The International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) supports establishing rigorous pollution standards for bottled water, emphasizing that its members adhere to stringent safety and quality regulations set by the FDA and state governments. Statistics show a growing consumer preference for bottled water, driven by concerns over municipal water quality and safety. The document also highlights the environmental impact of bottled water use and a shift toward tap water among environmentally conscious consumers.

1. Based on what you have read, do you believe that pollution
standards should be established for bottled water? What
arguments most influenced your decision? How would you
explain your position to someone who disagrees with you?
The International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) is the
authoritative source of information about all types of bottled
waters. Founded in 1958, IBWA's membership includes U.S.
and international bottlers, distributors and suppliers. IBWA is
committed to working with the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration (FDA), which regulates bottled water as a
packaged food product, and state governments to set stringent
standards for safe, high quality bottled water products.
Additionally, IBWA requires member bottlers to adhere to the
IBWA Bottled Water Code of Practice, which mandates
additional standards and practices, that in some cases, are more
stringent than federal and state regulations. A key feature of the
IBWA Model Code is an annual unannounced plant inspection
by an independent, third party organization. For more
information about IBWA, bottled water and a list of member's
brands, please contact IBWA Manager of Communications Tom
Gardner at 703-647-4607 or
[email protected]
Full Text
ALEXANDRIA, Va., April 9 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The
InternationalBottled Water Association (IBWA), in conjunction
with Beverage MarketingCorporation (BMC), today released
bottled water statistics for the year 2006,compiled by BMC.
These numbers show that U.S. bottled water sales
andconsumption continue to rise, as consumers increasingly
choose bottled waterover other beverages.
The latest upward trend was reflected in 2006 when total bottled
water volume exceeded 8.25 billion gallons, a 9.5 percent
increase over 2005, and the 2006 bottled water per capita

2. consumption level of 27.6 gallons increased by over two
gallons, from 25.4 gallons per capita the previous year.
Additionally, the wholesale dollar sales for bottled water
exceeded $10.8 billion in 2006, an 8.5 percent increase over the
$10 billion in 2005. These statistics demonstrate continued
consumer demand and appreciation for the convenience and
good taste of bottled water brands consumed on-the-go, during
exercise, at restaurants or meetings, and at home or the office.
However, consumers should also know that bottled water safety
and quality result from multiple layers of regulation and
standards at the federal, state and industry levels.
Bottled water is comprehensively regulated by the U.S. Food
and Drug Administration (FDA) as a packaged food product,
and has issued stringent standards for safety, quality,
production, labeling, and identity. Along with the FDA's Good
Manufacturing Practices (GMPs), which are required of all
foods, bottled water must comply with several other applicable
regulations, including Standards of Identity, Standards of
Quality and additional, specific bottled water GMPs. Being a
packaged food product, bottled water is also bound by the
Nutrition Labeling Education Act (NLEA) and the full range of
FDA protective measures designed to enforce product safety and
protect consumers. States also regulate bottled water
inspections, sampling, analyzing and approving bottled water
sources. Testing laboratory certification is another area where
states may regulate bottled water. As part of the IBWA Bottled
Water Code of Practice, IBWA members voluntarily utilize the
principles of Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point
(HACCP) for a science-based approach to bottled water
production and safety. FDA recognizes HACCP as a key
component of food safety and consumer protection.
"While all beverages have their role in a marketplace with an
abundance of drink choices," says Stephen R. Kay, IBWA Vice
President of Communications, "consumers are choosing bottled

