Environmental group taps Sam's Choice and Acadia bottled water

William Atkins
Thursday, 16 October 2008 20:13

Science - Health

If the New York Times is reporting this story accurately, and I am assuming it is, the Times author has stated “that contaminant levels in some water samples exceeded the industry’s own voluntary standards. Further, the group said, levels of contaminants found in bottles of Sam’s Choice water — a Wal-Mart brand — that were purchased in California exceeded that state’s standards.”

So, Mr. Doss’ statement that the report is faulty because it is reporting the presence of contaminates “even if it does not exceed the established regulatory limit” is itself wrong because some of the contaminants DO exceed the industry or state limits.

In defense of Mr. Doss’ statement, he is correct in his statement that none of the found contaminants exceeded the federal limits. [Associated Press: “Bottled water has contaminants too, study finds”]

According to the AP article, “… all the brands met federal health standards for drinking water. Two violated a California state standard, the study said.”

U.S. environmental engineer Jane Houlihan, who co-authored the study, stated, "In some cases, it appears bottled water is no less polluted than tap water and, at 1,900 times the cost, consumers should expect better.” [AP]

This is only one report on the quality of bottled water. However, many previous reports have concluded similar to this EWG report.

It is becoming apparent, at least to me, that bottled water is not necessarily better than tap water. And, as stated earlier, bottled water costs thousands of times more than tap water. In fact, at work, in restaurants, and in public buildings tap water doesn’t cost anything—it’s free.

In addition, when consumers throw away the plastic bottles after one use, they are adding to environmental pollution of our world. If consumers do drink bottled water from plastic bottles, please recycle the plastic so it can be re-used rather than remain in landfills decaying for hundreds of years.

And, in my opinion, it doesn't help the consumer when one side says "everything is fine--no problem" and the othe side says, "we have a problem." Both sides need to get together and either solve the problem or decide there is no problem.

In this case, do another coordinated study with all of the researchers from the EWG, the IBWA, Wal-mart, and Giant Foods, and find out what is going on with these bottled waters. Get the facts, state them to the public, correct any problems found, and get on with things. Just do it!