Best and worst bottled water brands

[The Straight Story]

Best and worst bottled water brands

How much do you know about the bottled water you drink? Not nearly enough, according to a new report released today from Environmental Working Group (EWG). "Bottled water companies try hard to hide information you might find troubling," says Jane Houlihan, senior vice president of research for the Washington D.C.-based research and advocacy group.

EWG analyzed the labels of 173 unique bottled water products and company websites to determine if companies disclose information on where water comes from, how or if their water is treated, and whether the results of purity testing are revealed. The nonprofit also looked at how effective (and advanced) any water treatment methods are. Researchers followed up by calling dozens of bottled water companies to find out which ones willingly tell consumers what's in their bottles.

The Environmental Protection Agency says on its website that consumers have the right to know where their water comes from and what's in it so they can "make informed choices that affect the health of themselves and their families." Tap water is regularly tested and consumers can find their local water info online. That's not necessarily the case with bottled water, which is not required to disclose that information to consumers. "Bottled water is a food product and every one of these companies is complying with federal law," says Tom Lauria, of the International Bottled Water Association.

More than half of the bottled water products surveyed failed EWG's transparency test --18 percent didn't say where their water comes from, and another 32 percent did not disclose any information on treatment or purity of water.

http://shine.yahoo.com/event/green/best-and-worst-bottled-water-brands-2436818/

[HillbillyBob]

1. Plus the pollution release by those water companies

the destruction of surrounding habitat by siphoning off that water and the billions of plastic bottles you see in ditches etc.

I used to use bottled water for some drinking since I lived in SoFla the water is horrible, until I got a filter.
Now I live where we have a well..the water is hard enough to break your teeth, but tastes good has minerals that are good for you and only costs involved is the power to pump it out of the ground. Its not good for irrigation and our power is mostly coal generated.
We have plans to put in a solar powered well pump and rain water catchment for our food gardens instead of depleting the ground water.

[ixion]

2. uh, so Nestle, Pepsi and Coke produce the best water?

Frankly, I'm skeptical.

[Robb]

7. As was I, but most of their product lines got crappier grades. nt

[Motown_Johnny]

3. My brand isn't even in the 173 tested

I'm not sure if that is good or bad


















(Absopure natural spring water)

[ReverendDeuce]

5. Neither is ours...

But ours is considered to be "generic", I guess... There's one "manufacturer" of bottled water who does a lot of store-branded stuff. Their bottles are always identical wherever you get them, but the labels are always different.

[MadHound]

4. Bottled water is the biggest rip off since snake oil,

Worse yet, it is doing an enormous amount of damage to our planet.

My favorite water, it comes out of my tap, it goes through a filter, then into my body. Yum, yum.

[littlewolf]

6. Yep - Brita .... we will buy a case of bottled water

once in a while ( once a year or so) ... and reuse the bottles ... makes it easier to
carry them to work ... then after we are done with them that way ... I use em in the garden
to water my pepper and tomato plants ... after that ... they go to recycle and get made
into decking and benches and stuff ....

[rurallib]

8. What's that old joke? How dumb are Americans?

two words "bottled water."
Even as we slowly descend into third world status, most of us still get very palatable water from our taps.

[gmoney]

20. but didn't it start in Europe with Perrier and Pellegrino?

Granted those are "mineral water" but not too far removed from the current market for the (perceived) purest possible water.

[bullwinkle428]

9. "Over 300 pollutants in tap water" - check this link to see how many are in yours.

http://www.ewg.org/tap-water/home

[Recursion]

11. Penn & Teller did an episode of "Bullshit" on this

Municipal water sources are cleaner than spring water. And about half of bottled brands are municipal sources anyways (eg Dasani is Atlanta tap water).

[Erose999]

13. I actually prefer tap water to Dasani. Dasani has a wierd texture... like its "thicker" than other

water. It doesn't taste like "water" to me, if that makes sense.

[Recursion]

14. It's Atlanta tap water

It may just be softer than the water wherever you live.

[gmoney]

19. Remember "Swill" from SNL?

Bill Murray was featured in a parody video (sending up Perrier) where he's pitching "Swill" the bottled water that's dredged from Lake Erie.

He's in a restaurant with a hamburger, and he pours catsup on it, and it's all runny, but then he opens his bottle of Swill and goes to pour it over ice and it slowly oozes out of the bottle into the glass as the song "Anticipation" starts playing (a parody of the catsup commercial that was big at the time). The water is filled with dirt and debris an an old pop-top... but Bill likes his "with a twist."

Could only find it in German online, but you get the gist of it. I think the "water" was that old toy "Slime" that was sort of a rubbery blob of chemicals that you could do strange things with.

Enjoy: http://www.myvideo.de/watch/4630638/Swill

[HopeHoops]

10. Evian is "naive" spelled backwards. I've always suspected that's how they picked the name.

[marmar]

12. Bottled water is arguably the most successful marketing scam in history.

nt

[Odin2005]

15. Bottled water is all evil consumerist, anti-environmental crap and a scam.

Daisani is ATLANTA TAP WATER.

[delightfulstar]

16. Mine's not on there...

Eau De Tap. :)

[Posteritatis]

17. Can we just appoint swanky "artisanal" bottled water to the bottom of the worst list? (nt)

[AsahinaKimi]

18. Wow ..

#2 Arrowhead Mountain Spring Water (Nestle), EWG grade = C

[Bandit]

21. Alaska Glacier Water

http://www.alaskaglacier.com/

There really is no comparison at all..