What's in that bottle? Congress says water unclear

[Joanne98]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Bottled water makers make millions off people who believe their products are purer than tap water, but consumers do not realize that they are less regulated than plain old tap water, according to a U.S. Congressional report released on Wednesday.

The report from the General Accountability Office also found that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has little power to regulate the safety of bottled water, and even states with the power to regulate it concentrate more on tap water.

The report was just one piece of ammunition unleashed at the bottled water industry at a hearing of the House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.

"Of particular note, FDA does not have the specific statutory authority to require bottlers to use certified laboratories for water quality tests or to report test results, even if violations of the standards are found," the GAO report reads.

Jane Houlihan of the Environmental Working Group, an advocacy organization that submitted a second report to the committee, said in a statement: "Many people assume bottled water is healthier and safer to drink than ordinary tap water.

"But some companies have lured consumers away from the tap with claims of health and purity that aren't backed by public data."

Sponsors of the hearing agreed.

"Americans are willing to pay top dollar for bottled water, which costs up to 1,900 times more than tap water and uses up to 2,000 times more energy to produce and deliver," Michigan Representative Bart Stupak told the hearing.

CONTAMINATION

"Over the past several years, however, bottled water has been recalled due to contamination by arsenic, bromate, cleaning compounds, mold, and bacteria. In April, a dozen students at a California junior high school reportedly were sickened after drinking bottled water from a vending machine."

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE56801W20090709

[SPedigrees]

1. I have to wonder at what point everyone decided that tap water was unfit to drink.

All my contemporaries grew up drinking water from the tap, as did I. But at some point their path diverged from my own.

I'm damned if I'm going to pay for water. That's like paying for air.

[monmouth]

2. I used to drink the delicious water from the garden hose....LOL...n/t

[TahitiNut]

3. Yup. That slight 'rubberey' flavor says "Summer!!" to me.

:dunce:

[damntexdem]

5. For me, at the point when agricultural runoff made tap water smell and taste so horrible.

Of course, local officials assure us that the water is perfectly safe. But the clothespin on my nose may damage blood vessels, so I do not drink the tap water in the summer -- at least not until it has been filtered.

[Horse with no Name]

9. The city I live in sends us letters not to drink the water

Seriously.
It runs brown the first few seconds it is on and if you leave it sit in a glass overnight, it collects sediment at the bottom.
I actually worry about taking a shower in it.:scared:
We are forced to buy bottled water--but I do wish that we lived in a place where you could actually not be afraid of what comes out of the faucet.

[damntexdem]

4. But the bottled water smells better than the algae water from the tap during the summer.

Of course the filter in my fridge takes care of that -- so I can refill my water bottle multiple times.

[Retrograde]

7. Are you from the Great Lakes area?

The Buffalo tap water had a distinct tang in the summer - probably still does.

Some places have better tap water than others. San Francisco's is fantastic, Orange County's is abominable, as is Las Vegas's. Phoenix's, based on a recent sampling, is OK cold, somewhat flat right out of the tap.

I'll confess to buying a couple of liters of bottled water recently for a party. 2/3 of them are still unopened, and will probably stay that way until the next desert venture.

[SPedigrees]

10. Be careful retro, bacteria multiplies even in sealed bottles of water.

You might want to empty out the bottles, soak in a bleach solution, dry and store, and refill from the tap for that next hike into the desert.

Water all tastes like water to me. The only additive I can discern is chlorine and I like the smell; it's reminiscent of swimming pools and summer to me, plus it reminds me that the bacteria has been killed and my water is safe to drink.

I admit to buying the occasional bottle of water while travelling by car, but that's it, and I usually refill the empty bottles at the next motel stop.

[lindisfarne]

6. This message has been repeated many times over the last 5 years. When will people get it?n/t

[SPedigrees]

8. Ah there is a fortune to be made by exploiting the gullible.

Colon cleansing, cosmetic genital surgery, herbal diet pills, psychic hotlines... the more crazy, the better they catch on.

I see the opportunities but lack the necessary exploitive psyche. If only I had more of a predatory nature, I'd be rich.

[Joanne98]

11. This has 4 unrecs? Why?

[SPedigrees]

12. 4 bottled water aficionados in denial. eom

[Luminous Animal]

13. How can you tell how many unrecs it has?

All I see is ">0" to indicate unrecs.

[madfloridian]

15. They had total votes for a while, but they stopped it.

I realized the video post I made about Dean and Colbert was on GP with 6 votes, but shown with only 4 in GD.

It's very confusing and being very misused.

[madfloridian]

14. I have had about 7 or 8 unrecs today.

Two of them were on a video that Dean did with the Colbert Nation.

The others were on a post about Rachel mentioning C Street.

It really is odd.