3. water as a refreshing, hydrating beverage and as an alternative
to others that may contain calories, caffeine, sugar, artificial
colors, alcohol or other ingredients, which they wish to
moderate or avoid. For instance, during 2006, individual
servings of bottled water in sizes of 1.5 liters and smaller
accounted for 57.1% of the volume of bottled water sold,
indicating that consumers are choosing bottled water in lieu of
other bottled drinks."
For an overview of bottled water regulations and standards and
other bottled water information, visit the IBWA web site at
http://www.bottledwater.org.
The International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) is the
authoritative source of information about all types of bottled
waters. Founded in 1958, IBWA's membership includes U.S.
and international bottlers, distributors and suppliers. IBWA is
committed to working with the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration (FDA), which regulates bottled water as a
packaged food product, and state governments to set stringent
standards for safe, high quality bottled water products.
Additionally, IBWA requires member bottlers to adhere to the
IBWA Bottled Water Code of Practice, which mandates
additional standards and practices, that in some cases, are more
stringent than federal and state regulations. Whether it is for
health reasons, drinking those requisite eight glasses a day, or
to avoid chemicals and pollutants from the public water supply,
bottled water has come into its own as the beverage of choice.
Although tap water quality and taste may be acceptable, its
questionable variables make bottled and home-purified water
look better.
Full text
Headnote
earthwatch

4. Headnote
Why bottles and purifiers really hold water
View Image -
There was a time when we scoffed at the idea of bottled water.
After all, why buy water when you can get it from the tap,
seemingly for free? Times have changed, however. Today's
health-conscious consumers, even kids, are toting bottles of
water. Whether it's for health reasons, drinking those requisite
eight glasses a day, or to avoid chemicals and pollutants from
the public water supply, water has come into its own as the
beverage of choice.
And it's not only just plain ol' spring water, either. The past few
years have given us myriad waters to choose from-glacial,
artesian, oxygen-enriched, purified and even functional water
that's been fortified with vitamins, minerals or herbs. Bottled is
certainly popular-it's a $5 billion dollar business in the U.S.,
alone.
In fact, its popularity is growing so rapidly that it's poised, in
this decade, to become the second largest beverage segment
after soft drinks says Jonathan Hall, publisher of "The Hall
Water Report." But is bottled water really better?
WATER BUGS
Americans are definitely turning off the tap, partly in response
to the quality-inconsistency of municipal water supplies. In
1993, a water-borne outbreak of Cryptosporidium in Milwaukee,
Wisc., caused an estimated 400,000 residents to become ill with
flulike symptoms, leading to several deaths among those who
were immune-impaired. Cryptosporidium, a waterborne parasite
that thrives in animals and is transferred through animal waste,
has been found in rivers, streams, lakes, reservoirs and in other
types of surface water.

5. That's not all. An August 29, 2001 report put out by the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), "Developing Strategy
for Waterborne Microbial Disease," says that the "consequences
of microbial [bacterial and parasitic] contamination are severe."
WHAT'S IN YOUR WATER?
Adequate chlorination kills much of the harmful bacteria in
water, but this chemical process can produce trihalomethanes
(THMs), which are cancer-causing compounds formed when
chlorine interacts with organic matter. Meanwhile, toxic waste,
agricultural pesticides and heavy metals continue to cloud our
water supply. Even if your municipal water supply is safe, home
water delivery systems are suspect: Water pipes can contain
harmful amounts of lead, copper, radon and other contaminants
that can leach into your water supply.
One such contaminant called Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether
(MTBE), is a chemical compound that is created through the
chemical reaction of methanol and isobutylene and has been
mainly used as a fuel additive oxygenate that raises the oxygen
content of gasoline.
Unfortunately, the EPA has found that "a growing number of
studies have detected MTBE in ground water throughout the
country, and above 40 parts per billion (ppb) may cause cancer
or other unknown adverse health effects."
A CLEAR CHOICE
Is bottled better than what's on tap in our faucets? According to
an August 2000 study by the water-industry Internet portal,
Bottled Water Web, Consumer Focus, "Sixty-one percent of
Americans believe bottled water to be healthier than tap water,
and out of that 61 percent, 53 percent believe that tap water has

