Bottled Water Quality Investigation:10 Major Brands,38 Pollutants

Folks, I have had all the worries you are talking about, and after much reasearch, while filters may be better than tap, Distilled water is the purest H2O you can buy/make.

You are also correct that Distilled water is such a powerful solvent, it can (more than mineral water) leach out the chemicals from the plastic jug it is stored in.

Here is the best solution I have found: A water distiller for around $100 USD. The problem I had to solve, is the collection container is made of plastic, so I cut a hole in the middle of a glass jar lid, and now I drink the purest H20 that money CANT buy in a store.

Here is the link:
Kenmore Water Purifier Distiller

perhaps when the air is too polluted we'll have companies selling bottled air at exorbitant prices...

And...here it is!
www.baro2.com...

I particularly liked this part..

OXYGEN WATER The breathing water ! produced from a natural spring water source Ogo oxygenated water is supplied either STILL or SPARKLING and at 200 mg of pure oxygen per litre Ogo Water contains 35 times more oxygen than normal bottled water.

Does this mean a) that the bottle is almost empty for all the oxygen? and b) that its double bad for being bottled water and oxygen together? lol

I like to buy distilled water by the gallon, but am concerned about the plastic jugs I have to buy it in.

PS - I will definitely buy one of those water distillers. Thank you for pointing that out!

[edit on 8-11-2008 by truthquest]

reply to post by truthquest


Sure, and my "hole in a glass jar lid" is a little extreme. You are fine if you use the product with the plastic collector, and just pour it into large glass jars as soon as it is done distilling. Leaching takes a good long time, so time is on your side.

Distilled water sitting on shelves in plastic jugs is another story, of course.

Plastics pretty much just seem to be bad for us and our environment. If you use a microwave and cook foods in plastic the process of microwaving foods in plastics releases a cancer causing chemical into the foods from the plastic.

Microwaving and/or freezing plastics with food/water in them causes a reaction and releases Dioxin Carcinogens which cause cancer.

Now if you do an internet search you will find all kinds of articles claiming this is not true, but you will also find many articles from respectable sites such as John Hopkins stating that it is dangerous, how/why it is dangerous.

The interesting thing is the FDA claims it is safe, do you trust the FDA? I sure don't.

reply to post by amazed


There is no perfect solution when it comes to plastics, but some plastics are better then others when it comes to leaching. If you absolutely must use a plastic container, HDPE containers are great.

If it is a #2 HDPE (high density polyethylene), or a #4 LDPE (low density polyethylene), or a #5 PP (polypropylene), your bottle is fine. The type of plastic bottle in which water is usually sold is usually a #1, and is only recommended for one time use.

[edit on 8-11-2008 by ATS4dummies]

[edit on 8-11-2008 by ATS4dummies]

I often tease friends and family who drink bottled water by telling them that there's some person somewhere sitting by a tap and filling up the bottles. My point being that the water is definitely not from a glacier or mountain spring, as the branding would have us believe. However I will say that there are likely some brands that are not as bad as others. I took a trip to Alaska a few years ago to see my aunt, and not far from her home is a small bottled water facility. You can literally see glaciers, mountains, and hear a river nearby. So I wouldn't be surprised if the quality of the water from that place is better than the kind used by the biggest bottlers.

It's amazing what people will spend money on if it provides a convenience and the warm fuzzy feeling of being healthy. I'm actually surprised when I see reports on the news, particularly national news, about how bottled water is not all it's made out to be. That's like speaking out against some seriously large corporations, which in the USA is a big no no. But it doesn't really matter. As long as people have the funds to spend on things that make them feel better, more efficient, and helps them to fit in with the masses, then products like bottled water will continue flying off the shelves. No problem here, please move along.

Maybe someone should create a "health meter" that people can use to make sure their bottled water is good for them. Let's help reinforce that positive, feeling good state of mind. But we won't tell the consumers that the meter always reports positively, even if you shove it into a septic tank.

reply to post by jakyll


we should be drinking "X" amount of water everyday. "Lean muscle tissue contains about 75% water. Blood contains 95% water, body fat contains 14% water and bone has 22% water.The human body is about 60% water in adult males and 55% in adult females." now don't get me wrong i'd love to thing the government telling me this is wrong but every known scientist pro and anti government knows this is correct and last i checked we need to drink a fair amount of water a day, no matter what source we get it from.

great thread!!

i've been trying to find out the best bottled water to ingest, in my other thread:
www.abovetopsecret.com...

however, it seems like getting your own filter system is best!

flagged & starred!

[edit on 8-11-2008 by adrenochrome]

This always makes me laugh.
uk.youtube.com...


The whole water issue is laughable. Down here in So Cal the water is brought in from up north and soon we will have water emergencies. At least coke will be there to rescue us. I also hate that all the government psa's telling us to conserve water and electricity because they have failed the public with there policies of ignoring what is obviously a future major problem.

Our tap water is so mineral heavy from the Colorado River. We are near the end of the river where the sediment is thick. But all the so cal crazies are hooked on bottled water its everywhere.

