Bottled Water or Tap Water?

Q: We’ve all heard about the necessity of drinking eight glasses of water a day. Which is better – from both health and environment perspectives – tap water or bottled water? 

A: In a word: tap water. First the health perspective. A study conducted in 2001 for The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) confirmed the widespread belief that consumers associate bottled water with social status and healthy living. However, that association is largely a result of good marketing by the bottled water companies (which include Nestlé, Coca-Cola, Pepsi and others.) The global consumption of bottled water reached 154 billion liters (41 billion gallons) in 2004, up 57 percent from the 98 billion liters consumed five years earlier. But there is little evidence that – except in cases of disasters that create tainted water emergencies – bottled water is safer or healthier than tap water.

Eau Canada: The Future of Canada’s Water edited by Karen Bakker (University of British Columbia Press, 2007)

In fact, consumer groups have long warned about a range of microorganisms and chemicals that have been found in bottled water. In a four-year scientific study, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) tested more than 1,000 bottles of 103 brands of bottled water. In a 1999 report “Bottled Water, Pure Drink or Pure Hype?” the group concluded, “Although most bottled water tested was of good quality, some brands’ quality was spotty.” The report also notes that “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.” In fact, a third of the tested brands were found to contain contaminants such as arsenic and carcinogenic compounds in at least some samples at levels exceeding state or industry standards.

Scientists at the University of Geneva arrived at the same conclusion when they tested bottled and top water for the 2001 WWF study. They found that, in 50 percent of the cases they studied, the only difference between tap and bottled water was that the latter contained added minerals and salts, “which do not actually mean the water is healthier.” In 1997, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization concluded that bottled water does not have greater nutritional value than tap water. The regulations in North America governing bottled water tend to be as spotty as the water’s quality, although activists are pushing politicians to tighten up the rules, which they say are not as stringent as those for municipal water supplies. 

In Canada, Health Canada determines the classifications of bottled water under its Food and Drugs Act. If bottled water is labeled as spring or mineral water, it must come from an underground source rather than a public water supply. And mineral water is the same as spring water except that it contains a larger amount of dissolved mineral salts. Under the regulations, chemicals cannot be used to change the composition of mineral and spring waters. However, carbon dioxide and ozone may be added to protect the freshness. In addition, the source of the spring or mineral water must be identified. If bottled water is not labeled as spring or mineral water, it can come from any source, including a well or a municipal water supply, and be treated to make it fit for human consumption. 

Bottled water that is not from a spring may be altered before it is presented for sale in Canada. It can be treated in different ways including carbonation, ozonation, ultraviolet radiation or filtration to remove harmful bacteria. It may be distilled or deionized to remove the minerals. The regulations require that these treatments be identified as such on the label.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency periodically samples and analyzes imported and domestic bottled waters, focusing primarily on testing for bacterial contamination. 

In the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is responsible for bottled water safety, but its rules completely exempt waters that are packaged and sold within the same state, which account for between 60 and 70 percent of all bottled water sold in the country. The FDA also exempts carbonated water and seltzer, and fewer than half of the states require carbonated waters to meet their own bottled water standards. FDA rules allow bottlers to call their product “spring water” even though it may be brought to the surface using a pumped well, and it may be treated with chemicals. But the actual source of water is not always made clear – some bottled water marketing is misleading, implying the water comes from pristine sources when it does not.