6. some contamination or chemicals that are not present in bottled
water."
Aside from consumer perception, the truth is that bottled water
is strictly regulated at the federal level by the U.S. Food and
Drug Administration (FDA), as well as at the state level. Tap
water is also regulated as a utility by the EPA, while bottled
water is regulated by the FDA as a pure food product and must
satisfy all applicable food-packaging regulations.
The bottled-water industry is self-regulated. In fact, members of
the International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) -which
oversees the production of about 85 percent of the bottled water
sold in the U.S.-must meet strict IBWA standards more
stringent than the FDA's own regulations.
Therefore, most bottled-water companies use one or more the
following practices and technologies:
1) Source protection and monitoring
2) Reverse osmosis
3) Distillation
4) Ozone treatment, known as ozonation
5) Disinfection, such as chlorination
Although tap water quality and taste may be acceptable, its
questionable variables make bottled and home-purified water
look better. In fact, while 75 percent of all bottled water comes
from protected sources such as springs, tap water comes
primarily from rivers and lakes, sources of unpredictable purity.
THE BOTTOM LINE?

7. Hydration. No matter what type of water you choose, or what
source you get it from, be certain to drink at least eight glasses
of water each day.
A recent study that was commissioned by the Nutrition
Information Center at New York Hospital-Cornell Medical
Center in New York City, found that only 20 percent of
respondents meet the important "eight a day" recommendation.
Barbara Levine, Ph.D., R.D., director of the Center, says, "The
net result is that most Americans are probably only getting
about a third of the valuable hydration benefits they need.
In fact, babies, toddlers and pregnant women are at a special
risk for dehydration. Parents should monitor the fluid intake of
infants and toddlers since they're unable to express thirst.
Even older children will often not stop to take a drink and need
to be reminded to take "water breaks" on a regular basis.
Pregnant women need to accommodate the fluid needs of their
developing babies; nursing mothers need to replace lost fluids,
too.
The vast majority of Americans are not drinking enough water
to begin with and, to make matters worse, many of them don't
realize that beverages containing alcohol and caffeine rob the
body of water."
Levine adds, "The consumption of water and other hydrating
beverages is crucial for proper retention and use of the body's
water in complex and intricate biochemical processes." In other
words, hydrate, hydrate, hydrate!
Water Webs
AMERICAN WATER RESOURCES ASSOCIATION,

8. www.awra.org/index.html
AMERICAN WATER WORKS ASSOCIATION, www.awwa.org
THE BOTTLED WATER WEB, www.bottledwaterweb.com
THE INTERNATIONAL BOTTLED WATER ASSOCIATION
(IBWA), www.bottledwater.org
SPIRIT OF THE I-AND FOUNDA[ION,
http://greatspirit.earth.com/bio-com.html
WATER TECHNOLOGY MAGAZINE, www.waternet.com
Sidebar
Drink Tank-About Water Sources
Sidebar
Did you buy your last bottle of water because of the pristine
meadows or frosty glacier depicted on the label? Those pretty
pictures don't always hold water. Chances are, your favorite
beverage came from tap water bottled at a giant plant, not a
bubbling stream in the Swiss Alps.
The truth is: Municipal water is used as a source for nearly a
quarter of the bottled water sold in the United States. Granted,
it has been purified with reverse osmosis or other filtration
treatments, but it doesn't come right from the source. The label
"purified" or "drinking water" usually means you're looking at a
bottle of treated tap water.
There are many growing special categories of water, however.
Dasani, manufactured by CocaCola, is processed municipal
water to which minerals have been added. Trinity water is from
a pure, geothermal spring and is approved as a dietary
supplement. Penta, produced by BioHydration Research Lab, is