I'm trying to find the lowdown on the so-called "Kangen" water.
Amazing if the hype is true. I'm still researching.

[edit on 8-11-2008 by lw2525]

Haha S&F.

I always told friends that they were wasting money buying these drinks when there were dozens of studies proving that people can't tell the difference between them and tap. And you know there isn't anything wrong with tap.

This find just cements that.

Originally posted by Good Wolf
Haha S&F.

I always told friends that they were wasting money buying these drinks when there were dozens of studies proving that people can't tell the difference between them and tap. And you know there isn't anything wrong with tap.

This find just cements that.

However there's always those people that *can* actually taste the difference.

Eg.: There are posters here that state that their tapwater gives them a dry throat, whilst bottled water doesn't. In that case the difference would be obvious.

I can taste the difference between the water from my tap and bottled water and the water from some other taps as well.

And personally I like tap water best when it's naturally cooled overnight in a cold space lol. (Or if it's frozen and then thawed.)

It might sound weird, but it's true.

edit: Of all the bottled waters I've tasted I dislike Chaud Fontaine the most. And I like Bar Le Duc the most.

There's a difference in bottles as well, the bottles in Hungary have this filthy dusty feel to them compared to the bottles here.

[edit on 8/11/08 by -0mega-]

adrenochrome

Cheers mate.



lw2525

I'm trying to find the lowdown on the so-called "Kangen" water.

Is this the stuff you mean?
kangen-water.ws...
www.kangenwaterusa.com...

reply to post by -0mega-


I know people like that exist. Here, in NZ if your in the country, your water tastes very different to bottled. At my house for instance, our water is just rain water collected in a tower. You can really taste it - sometimes things die in there

But my friends live in the city where I know they can't tell the difference - especially since I tested them and they failed.


And the other thing is that distilling systems are cheap as chips, and failing that, boil the water. Buying bottled water just doesn't make sense to me.

Originally posted by must be a way
you gotta laugh!!! this kinda stuff (I mean bottled water) is marketeering at it best!!!

would you buy bottled air ( whilst in a near perfect atmosphere) just cos they tell you its better????????????????

would you believe them????

Ever heard of an oxygen bar?
People really do pay for the air they breath.
link

reply to post by cbass


I look forward to visiting an oxygen bar someday. Should be awesome.

These systematic attacks on bottled water just make me laugh...



You keep drinking that 'just as good' 'tap water'...

Make sure you say 'Hi!' for me to your oncologist!



(Man, this is certainly dark... even for me. )

In the good old USA most every business has a 'lead time' for developing new prospects. What that means is the time it takes and the means for you to become a prospective customer.

In the medical industry, you typically enter this window basically two ways. The first, you drink tap water. The second, you follow that USDA 'guidelines' for 'good' nutrition. Doing either of those things is GUARANTEED to make you sick... hence fall under a doctors care...

(with my apologies to naturopaths and those fighting the good fight! )

At that point, statistically (totally suppressed), you are quite simply in big trouble... Not to mention have been handed off to the 'lead' intake mechanism for 'big pharma'. At which point you seriously need to book your burial plot.

What's my point?

There are basically only TWO sources of drinking water. 'Bottled' and 'tap' (the third, is having your own well/natural water source ).

Being 'green' is todays being trendy, earth conscious. Unfortunately, as in all things, a LOT of it is simply a con.

And even though I am one seriously 'green' freak... this thing about singling out the bottled water industry, even though there are some QC problems, is just a HUGE DISINFORMATION CAMPAIGN... to get you to go back to corporate America...

And DRINK TAP WATER!

Psst! Why is almost everything packaged in plastic?

WHERE is the campaign against those products?

If anyone is interested, we will go into what exactly is wrong with 'tap' water.

It's pretty scary.

Don't believe me?



Do you know a growing number of water systems are reprocessing 'surface water management' water. The stuff that comes off of your roof, your neighbors yard, your neighbors driveway, the streets you drive on...

And in their INFINITE WISDOM, it is 'processed' and delivered to your facet, by your local smiley faced logo water department.

If you ask them... Of course! their water is hmmm... hmmmm.... good!

A votre sante!

Remember SICK people is REALLY good for business. The number one growth sector (STILL!!! growing)... medical facilities!

No REALLY where are ALL of those NEW clinics and care places coming from?

Remember people DYING is REALLY good for business. etc etc.

Hmmm... hmmmm.... good! A votre sante!

Good 'tap' water!




[edit on 10-11-2008 by golemina]

reply to post by golemina


im not speaking for anyone else, but i have drank tap/fountain water all my life and I am NEVER sick. the last time i missed school or work was in the 8th grade. I know it has to do with other factors, but to say tap water makes you sick is insane. those "springs" that bottlers use have all sorts of animal waste and man made pollutants as well.

If your tap water seriously makes you ill you stand to make ALOT of money off your city with a good enough litigator.

as far as going against the 'plastic' industry, well you can forget going to the super market, and 90% of every other store because we live in a petroleum consuming world.

The ISS is now RECYCLING their Pee, Sweat, and Bath water into, GASP, drinking water.

Would you go thirsty?