What’s in Your Bottled Water? Your Alternatives

Tracy Fernandez Rysavy
Co-op America’s Real Money newsletter
Last Updated: Thursday, July 05, 2007

By far the cheapest – and often the safest – option is to drink water from a tap. It’s also the most environmentally friendly option.

If you want to get the low-down on your area’s water supply, you can easily do so. 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 or visit the EPA’s Safe Drinking Water site to see if it’s posted online. The EPA’s Safe Drinking Water Hotline is (800)426-4791.

If you’re still concerned about your tap water, or if you just don’t like the way it tastes, you can further purify it with a carafe or faucet-mounted water filter. You can also consult Co-op America’s National Green Pages.

For a portable option, invest in a couple of reusable bottles that you can fill with tap water, and you’ll have portable water-on-the-go for your desk at work or to take to the gym.

If you do buy bottled water, look for spring waters that come from a source you trust. One that we can recommend is Trinity Springs, a 100 percent natural geothermal spring water, bottled in Ketchum, Idaho, with no drilling, pumping, disinfection, or chemical treatment. (The water is labeled as a "mineral supplement" because many states require those labeled "spring water" to be disinfected, regardless of the purity of its source.) The company makes environmental stewardship of the spring a key part of its mission.

If you want to find out more about the source of your spring water and its surroundings, call or write the bottler and ask. If the bottler won’t tell you or is vague, switch brands. Another option is to call the bottled water program in the state where the water comes from and see if they have a record of the source. (State health or agriculture departments most often run bottled water programs.)

To find out if your bottled water is from a tap; carefully check the label and cap. If it says "from a municipal source" or "from a community water system" anywhere on the bottle, it’s from a tap and may not have undergone additional purification.

And finally, stick with companies that bottle their water in PET (or PETE) plastic, marked with a number 1. It’s easier to recycle or remanufacture than other types of plastic, releases fewer emissions into the atmosphere during manufacture, and leaves less solid waste. Be sure to recycle your bottles. For the future, be on the lookout for "water stations," where customers can buy returnable bottles they fill and refill themselves.

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