discussion and analysis of commercially available bottled water

8/14/2019 discussion and analysis of commercially available bottled water

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The bottled water industry is an $8 billion plusindustry.For a natural resource that most of us haveaccess to for minimal cost, water is doing

pretty well as a revenue generator. Thebottled version of the stuff is currently an $8billion industry in the United States alone, withAmericans drinking about 7 billion gallons of itin 2005. That's compared to hundreds ofbillions of gallons of tap water, but for aproduct that can cost up to 10,000 times morethan its municipal counterpart, it's still animpressive market share.So what's the appeal? The three mostcommon reasons given by bottled-water

drinkers are healthiness, purity and taste. Aswe'll get into later on, the first two reasons aresomewhat misguided, and the third is open fordebate. For a seemingly basic food product,bottled water has generated its share ofcontroversy. Some of it focuses on the federal

and state regulations governing the industry,some of it goes deeper into the ecologicalimplications of bottling and transportingbillions on billions of gallons of something that


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The pretty pictures and superlative languageon the labels of bottled waters cansometimes be misleading. One famousexample is the now defunct Alaska Water,

which stated on the label, "Alaska PremiumGlacier Drinking Water: Pure Glacier WaterFrom the Last Unpolluted Frontier," andcame from one of the municipal watersupplies in Juneau. The currently availableGlacier Clear Water comes from a source in

Greeneville, Tennessee. But if you look pastthe names and descriptions and go straightto the water type, the label will more or lesstell you what's in the bottle. "Spring water"and "artesian water" are examples ofbottled-water types.


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Aquafina and Dasani, the two top-sellingbrands in the United States, are "purifieddrinking water." Other popular brands,including Poland Spring and Arrowhead, are

"spring water." Evian is "mineral water," andPerrier is "sparkling mineral water." EldoradoSprings is "artesian spring water." Theselabels primarily indicate two things about thewater in the bottle: its source and anytreatment it has undergone. We'll examine

the sources and treatments associated witheach type of bottled water and take a look atthe process Aquafina uses to produce its"purified drinking water," which starts out asplain old tap water purchased from publicwater supplies.


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Artesian water: Artesian water comesfrom an artesian well, which draws waterfrom a confined aquifer (an underground,porous rock or sand formation that bearswater and is under pressure from a layer of

rock or clay above it). The pressure from theconfining layer forces the water from theaquifer upward. The level of the water supplythe artesian well is drawing from must sitabove the uppermost layer of the aquifer.

Mineral water: Mineral water is spring

water that has at least 250 parts per million(ppm) of total dissolved solids (TDS) in it.

These "dissolved solids" are minerals likecalcium, magnesium, sodium and potassium,

and they must be present in the water at thesource, not added later. By contrast, regularspring water typically has about 50 ppm of

TDS.

Naturally sparkling water: Naturallysparkling water comes from a spring orartesian well and has natural carbonation init. The carbonation may be removed during


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Purified water: Purified water comes fromeither a protected underground source orfrom a municipal drinking-water supply(public tap water). It has been

"demineralized" -- treated by one or more ofseveral processes to remove dissolvedsolids. If the water comes from a municipalwater source that uses chlorine as adisinfectant, the manufacturer may furthertreat the water to remove the chlorine.

Spring water: Spring water comes from aprotected, underground water source fromwhich the water flows to the surface on itsown. It may be collected either at the

surface spring or through a sanitary,protected hole drilled directly into the sourcefeeding the spring. If the water is collectedthrough a hole drilled into the source, it hasto have exactly the same composition as thewater in the surface spring.

Well water: Well water is drawn from aprotected well that taps directly into an


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Filtration: The water is sent through filtersor membranes whose holes will only letthrough extremely small particles, typicallythose smaller than 1 micron. Contaminantslarger than 1 micron, including many germsand inorganic solids, can't make it through.

Distillation: The water is vaporized. Sinceminerals don't vaporize, all that's left afterthe vapor recondenses is demineralizedwater.

UV-light treatment: Ultraviolet (UV) light isa disinfecting agent -- it killsmicroorganisms, including bacteria andviruses, although some microorganisms areless affected by it than others. The processuses no chemicals. Instead, the water is

subjected to intense UV light inside achamber. The UV light damagesmicroorganisms at the cellular level, eitherkilling them or causing them to lose the


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Ozonation: Ozone gas (the same type foundin the atmosphere), typically created bysubjecting oxygen to electrical current, is anantimicrobial agent -- it kills microorganisms.

