This thread got me wondering about the water. So I went to Consumer Reports.org (I'm a subscriber), and downloaded an article on drinking water. It's interesting, albeit long.
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OUR REPORT ON STILL, CARBONATED, MINERAL, AND TAP WATERS DECIPHERS THE HYPE AND LETS YOU KNOW WHAT'S BEST TO DRINK:
ARE THERE HEALTH OR TASTE REASONS TO PAY UP TO 30 CENTS A GLASS FOR WATER?
CAN THE TYPE OF BOTTLE AFFECT TASTE?
WHERE DOES THIS FANCY WATER COME FROM? (HINT: IT COULD BE DETROIT TAP WATER.)
Every minute of every day, Americans shell out more than $10,000 for something many don't even have to buy: water. The figures are no Y2K blip, either. Sales of bottled water have been rising steadily for years. In 1976, Americans drank 1.5 gallons of bottled water per person; in 1999, they drank 15.5 gallons.
You might think that all bottled waters taste pretty much alike and that none could harbor the kind of contaminants occasionally found in tap water. They don't, and they can. In fact, a four-year study of 103 bottled waters released last year by the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group, revealed concerns. Among them: Several waters had levels of chlorine by-products or arsenic that were above the threshold set by California, though within limits set by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
For our report, we bought multiple samples of 39 bottled waters--still (noncarbonated), carbonated, and mineral. We focused mainly on taste but also had a lab analyze the waters for harmful substances that can occur naturally or stem from treatment procedures or bottling. In a nutshell, we found:
The major differences in taste were due to the type of plastic in the water's bottle. In most cases, waters in clear PET plastic (usually bottles of 1.5 liters or smaller) tasted better than those in cloudy, softer HDPE plastic (usually 1-gallon bottles).
None of the waters we tested harbored contaminants above current standards. That said, some occasionally had a bit more than we'd like to see of one or more substances that shouldn't be prevalent in drinking water.
Although the top-rated water costs 29 cents per 8-fluid-ounce glass, some waters that cost half as much tasted very good.
Taste-test results are in the Ratings; a glossary of contaminants occasionally found in water is in a contaminant compendium.
Finally, we spot-checked the quality of tap water from seven U.S. cities. See Tap water in seven cities.
The terms, the sources
Technically, there are more choices in bottled water than just with fizz or without:
Spring water comes from an underground formation and must flow naturally to the earth's surface. Water is collected at the spring or through a hole that taps the source, and the source must be stated on the label. Spring water is typically protected from microorganisms sometimes found in surface water. Carbon dioxide can be added to make it "sparkling."
Purified drinking water has been processed by reverse osmosis, distillation, or similar procedures that remove minerals and contaminants. The source need not be named and is often tap water.
Naturally sparkling water is naturally carbonated and often comes from a spring. Bubbles lost during treatment or collection may be replaced with the same amount of carbon dioxide the water held originally.
Soda water and seltzer are not considered bottled water. The FDA regulates them as soft drinks, under rules less strict than those for bottled water, and some products may have added sugar, flavors, or salts. They're often carbonated municipal water, sometimes with extra filtration.
Mineral water contains at least 250 parts per million of dissolved solids--usually calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, silica, and bicarbonates. Minerals must occur naturally. Mineral water is typically spring water and can be sparkling or still.
Despite formal definitions, labels can be confusing. Aquafina Purified Drinking Water, one of America's top-selling bottled waters, sounds like an Italian import, and its label favors the deep blues and snow-capped mountains many brands use to telegraph the idea of faraway glacial springs. In fact, Aquafina is produced by the Pepsi Cola Company. Its name? From "the marketing folks," says Pepsi spokesman Larry Jabbonsky. The water originates from 16 sources--mainly municipal water supplies. Sources include venues no more exotic than Cheraw, S.C.; Detroit; Fresno, Calif.; and Munster, Ind. Aquafina is "not in the high end of water," Jabbonsky concedes.
Pepsi is now being challenged by--who else?--Coca-Cola. Coke's water, Dasani, is purified from municipal sources, "enhanced with a mix of minerals for a crisp taste," a Coke spokesman told us. (Aquafina and Dasani fell in the middle of our Ratings.)
Something else the label may not reveal is that a single brand of spring water can come from many sources. Dannon Natural Spring Water, another recent entry into the national market, taps four springs, in Florida, Pennsylvania, Utah, and Quebec. Different sources can mean different tastes.
The taste of tasteless
Good drinking water should taste like nothing. However, nothing can still taste a little like something, and water should taste clean, fresh, lively, and a little crisp.
Waters bottled in PET plastic generally tasted better than those bottled in HDPE. That was true even within the same brand. Arrowhead Mountain Spring Water, for example, was very good when bottled in PET, which imparted a hint of sweet, fruity plastic flavor (imagine the scent when you blow up a beachball). But Arrowhead was only fair when bottled in HDPE, which made it taste a bit like melted plastic (imagine the smell when you get a plastic container too close to a flame). For waters that come in both kinds of bottle, the Ratings list two scores (and two prices--water is apt to cost more in PET). The only water bottled in PVC plastic, Winn-Dixie's Prestige Premium 100% Spring Water, rated good overall.
