Important Facts About Bottled Water That You Need To Know...

Billions and billions of dollars are spent each every month on bottled water advertising campaigns to convince Americans that bottled water originates from some pristine mountain spring or magical underground aquifer that only produces pure water of the highest quality.

I am not saying that bottled water adverts are wrong... but at times they are are bit too ridiculous and the facts are all wrong...

The Federal regulations that govern bottled water requires bottled water to only be just as good as tap water and not better. Bottled water does not have any assurances, regulations or special requirements for it to be any higher in quality than tap water, and according to some independent research, it has been found to be of lower quality than tap water.

People pay between $1 to $4 a gallon for bottled water, desperately looking for this "higher quality water", however they do not really know if the water is in fact the claimed quality. What they do not know is that more than 92% of the cost of bottled water is in the bottle, lid and label.

Retailers in the bottled water market are perhaps the worst liars and are very unethical in their conduct. Industry lobbyists successfully go head-to-head each year to make the bottled water companies stick to all health standards set by the EPA for tap water. The FDA regulates the bottled water companies activities and clearly states that companies that say bottled water is safer than tap water are defrauding the American public.

In 1999, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) published a report called Bottled Water, Pure Drink or Pure Hype? The report states that as much as 40% of all bottled water comes from a city water system, like normal tap water. The report also clearly states that the fact that 65% to 75% of all bottled water sold in the United States is exempt from FDA's bottled water standards, shows that this bottled water does not comply with the Federal Standards, and this standards do not apply to water bottled and sold within the same state.

There are no federal regulations governing the quality of the water if the water is not transported across state lines. Most bottled water companies have abused this loop hole to avoid the need to comply with basic health standards, such as those that apply to municipally treated tap water. Furthermore all sparkling waters and carbonated waters are fully exempt from FDA guidelines that set specific contamination limits.

City tap water has 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.

So why tolerate the inconvenience and high price... for water quality that is not certain?

You can use a home water filtration system to conveniently re-fill your own bottles that have a great taste, healthy and just under ten cents a gallon, instead of dollars per gallon.

The filters work well as the filter out all the chlorine, lead and other contaminants, at the point of use, before consumption, giving you some guarantee about what is really in the water and whether its pure or not.

You can read a wide range of water usage articles. They discuss the use of water in the house and home ... topics covered include filters, heaters, softeners and water in the garden.