Even though bottled water consumption causes massive environmental issues, consumers bought more than 391 billion liters of bottled water in 2017 (103 billion gallons). Bottled water sales have been on a steep rise for more than a decade with little signs of slowing down. The International Bottled Water Association says nation’s bottled water is the best selling bottled beverage in America. This is likely due to consumer concerns regarding the quality of tap water. And we should be concerned. Flint’s water still isn’t safe, and the EPA lied to Flint residents. But Flint’s not the only one:
If you live in the United States, there is a nearly one-in-four chance your tap water is either unsafe to drink or has not been properly monitored for contaminants in accordance with federal law, a new study has found.
America’s Tap Water: Too Much Contamination, Not Enough Reporting
Related:
- Drinking Bottled Water Means Drinking Microplastics, According To Damning New Study
- How to Detox From Plastics and Other Endocrine Disruptors
Many people who are concerned with the environment love to tell us that tap water is perfectly safe and tastes just as good, and that buying bottled water is foolish. This is obviously nonsense. But some brands of bottled water aren’t safe either.
Consumer Reports looked at 130 bottled water brands and found 11 contained detectable arsenic levels.
High levels of arsenic in groundwater have been shown to cause cancer and other environmental illnesses. The federal standards set for allowable level for arsenic in drinking water is 10 parts per billion, and none of the brands exceeded this threshold. But research suggests that 3 parts per billion are likely to be dangerous to consume regularly. Regular consumption of even lower levels of arsenic over extended periods may lead to cardiovascular disease, cancers, and may lower IQ scores in children.
The investigation showed that some bottled water has more arsenic than tap most water municipals.
For this report, CR tracked down and reviewed hundreds of public records and test reports from bottled water brands, and from various federal and state regulators. We found that several popular brands sell bottled water with arsenic levels at or above 3 ppb; current research suggests that amounts above that level are potentially dangerous to drink over extended periods of time. CR believes the federal limit for bottled water should be revised to 3 ppb from the current federal standard of 10 ppb.
Consumer Reports
Consumer Reports says that Starkey (owned by Whole Foods), Peñafiel (owned by Keurig Dr Pepper), Crystal Geyser Alpine Spring Water, Volvic (owned by Danone), and Crystal Creamery and EartH₂0 showed arsenic levels of 3 ppb or higher.
It makes no sense that consumers can purchase bottled water that is less safe than tap water. If anything, bottled water—a product for which people pay a premium, often because they assume it’s safer—should be regulated at least as strictly as tap water.”
James Dickerson, Ph.D., chief scientific officer at Consumer Reports.
Related: What’s the Best Water for Detoxifying and For Drinking?
The good news for bottled water consumers is that Consumer Report also found dozens of bottled water brands that showed no detectable levels of arsenic.
Check out Arsenic in Some Bottled Water Brands at Unsafe Levels, Consumer Reports Says for more information.
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