According to a study by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) released in October 2008, some bottled waters are indistinguishable from tap water.  Even though the price of bottled water is sometimes 1900 times the cost of tap water, ten popular brands were found to contain 38 contaminants with an average of eight contaminants in each brand.


Some specific findings:

  • Walmart's Sam's Choice was indistinguishable from tap water and contained excessive amounts of carcinogenic disinfectants trihalomethanes and bromodichloromethane.  This water also exceeded the legal limits for bottled water contaminants in California.
  • Giant Supermarket's Acadia brand was indistinguishable from tap water and contained the same carcinogens as the Walmart water.
  • Four brands were found to be contaminated with bacteria.
  • The report also found “common urban wastewater pollutants like caffeine and pharmaceuticals (Tylenol); heavy metals and minerals including arsenic and radioactive isotopes; fertilizer residue (nitrate and ammonia); and a broad range of other, tentatively identified industrial chemicals used as solvents, plasticizers, viscosity decreasing agents, and propellants.”
  • According to the report: “One bottled water brand spurred a 78% increase in the growth of the breast cancer cells compared to the control sample, with 1,200 initial breast cancer cells multiplying to 32,000 in 4 days, versus only 18,000 for the control sample, indicating that chemical contaminants in the bottled water sample stimulated accelerated division of cancer cells. When estrogen-blocking chemicals were added, the effect was inhibited, showing that the cancer-spurring chemicals mimic estrogen, a hormone linked to breast cancer.”


The scientists concluded that the purity of bottled water cannot be trusted.  The voluntary standards adopted by the industry appear to be a failure.  The industry in general refuses to publish their own testing information.

The study recommends the use of filtered tap water rather than bottled water.  Filtering tap water costs about 31 cents per gallon compaired to $3.79 per gallon for bottled water.