The problem at the 2-year-old BIOTA Brands of America plant highlights the odd regulations that govern bottled water.
Even though 40 percent of water bottled in America starts with treated municipal tap water, bottled water is considered a food product and controlled by the Food and Drug Administration, while municipal drinking water is under the purview of the Environmental Protection Agency. States also add another layer of varying oversight.
In Colorado, the standards for bottled water are as strict as the FDA and EPA regulations, according to a state- by-state analysis done by the Natural Resources Defense Council. Bottling plants must keep detailed lab-analysis records, but there is a difference from municipal water. Plants are not required to keep records longer than two years or to publicly divulge the results of those tests.
Bottling companies such as BIOTA that belong to the International Bottled Water Association must adhere to stricter regulations. Water is tested multiple times a day. It is tested 24 and 48 hours after it has been bottled.
The association does annual inspections of plants through contract experts. The FDA inspects plants every few years. The schedule depends on whether there have been problems at a particular plant.
“Bottled water is held to similar standards as tap water for purity and contamination,” said Devin Koontz, a spokesman for the FDA. “Every bottle is as safe as water coming from the tap.”
Some water experts with the Colorado Water Quality Control Division disagree. They say that the chlorination of municipal water is more foolproof at killing bacteria than the ultraviolet, reverse osmosis and ozone filters used in many bottling plants.
They said they prefer to drink tap water.
The Natural Resources Defense Council study of bottled water criticized the oversight and called the safety of some waters into question. The bottled water industry has refuted that report.
But there have been problems with bottled waters since the first bottle of Perrier went on the market in 1977. In 1993, water being bottled from a well dug into an industrial- zone parking lot in Massachusetts was found to have carcinogens. In 2003, the sterilization system malfunctioned at a plant in North Carolina, and bacteria-containing water was bottled. In October, a California company withdrew 33,000 cases of water with a foul odor and taste.
Still, consumers are increasingly turning to bottled water. They drank nearly $11 billion worth of bottled water last year – up from $10.1 billion in 2005 – paying more for it on average than they pay for a gallon of gas.
– Nancy Lofholm
