There aren’t too many good reasons for most people to drink bottled water. The bottles create a major waste issue. Most people lucky enough to have a choice among many water sources have tap water that tastes as good or better. And in general, you know a whole lot more about what’s in tap water than you do when it comes to bottled water.
As a food product, bottled water is regulated by the Food and Drug Administration and required to show nutrition information and ingredients on its labels. Municipal water is under the control of the Environmental Protection Agency.
The two agencies have similar standards for water quality, but the FDA has less authority to enforce them, the GAO said, and the environmental agency requires much more testing.
Subcommittee chairman Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., said the subcommittee was requesting information Wednesday from a dozen bottled water companies on their water sources, treatment methods and two years’ results of contaminant testing. It was not immediately clear which companies were being contacted.
“Consumers may not realize that many regulations that apply to municipalities responsible for tap water do not apply to companies that produce bottled water,” he said in statements opening the hearing.
In addition to all this, bottled water costs much more than tap water. All of these factors could help explain why sales of bottled water have been flat in the last year. But in this case, flat still means about $16 billion a year in sales.
