So What's Wrong with Bottled Water?
Quality
As much as 75% of bottled water is merely tap water with varying degrees of purity
Shelf Life
Consumers have no way of knowing how long the water has been stored and what the current quality is.
Chemical Contaminants
As there is no regulated standard many bottled waters contain the same contaminants found in tap water - chlorine, fluoride, and others such as lead, mercury, arsenic and asbestos.
Sanitation
Without government regulations, sanitation standards at bottling plants are voluntary. A study done by the EPA in California found serious sanitation deficiencies at every plant it inspected.
Unhealthy Water
Many bottled waters are made by distillation or reverse osmosis, which totally eliminates essential trace minerals such as Calcium and Magnesium, resulting in flat - tasting unhealthy water.
Contamination After Bottling
The bottling process, as well as handling, storage, shipping and placement on the cooler stand can all lead to contamination.
Contamination In Coolers Reservoir
A university of Boston study found that bacterial counts in water cooler reservoirs exceeded government guidelines by as much as 2,000 times.
Inconvenience
Storage, lifting and handling, clean up of spills, deliveries and processing invoices all add to the hidden costs in terms of employee time.
Environmentally Unfriendly
The unnecessary added pollution due to delivery of bottled water is completely avoidable.
Cost
Due to the need for bottling and shipping, bottled water can cost as much as 30 times that of filtered water.