9. marketed for the molecular originality of its water, what's
termed "structured micro-clustered."
The FDA has fairly specific definitions for water in its
Standards of Identity: "glacial" water must come from a glacier;
"spring" water from a spring; "artesian" water must flow above
the water table; and "naturally sparkling water" has to come
from a natural carbonated spring. The term 11 natural" can be
used for bottled water from springs or wells where the natural
chemical composition of the water has not been altered as a
result of the treatment process.In 2004, Jonathan Ritchey and
Rick Howard joined forces to address the loss of one of the
world's most precious resources: water. The majority of the
planet is covered with water (326 million cubic miles), yet only
3% is fresh water and even less is accessible to humans.
Element Four is Ritchey and Howard's answer - a company
devoted to easing the global fresh-water shortage. Their
product, the WaterMill, converts air into potable water through
condensation followed by antimicrobial processes. The water
then travels to various "points-of-use systems" such as home
faucets and refrigerators. Ideally, the WaterMill will produce
3.2 gallons of water per day - enough to meet the needs of a
family of six. And at an average operating cost of 35 cents per
day, it far surpasses in cost-effectiveness the price of bottled
water. The point is to alleviate the environmental burden of
bottled water, while placing control of fresh water sources into
the hands of consumers.
The WaterMill is at the intersection of technology,
environmentalism and philanthropy. Though the company's
target demographic will initially consist of suburbanites,
Howard and Ritchey envision adapting the product for
worldwide use. "With a minimum relative humidity, die
WaterMill can be of benefit to any consumer in almost any
environment, and this is where Element Four can have a global
impact on the water crisis," says Howard.

10. Available in February, it is die first in an upcoming line of
products that will include a solar-powered version of the
WaterMill as well as the WaterWall, a large-scale adaptation for
use on an industrial scale.
CONTACT: Element Four, www.elementfour.com.
- Astrid M. Krogstad
Sidebar
THIRST: In the city of Mumbai, India, huge population
expansion has combined with widespread pollution and lack of
potable water. In this chy, the poorest of the poor pay
disproportionately more for their water.
Word count: 306
Copyright Earth Action Network, Inc. Jan/Feb 2009
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11. [...] after big client meetings, she Jl collected all the empty mm
plastic water bottles, took them home and added them to her
own curbside recycling bin. High school activists are raising
questions about why their school board members are locking
them into a contract with Coke or Pepsi (makers of Aquafina
and Dasani bottled water) when they have access to drinking
fountains for free. Now that more people are trying get out of
the bottled water habit, groups like Natural Resources Defense
Council (NRDC) and EWG wonder if this new awareness will
translate into more support for public water supplies, and for
water conservation in general.
Full Text
Jennifer Phillips always felt guilty that her large Nashville law
firm didn't recycle. So after big client meetings, she Jl collected
all the empty mm plastic water bottles, took them home and
added them to her own curbside recycling bin. Now, she is
proud to report that her firm, Bass, Berry & Sims, serves an icy
pitcher of tap water during meetings. "We even have glasses
with the company logo on them," she says. Phillips estimates
switching to tap keeps 3,000 plastic water bottles per week out
of the landfill.
It's a trend that is taking hold in the s U.S., Europe and Canada:
more people are switching from bottled water to tap. Call it
reverse snob appeal. Bottled water once carried a certain
European mystique. But these days, it's the tap water
enthusiasts, concerned about the environment, who get to act
self-righteous. Just like it has become cool to bring your own
cloth bags to the grocery store and your own mug to the coffee
shop, the reusable water bottle is the hip, new eco accessory.
It's because people like Phillips and David WiIk, a Connecticut
book publisher and tap water activist, have started to connect
the dots. For WiIk, it happened on the soccer field. After his
sons finished their games, he noticed the grass was littered with

12. bottled water and Gatorade empties. Pretty soon, WiIk started
showing up with a huge container of tap water. Now all the kids
bring their own bottles and fill up when thirsty.
"We have such a consumption mentality, which leads to our
throw-away society," says WiIk, who started the website
Turntotap.com to build more support for public water supplies
and to cut down on the amount of plastic going into landfills. "I
think the cost of our behavior should be built into the.
products," WiIk says.
A Gathering Revolt
In Canada, the bottled water issue has become, as WiIk says, an
"uprising." College students are staging protests-declaring
"bottled water-free zones" on campus. High school activists are
raising questions about why their school board members are
locking them into a contract with Coke or Pepsi (makers of
Aquafina and Dasani bottled water) when they have access to
drinking fountains for free. Some students have jokingly started
to sell bottled air for $1.
In an even bolder move, the United Church of Canada asked its
three million members to consider banning bottled water during
meetings and events. "We just had a lot of concerns about
governance and accountability," says Julie Graham, who leads
the anti-bottled water campaign for a Toronto ecumenical
activist group called Kairos. "Why is it people in Canada are
willing to pay twice as much for bottled water as for gasoline?
We started challenging that and raising questions about billions
of empty bottles going into landfills."
Others, like Richard Girard, a corporate researcher for the
Ottowa-based Polaris Institute, don't like the hypocrisy I they
perceive in the bottled water marketing. "This movement is
gaining momentum because the general public is starting to

