How Clean Is Your Bottled Water?

We've had articles on this site before about bottled water. But this one from Yahoo News featuring statistics provided by the Environmental Working Group takes a graded look at which brands offer the best thirst quencher when you're on the run. From Whole Foods to Nestle to Poland Spring, EWG analyzed 173 different labels to see if the water you purchase is really all it's cracked up to be. See the excerpt below.

Worst bottled water brands
Lori Bongiorno – Wed Jan 5, 3:00 pm ET

"How much do you know about the bottled water you drink? Not nearly enough, according to a new report released today from Environmental Working Group (EWG). "Bottled water companies try hard to hide information you might find troubling," says Jane Houlihan, senior vice president of research for the Washington D.C.-based research and advocacy group.

EWG analyzed the labels of 173 unique bottled water products and company websites to determine if companies disclose information on where water comes from, how or if their water is treated, and whether the results of purity testing are revealed. The nonprofit also looked at how effective (and advanced) any water treatment methods are. Researchers followed up by calling dozens of bottled water companies to find out which ones willingly tell consumers what's in their bottles...

Only three brands earned the highest possible marks for disclosing information and using the most advanced treatment methods available -- Gerber Pure Purified Water, Nestle Pure Life Purified Water, and Penta Ultra-Purified Water.

On the other end of the spectrum, these six brands got the worst marks in the EWG report because they don't provide consumers with the three basic facts about water on product labels or their company website -- Whole Foods Italian Still Mineral Water, Vintage Natural Spring Water, Sahara Premium Drinking Water, O Water Sport Electrolyte Enhanced Purified Drinking Water, Market Basket Natural Spring Water, and Cumby's Spring Water..."

To read more, click here.

Image courtesy of Yahoo News via Getty Images.

Comments

[Marketingbureau]

The water in the bottles is clean! I prefer bottled water.

[cassidy]

DOnt Drink BOTTLED WATER!!!!!!

[Filling Machine]

China filling machine manufacturer and supplier. We offer filling and sealing machine, liquid filling line, bottle washer, labeling machine, and related products etc.

[Rob Feckler]

Well, the water is truly sanitized. It just varies with the bottle containers. No matter how clean your water is, if it is not stored properly, it's not safe.

[marketingconcept]

Sometimes though we are thinking that the bottled water is safe but we have to be sure to it that they are clean. There are chemicals on the water that we don't know could certainly be the cause of illness.

[plumbing]

Some people reuse bottled waters. They were thinking that maybe, in that way, they could help save the environment -- not even knowing that it's sometimes dangerous for their health. Maybe they could recycle it but not reuse.

[Angel Tickets]

yeah, it is clean. the problem is the bottle after you used it you'll just have to throw it away.

[CFD]

Being particular with the water that we drink, we have to be very extra careful. There are a lot of mineral water in the market wherein their plastic bottles are not properly sanitized. This is a bad case where we can get cholera and other sickness. Safety not in the water but also in the food that we take must be given ample importance. Thanks a lot for the info you shared.

[waste water disposal]

thanks for this nice post. very entertaining and got some really good stuff from here.

[Donna]

I found out about the Whole Foods Italian Still Mineral Water and it is fine. They had no problem in sending me the complete details on this water. I e-mailed the Customer Service Dept. and a couple of hours later, I received a response with the PDF document. It sounds like great water to me, and I will continue to buy it. They can't fit it all on the bottle, which is probably why it is not mentioned!