Why did different plastics impart different tastes? There's no one answer. Some plastics more easily allow nearby odors and tastes into water. Small amounts of chemicals in the plastic itself could leach into the water. Even the process used in making the plastic could affect taste. For details, see Bottle materials.
Still waters. Only Volvic Natural Spring Water was excellent. A French import, Volvic comes from an area rich in volcanic rock, a company spokesman said. Several other waters were very good and cost much less.
Carbonated waters. All are bottled in PET, and differences among the seven brands we tasted were subtle. The best--Vintage Old Original Seltzer Water and Canada Dry Original Seltzer--were very good. Both were less bitter than others.
Mineral waters. Each of the five we tried has a different taste. Which you choose will depend on whether you like mineral water more or less fizzy or mineral-y. For that reason, we didn't rate these waters, but we list tasters' comments below in "Minerals on the rocks."
Troubled water?
The nation's thirst for bottled water, we suspect, has grown at least in part because its confidence in tap water has been shaken. Concerns were fueled in 1993, when cryptosporidium, a parasite from animal waste, entered Milwaukee's water supply. It killed more than 50 people, sent 4,400 to hospitals, and sickened hundreds of thousands.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has standards for some 80 contaminants in public drinking water and maintains that the U.S. enjoys some of the safest water in the world. You can check for yourself: Since 1999, Federal law has required local water utilities to send "consumer confidence reports" to their customers each year. The reports detail ongoing laboratory testing, name system trouble spots, and outline measures being taken to fix problems. If you haven't received one, contact your local water department, call the Safe Drinking Water Hotline at 800 426-4791, or visit
www.epa.gov/safewater/dwinfo.htm.
The bottled-water industry falls under the jurisdiction of the FDA, which has borrowed from the EPA's standards for tap water. The International Bottled Water Association, the industry's trade group, has its own model code, with some standards stricter than the FDA's. Member companies, which produce 85 percent of the bottled water sold in the U.S., must also allow annual surprise inspections at processing plants by an independent nonprofit group.
Bottlers often imply their product is purer than tap water. Some play up "protected sources," often underground springs whose output the company tests regularly. Others say their waters have undergone ozonation (it disinfects but leaves no chlorine aftertaste) or "one-micron absolute" filtration (water is strained through pores small enough to catch cryptosporidium).
We tested all the bottled waters for trihalomethanes (THMs), a potentially harmful by-product of the chlorine treatment to which tap water is subjected. We confined tests for other contaminants to waters in which they would most likely be found. Without comprehensive nationwide tests, no one can say how much cleaner bottled water might be than tap water. We do know that none of the waters in our analyses--bottled or tap--harbored contaminants at levels above current standards. However, several samples of bottled water were above the EPA's proposed standard for arsenic, a couple of samples had a fairly high level of bacteria that can indicate spotty sanitation, and eight of ten polycarbonate jugs leached a potentially problematic plastic component into water.
Recommendations
It's important to drink enough water--eight glasses per day; more in hot weather or if you're especially active. Drinking too little water can cause fatigue, weakness, dizziness, and headaches. Over the long term, drinking too little water has been linked to constipation, kidney stones, and even some cancers. Yet despite the rise in consumption of bottled water, one American in ten doesn't typically drink water at all, according to a recent survey for the bottled-water industry and Rockefeller University.
Where should that water come from? You can take it from the tap, of course, and incidents of contamination by harmful chemicals or parasites in public drinking water are very rare. Taste is another matter. Some of the tap waters we sampled tasted almost swampy. (Bad taste doesn't necessarily mean water is unhealthful, however.)
Some carafe filters and faucet-mounted filters improve tap water's taste--for far less money than a bottle or two of water per day. See Water filters update, for a rundown.
If you prefer bottled water, you have plenty of choices in a wide price range. One overall finding to keep in mind: Water in PET plastic bottles generally tasted better than water in HDPE plastic, though water in HDPE is usually cheaper. Note also that taste differences are most obvious when water is at room temperature. When the water is ice-cold, differences will be less noticeable.
Volvic Natural Spring Water, 29 cents per 8-fluid-ounce glass, was excellent, with no off-tastes. Next best was Dannon Natural Spring Water, 14 cents. Very good when bottled in PET (but not in HDPE) were Arrowhead Mountain Spring Water, American Fare Natural Spring Water (Kmart), and Albertson's A+ Natural Spring Water, all 12 cents.
The best carbonated water, Vintage Old Original Seltzer Water, was also the cheapest, at 11 cents a glass.
Mineral waters have very individual tastes. Vittel and Calistoga were less expensive than the others, at 23 cents per serving.
Minerals on the rocks
Each mineral water has a unique "fingerprint" owing to the rocks and earth it passes by. Here's how five of the leading mineral waters tasted. Prices are per 8-fluid-ounce glass. Apollinaris Naturally Sparkling Mineral Water (37 cents): Moderate fizz, slight mineral and baking-soda flavors. Calistoga Sparkling Mineral Water (23 cents): Little fizz, slight earthy, mineral, and baking-soda flavors. Perrier Sparkling Mineral Water (36 cents): Moderate fizz, slight baking-soda flavor, trace of mineral flavor. S. Pellegrino Natural Sparkling Mineral Water (47 cents): Very little fizz, slight mineral and baking-soda flavors. Vittel Mineral Water (23 cents): No fizz, slight mineral flavor.