13. figure out bottled water is a scam," says Girard. More than half
of all bottled water is simply filtered tap anyway, he argues.
And some of it is actually worse in quality because bottled
water companies aren't subject to the same strict oversight as
public water supplies.
"We want the bottled water corporations to be held accountable
for their actions," Girard says. "These companies are essentially
commodifying water. We hope we can force them to change and
be more environmentally responsible."
The trend away from bottled water also ties in with the Slow
Food movement-as the restaurant industry tries to support local
agriculture and cut down on extravagant energy used to ship
imported foods from around the world. At Berkeley's Chez
Panisse, general manager Mike Kossa-Rienzi had his "a-ha"
moment when he sat down and calculated how far the 25,000
bottles of sparkling Italian spring water he ordered had to travel
through the air. "It really does not make sense to ship from all
around the world when you have such good water in your
backyard," he says. "You have to think about the carbon imprint
you're making there."
Another big push for the bottled water backlash came during
World Water Day 2007, when San Francisco Mayor Gavin
Newsom declared a ban on bottled water contracts for all city
departments. Instead of bottled water vending machines, he
installed large dispensers in city buildings that poured out pure
tap water from the Sierra mountains. Other cities, from Chicago
to Salt Lake, followed suit.
Just think about a bottled water brand like Fiji, says WiIk. On
the company's website, it says, "When it comes to drinking
water, remote is very, very good." If you think about it, WiIk
says, it's pretty arrogant to ask that Fiji water be flown 8,000
miles across the world just so North American yuppies can

14. enjoy a slightly better taste.
Responding to rising criticism, the company launched the "Fiji
Green" campaign. It partnered with Conservation International
to go carbon negative, reduced packaging, committed to 100
percent recycled materials and has pledged money to protect the
Sovi Basin rainforest in Fiji. A cynic would say the company is
doing this because it can afford to-marketing Fiji water is an
enormously profitable enterprise.
Bottled Waste
It takes 15 million barrels of oil per year to make all of the
plastic water bottles in America, according to the Container
Recycling Institute. Sending those bottles by air and truck uses
even more fossil fuel.
Once people drain the bottles, they rarely recycle them because
they're often purchased at big concert venues or airports with no
recycling bins. CRI says eight out of 10 water bottles end up in
the landfill. The bottles that drift from landfills and litter
streams are washing out to sea to form a huge raft of plastic
debris in the center of the Pacfic that is twice the size of Texas.
It takes 1,000 years for plastic bottles to break down, CRI
estimates. But when they do, they disintegrate into tiny bits.
The green and blue bottles, especially, look like tasty food to
fish and shorebirds. Scientists are finding these dead animals on
the beach, with bellies full of plastic pellets.
If more states added deposits on bottled water bottles, it might
spur recycling. Congressman Ed Markey (D-MA) has even
proposed a national beverage bottle bill. But PET water bottles
(short for polyethylene terephthalate) can only be recycled a
few times. What about going back to refillable glass bordes?
For one thing, they are heavy to ship. And Zero Waste expert

