Water Pressure

Between toxins or waste, water consumers make tough choices onsumers concerned about staying hydrated in these dog days of summer are finding themselves knee-deep in controversy over conflicting concerns about what is safe—and environmentally sound—to drink.

Late last year, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) unveiled its first-ever analysis of the nation’s tap water—a report that showed the presence of more than 260 contaminants, including 140 chemicals unregulated by the federal government. But other environmental groups, including the Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), say turning to bottled water to quench your thirst adds to pollution and the unnecessary use of petroleum products, with no real guarantees that you’re getting a healthier, safer beverage.

Since 1974, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has set drinking-water standards for all purveyors providing drinking water to at least 25 people, establishing and checking for 90 contaminants for which the agency has established maximum-exposure levels for human consumption. Federal laws also require water companies to send annual “consumer confidence” reports to customers, showing how they met federal water standards.

But the EWG report analyzing water-purveyor data from 1998-2003 rapped federal regulators for their failure to establish maximum-exposure levels for 140 unregulated contaminants, 52 of which have been linked to cancer. Among the contaminants cited by EWG as being of particular concern were nitrate, chloroform, arsenic, nitrates and lead; with the largest number of contaminants discovered in California, Wisconsin, Florida, North Carolina and Texas.

Many Standards enforced

On a more optimistic note, the EWG reports that of the 22 million tap-water quality tests it analyzed, there is a 90-percent compliance rate for health standards that the federal government has set and enforces.

“In general, we don’t think anyone should stop drinking their tap water,” says EWG spokeswoman Laura Just. “We found, by and large, that water utilities are doing a great job at cleaning up to what the state and federal standards are—there is just a lot of stuff that nobody has a standard for. That’s what we’re concerned about.”

Is bottled water the answer? Based on the explosive growth of the bottled-water industry—24 gallons per person per year, up nearly 9 percent since 2003—consumers seem to think so. But according to at least two prominent environmental groups, the answer is clearly “no.”

To find out where your community ranks for tap-water safety, or to explore other options to bottled water, check out these resources: The Environmental Working Group’s report on tap-water safety: www.ewg.org/tapwater The Sierra Club’s and National Resources Defense Council’s reports on bottled water: www.sierraclub.org/cac/ water/bottled_water/ www.nrdc.org/water/drinking /qbw.asp The annual report on tap-water quality from your local water company. If you’re not sure who supplies your water, go to www.drinktap.org Consider using a reverse osmosis filter to filter your tap water, and store water in a reusable bottle with a stainless-steel insert. — Jill Duman

Ruth Caplan, who chairs a task force of bottled-water use for the Sierra Club, says the national group has a big job explaining to consumers that they really don’t know what’s inside those water bottles.

“What they don’t know is that the water is not tested by the EPA,” Caplan says. The Food and Drug Administration regulates some bottled water, although a NRDC study showed that 60-70 percent of those bottles were exempt from FDA regulation, since the agency’s rules do not apply to water packaged and sold within the same state.

There is also concern about the use of petroleum in the manufacturing of plastic water bottles, says Caplan, and a risk of the chemical components used for creating the plastic bottles leaching into the water—like when bottles sit for a long time in hot temperatures.

Then there’s the problem of bottle disposal: The Sierra Club estimates that 10 billion plastic bottles are discarded each year in the U.S. alone, and just 14 percent of those bottles are recycled. Furthermore, some companies just bottle municipal tap water and charge as much as 1,000 times the price of tap water, according to the NRDC. A 2004 MSNBC report stated that about 25 percent of the bottled water consumed in the U.S. comes from municipal water that is treated. (If the label indicates “purified” or “drinking water” it probably came from a municipal water supply.) Pepsi’s Aquafina and Coca-Cola’s Dasani brands are two examples.

Some stores have begun to reconsider whether bottled water should be sold at all. In Davis, California, some members of the Davis Food Co-op asked the cooperative’s management to stop selling bottled water. But bottled water is a big moneymaker, so store general manager Eric Stromberg said the co-op continues to sell it, but never puts the bottles on special. “We don’t emphasize it, but we won’t discontinue it,” he says.

— Jill Duman