What's in Your Water?

PepsiCo Inc. has agreed to add the words “public water source” to their Aquafina water labels.

Pepsi’s Aquafina, and Coca-Cola Co.’s Dasani bottled waters, are both made of purified water from public reservoirs. Coca-Cola will post online consumer information about the quality control testing that goes into their bottled water, sometime near the end of summer, or early fall 2007.

Drinking pure water is one of the most important things you can do for your health. Especially when you drink it instead of sugary drinks like soda or juice. However, relying on bottled water to keep you hydrated is not the best answer.

You may be paying premium prices for bottled water, thinking it’s more pure than your local water supply. But the toll this takes on the environment, not to mention your pocketbook, is enormous. The fact that water is bottled is NOT an assurance of purity. In fact, about 40 percent of bottled water is regular tap water, which may or may not have received any additional treatment.

The metal antimony (a silvery white metal of medium hardness) has been found in many commercially bottled water brands. The amount of antimony leeching into the water you're drinking depends on the manufacturer, and can vary greatly. One study that looked at 63 brands of bottled water produced in Europe and Canada, found concentrations of antimony that were more than 100 times the typical level found in clean groundwater (2 parts per trillion). It also found that the longer a bottle of water sits on a shelf -- in a grocery store or your refrigerator – the greater the dose of antimony present.

After letting bottled water samples sit for six months on a shelf at normal room temperatures, the concentration of antimony exploded by 90 percent among European brands, and 19 percent in Canadian brands. The biggest offenders were packaged in polyethylene terephthalate (PET) containers. It is believed that the amount of antimony leeching from these PET bottles differs based on exposure to sunlight, higher temperatures, and varying pH levels.

Most municipal tap water, though generally far from pure, must also adhere to stricter purity standards than the bottled water industry. In one study, a third of more than 100 bottled water brands tested for contaminants were found to contain chemicals like arsenic and carcinogenic compounds, at levels exceeding state or industry standards. Additionally, fluoride (a highly toxic bone poison that should be avoided at all costs) is usually present in both tap water and filtered bottled water.

Do not make the mistake of thinking you can tell if your water is safe or not by the way it looks, tastes, or smells. Some contaminants in water are so harmful they’re measured in “parts per million.” This means that just a drop of these poisons added to several gallons of water can be harmful to your health.

Keep in mind also that installing a filter to purify your drinking water alone may not be enough. Since your skin absorbs both water and chemicals, you could still be exposing yourself to contaminations when you:

Shower or bathe
Wash your hands
Wash laundry
Rinse fruits and vegetables
Wash dishes, glasses, and other utensils

You can further limit your exposure to these dangerous plastic (and other) chemicals by filtering all of the water you and your family use on a daily basis.

Your Healthiest Options

Your best bet for ensuring good health, and protecting the environment, is to filter your own water at home using a reverse osmosis filter. Avoid drinking unfiltered tap water, as chlorine and fluoride (which are added to most municipal water supplies) are toxic chemicals that should not be consumed in large quantities.

In the meantime, PLEASE avoid bottled water for all the reasons described above. Clearly the best long term option for you and the planet is to effectively filter your water.