The water is infused with ozone (03)molecules as a disinfecting process, and themolecules naturally break down and leave

the water fairly quickly. As an additionalbenefit, when the ozone molecules degradeto 02 and molecules, this leaves free oxygenions to bond with other contaminants likeiron and sulfur. When the oxygen bonds tothese molecules, it turns them into oxides,

which are insoluble. These now-insolublecontaminants are then filtered out.

. Reverse osmosis: The water is forcedthrough semipermeable membranes not

porous enough to let minerals or othercontaminants through.


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The global bottled water market grew by7% in 2006 to reach a value of $60,938.1million (60.9 billion). The market grew by

8.1% in 2006 to reach a volume of 115,393.5million liters. In 2011, the market is forecastto have a value of $86,421.2 million (86.4billion), an increase of 41.8% since 2006. In2011, the market is forecast to have avolume of 174,286.6 million liters, anincrease of 51% since 2006.

The global rate of consumption more thandoubled between 1997 and 2005. Purifiedwater is currently the leading global seller,

with U.S. companies dominating the field,and natural spring water, purified water andflavored water being the fastest-growingmarket segments.


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One major criticism of bottled waterconcerns the bottles themselves. Individualuse bottled water is generally packaged inPolyethylene terephthalate (PET).

According to a NAPCOR study, PET waterbottles account for 50% of all the PETbottles and containers collected by curbsiderecycling, and the recycling rate for waterbottles is 23.4%, a 16.42% increase over the2006 rate of 20.1%. PET bottled watercontainers make up one-third of 1 percentof the waste stream in the United States.

An estimated 50 billion bottles of water areconsumed per annum in the US. The

International Bottled Water Association alsoreports that the average weight of a plasticbottle water was 13.83 grams in 2007,compared to 18.90 grams in 2000,representing a 26.7% decline. PepsiCo hassince introduced a bottle weighing 10.9grams and using 20 percent less plastic,which it says is the lightest bottle of its kindthat is nationally distributed.


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Bottled water processed with distillation orreverse osmosis lacks fluoride ions which aresometimes naturally present in groundwater. The drinking of distilled water may

conceivably increase the risk of tooth decaydue to a lack of this element.

According to a 1999 NRDC study, at least22 percent of brands tested, at least one

sample contained chemical contaminants atlevels above strict state health limits. Someof the contaminants found in the study couldpose health risks if consumed over a longperiod of time.

The rate of total dissolved solids issometimes 4 times higher in bottled mineralwaters than in bottled tap ones. Highamounts of calcium in mineral bottled watersfor example make that a daily and excessive

consumption may result in hypercalcemia,which highly increases the risk of kidney orgallstones.


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In May 2005, the ABC news program "20/20"sent five different national brands of bottledwater and one sample of tap water taken froma New York City drinking fountain to a

microbiologist for testing. The lab tested forcontaminants that can cause illness, like E.coli.The results showed no difference whatsoever,in terms of unhealthy contaminants, betweenthe bottled waters and the tap water. Soperhaps it's a matter of semantics, but the

issue seems to be more one of purity than ofhealthiness: Some bottled waters do containfewer total dissolved solids than tap water, butmost scientists agree that the levels ofdissolved solids in tap water are not harmful tohuman health. And when it comes to dissolved

solids, in certain cases and in some opinions,more is actually more. People who drinkmineral water presumably are drinking itbecause they believe the higher mineral countin the water is beneficial to their health. In thecase of mineral water, it may just be that the

water is healthier than tap water.


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If someone is looking for purity, choosingpurified water may deliver the goods. Withan industry standard of fewer than 10 ppm oftotal dissolved solids, purified water is prettyclose to plain H20. On the other hand, ifsomeone defines "pure" as "safe," we'reright back to the healthiness issue discussedabove. Bottled water sources are typicallytested for harmful contaminants once a week

at most. Municipal water supplies are testedhundreds of times every month. Tap watermay not be perfectly clear, or it may have aslight chlorine aftertaste, but according tothe Minnesota Department of Health, thoseare merely aesthetic qualities that do not

indicate the water is unsafe. And bottledwater -- even purified water -- does not haveto be completely free of contaminants. Itsimply has to have below the FDA-allowedand/or state-allowed level of certaincontaminants.


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discussion and analysis of commercially available bottled water

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