15. Neil Seldman of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance doesn't
imagine anyone could persuade the beverage industry to go that
route.
"They have always lobbied against it," Seldman says. "The
industry does not want to deal with it after people buy their
productthey want to wash their hands of the containers." That's
why it makes the most sense to avoid creating the waste in the
first place by drinking tap from your own container, Seldman
says.
Meanwhile, as drought spreads to North Carolina and Atlanta,
residents are casting a suspicious eye on beverage companies
like Coca Cola, which tap into local aquifers to rill their bottles.
Nestle has been seeking environmental approval for what would
be the largest water bottling plant in the U.S.- one million
square feet in McCloud, California-against community protests.
The company has had to significantly increase the amount it's
paying for the water (from $26 an acre-foot to $183) and limit
its draw to 520 million gallons annually. It's still battling
opposition from residents concerned about the mega-plant's
effects on quality of life and outdoor recreation.
Bottled water industry groups, such as the International Bottled
Water Association, say they are being unfairly targeted. They
argue bottled water is a healthy alternative to sugary soda. And
it can also be a lifesaver when disasters, such as Hurricane
Katrina, strike. "It's not really a bottled water vs. tap water
world," says IBWA spokesman Steven Kay. "Most people drink
both. We think bottled water provides a good healthy choice."
But industry marketing firms have had to do an about-face.
"What's interesting about the backlash," says CRI Executive
Director Betty McLaughlin, "is that the companies say 'drink
our water, not tap water.' Now people are going back to tap and
they've got to reposition themselves." Companies are trying

16. every angle, from claims of superior filtration to adding
antioxidants (Snapple) and fruity flavors (Dasani and others).
Don't Refill that Bottle!
The IBWA argues that bottled water companies are responding
to environmental concerns by making lighter bottles that require
less plastic in the manufacturing process. Kay says the industry
does invest significant money to improve access to recycling at
large public venues, such as airports and concert halls.
Companies like Nalgene, Sigg and Brita are aggressively
marketing their refillable bottles and home filters as a more
responsible option.
When it comes to reusable bottles, however, consumers still
need to do their homework. Research shows that clear bottles
made of polycarbonate plastic (such as the original 32-ounce
Nalgene) can leach bisphenol-A (BPA). This is an endocrine-
disrupting chemical that acts like estrogen in the body. BPA
essentially tricks your body into thinking it's estrogen, says
Washington State University Researcher Patricia Hunt. She
discovered the dangers of BPA when some of her polycarbonate
mouse cages started to leach BPA, causing infertility in female
mice.
Since BPA has been linked to low sperm counts and an
increased risk of breast and prostate cancer, scientists like
vomSaal and Hunt suggest avoiding reusable bottles made from
plastic. They also raise serious concerns about the potential for
other plastic chemicals to leach out of typical PET water
bottles-especially if they sit in the hot sun.
Hunt uses a stainless bottle brand called Klean Kantene, and
Wilk's website sells stainless guaranteed-not-to-leach SIGG
bottles made in Switzerland. The trend away from bottled water
may also boost sales of home filters. Water-quality experts say

17. most tap water is fine to drink straight from the faucet-
especially in cities like San Francisco, Seattle, New York City
and Denver, where water comes from pristine mountain
reservoirs. But in places that draw drinking water from lakes
and rivers with sewer outfalls, it might make sense to install a
filter. Sometimes rusty pipes or naturally occurring iron can
also affect the taste.
It makes sense for anyone turning back to tap to become
educated about the local public water supply. And since the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requires frequent water
quality reports, the data is easy to find. The Environmental
Working Group (EWG) makes it easy with its Tap Water
Database. You can plug in your zip code and find out whether
your local water system is up to par.
Now that more people are trying get out of the bottled water
habit, groups like Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)
and EWG wonder if this new awareness will translate into more
support for public water supplies, and for water conservation in
general.
Once you kick the bottle, they say, the next step is to get
educated and get involved-find out what your water system
needs and start pushing your elected officials to bring more
funds to bear on the problem. According to NRDC, the EPA has
asked for billions of dollars for a public water supply needs
assessment. But the Bush Administration has allocated only a
small portion of that request, says NRDC attorney Mae Wu.
"People are very concerned about what's in their water because
we drink so much of it," says Jane Houlihan, EWG's vice
president for research. "We're advocating for more protection
for the waters that are the source of what comes out of kitchen
faucets."