Some individuals believe that it is foolish to buy bottled drinking water, and ask, "Why buy water in bottles when you are able get it from your kitchen faucet?" Others prefer having choices in drinking water.
They would like to know what's going into their bodies, they say. To that, the faucet-water drinkers counter, "Maybe you have run tests on your faucet water and your bottled drinking water?
Whichever way you believe, you must choose your drinking water carefully. You could even want to operate tests - or obtain literature showing the outcome of tests which have been operate on the various drinking waters available to you.
Take bottled drinking water. To numerous people, the fact the water is bottled means it is pure. But can it be? Might it be possible your bottled drinking water contains as great a colony of "water criminals" as your tap water does?
Bottled Drinking Water Terminology
The next are definitions frequently applied to the labels of bottled drinking water to describe the water's characteristics, sources, and methods of treatment. They may surprise you. These definitions are taken from the pamphlet, "Bottled Water Basics" published by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
* Artesian water, ground water, spring water, well water - water from an underground aquifer that might or may not be treated. Well water and artesian water are tapped through a well. Spring water is collected as it flows to the surface or using a borehole. Ground water can be either.
* Distilled water - steam from boiling water is recondensed and bottled. Distilling water kills microbes and removes water's natural minerals, giving it a set taste.
* Drinking water - water created for human consumption and sealed in bottles or other containers with no ingredients except that it might optionally contain safe and suitable disinfectants. Fluoride might be added within limitations set in the bottled water quality standards.
* Mineral water - Ground water that naturally contains 250 or more parts per million of total dissolved solids.
Did you see ...?
* Bottled drinking water is not necessarily pure, just as plain tap water isn't pure.
* Bottled drinking water may result from an aquifer that has been treated with chemicals or not treated at all. Plain tap water will normally be treated.
* Bottled drinking water may contain numerous impurities such as for example human or animal waste - many that tap water isn't permitted to contain.
* Bottled drinking water may contain disinfectants and fluorides - just as plain tap water does!
* Bottled drinking water may contain minerals, even lead!
Bottled drinking water is often a whole lot more impure than you could hope!
Bottled Drinking Water Standards
The USFDA does set standards for bottled drinking water. You will want to read them if you're serious about providing pure drinking water for your family.
Bottled drinking water sold in U.D. interstate commerce, including products bottled overseas, must meet the next minimum federal standards:
* Bottled drinking water must meet FDA standards for physical, chemical, microbial, and radiological contaminants. When EPA sets a fresh standard for a contaminant in regular water, FDA must set up a new standard for exactly the same contaminant in bottled drinking water or realize that EPA's new standard isn't applicable to bottled drinking water.
TRANSLATION: Bottled drinking water need be no a lot better than tap water. In fact, it could be held to less stringent standards.
* Bottlers must are the name of the product and type of water; the name and address of producer, packer, or distributor; and the net content on the labels.
TRANSLATION: Labels on bottled drinking water do not need to tell you what's been put into the water.
* New bottled drinking water sources must be approved by way of a state or local jurisdiction. Bottlers must test their sources and finished bottled drinking water products one or more times weekly for microbiological contaminants and at least once per year for physical, chemical, and radiological contaminants.
TRANSLATION: Once the source is approved by the federal government, using EPA and FDA standards, it's as much as the bottler to keep up its cleanliness.
* If bottled drinking water is found to be adulterated or hazardous to health, it is susceptible to FDA enforcement action, such as seizure of domestic products and refusal of entry of imports.
TRANSLATION: Bottled drinking water is not guaranteed pure by anyone. As long as actual hazards are observed may enforcement action take place.
* Bottlers must operate their plants in respect with FDA's good manufacturing practices to ensure their bottled drinking water products are safe and produced under safe and sanitary conditions.
TRANSLATION: Your bottled drinking water is to be produced under safe and sanitary conditions, but actual contents are not strictly controlled.
Bottled drinking water is good to possess on hand in case there is an urgent situation, but don't think of bottled drinking water as pure drinking water. Purity may vary from one brand to a different and from batch to another.
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