companies do not have to do this.
City tap water must meet standards for certain
important toxic or cancer-causing chemicals,
such as phthalate (a chemical that can leach
from plastic, including plastic bottles);
some in the industry persuaded FDA to exempt
bottled water from the regulations regarding
these chemicals.
City water systems must issue annual “right
to know” reports, telling consumers what
is in their water. Bottlers successfully killed
a “right to know” requirement for
bottled water.
The Natural Resources Defense Council report
concluded that “Therefore, while much
tap water is indeed risky, having compared
available data, we conclude that there is
no assurance that bottled water is any safer
than tap water.“ (The NRDC report on
bottled water can be found at NRDC.Org)
The reality of bottled water is that people
pay from $1 to $4 a gallon for the perception
of higher quality, when in fact, the quality
of bottled water is at best “unknown”!
We have no way of knowing the actual quality
of bottled water. Point-of-Use water treatment,
with a quality in home water filtration system,
is by far the most economical, the most convenient
and the most capable of producing the highest
quality, healthy water. Removing the chlorine
and other contaminants at the point of use,
just prior to consumption, in your own home,
with a system that is documented to produce
“healthy water”… just makes
more sense. With a home water filter you can
have guaranteed quality for about .10 a gallon
vs. $1 to $4 a gallon for bottled. Like the
saying says… “If you want something
done right, you have to do it yourself “,
and that’s certainly the case when it
comes to something as important as our drinking
water.
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Use the information provided on this site as an educational resource for determining your options and making your own informed choices. It is not intended as medical advice or to diagnose, prescribe, or treat any specific illness.