Here's another hit for bottled water marketers.
Not only is the bottled water category being hit by the economic downturn, and being criticized as bad for the environment, along comes a study by an environmental advocacy group that says tests on leading brands of bottled water turned up a variety of contaminants often found in tap water. The study's results challenge the marketing position that bottled water is purer than tap water.
Ten brands of bottled water tested found 38chemicals including bacteria, caffeine, the pain relieveracetaminophen, fertilizer, solvents, plastic-making chemicals and theradioactive element strontium.
The contaminants may have come from the source water (typically tap) and from being leached from plastic bottles.
There seems little in this study that would comfort consumers or marketers.
Joe Doss, president of the International Bottled Water Association, is quoted in an AP article as saying the study is based on the faulty premise that a contaminant is a health concern "even if it does not exceed the established regulatory limit or no standard has been set."
The two-year study was done by the Washington-based Environmental Working Group, an organization founded by scientists that advocates stricter regulation. It found the contaminants in bottled water purchased in nine states and Washington, D.C.
