Drinking Bottled Water is Not As Safe As You Think

American drink an estimated 3.4 billion gallons oftap water?
bottled water annually, and that work out to be aboutUnlike tap water suppliers, bottlers need not disclose to
12.7 gallons per person. It has become a convenientconsumers the known contaminants in their products.
lifestyle of most people in the other parts of the worldThe printed label only tell you what they want you to
as well due to the convenience and it easily availableknow, and there is no law stating that they must tell
anywhere. The numbers have been increasing nearlyyou everything in their bottled water.
10 percent a year, base on the industry finding. BottledOut of the 103 brands, 1,000 of bottled water were
water includes mineral water, spring water or distilledpurchased from various outlet randomly from
water, Reverse Osmosis water and plain tap waterCalifornia, Florida, Illinois, New York, Texas and the
which has been filtered . Some brands even are sellingDistrict of Columbia. The good news; in the category
it more expensive than gasoline or petrol and thatof chemical or bacterial contaminant, one-third of the
make us wonder, what is the difference betweensamples have exceeded the California standard or the
bottled water and tap water?industry own purity guidelines. So, it is clean bottled
In a quest to find out the difference between bottledwater and it is a good industry standard adherence
water and tap water, a four-year test of 103 brandsand you must be pleased to know what is the
of bottled water, were being carried out by thedifference between bottled water and tap water.
environmental advocacy group Natural ResourcesWell just don't get too excited yet, here come the sad
Defense Council. One third of the tested brandsnews..................
contained bacteria or other chemicals exceeding the- 1 out of 4 samples is found that the levels of
industry own guidelines or the most stringent statecancer-causing synthetic compounds such as arsenic
purity standards. How devastating is that? You arehas exceeded the California limit, which is the most
drinking bottled water that is not purer nor cleaner thanstringent.
the normal tap water! How much is the cost of- 1 out of 5 samples failed because the levels of
processed or filtered water and the bottle?bacteria is higher than the voluntary industry guidelines.
Besides of the weak federal and state enforcement,- 1 out of 5 samples contained industrial chemicals, and
that's no dedicated institution or law which issome samples contained arsenic, nitrates or other
empowered to monitor these industry. It is largelyinorganic contaminants. Even the levels generally were
leaving the industry to self monitored and when itbelow state or federal standards, I seriously do not
comes to this, easy profit will blur the eyes of mostwant those harmful substances to be taken into my
bottled water producers. So, what's the differencebody!
between bottled water and tap water, will inevitablyAccording to the current monitoring bodies, bottled
lead to what's the difference between responsible andwater is not required to be tested so frequently for
irresponsible manufacturers. I am not saying that allbacteria and chemical contaminants; more worryingly, it
bottled water are not safe to drink, the fact is at leasthas no requirement to be disinfected or tested for
33% of the bottled water is not. It could be theparasites!
irresponsible conduct of some ill-hearted manufactures,Having to know the unfavorable facts about what is
or it could be the contamination in the production line bythe difference between bottled water and tap water,
negligence, the iron clad truth is that some of thewould you rather pay for the installation of a good
bottled water are no difference from the tap water.water purification system and be assured of the
Some might be cleaner than tap water and somequality of the water you are drinking, or you rather
that's dirtier, but now we as consumers, how are wecontinuing drinking the bottled water?
going to tell the difference between bottled water and