Don’t Drink That Bottled Water!!

I read in today’s Times of India that a top Sydney restaurant has twenty types of bottled water on its bar
menu! Kable’s restaurant at Sydney’s Four Seasons Hotel offers an
exclusive water menu with water from around the world, each with
descriptions that wouldn’t be out of place on a fine wine menu. Some
Kable’s waters are listed as having “an elegant velvet character when served at room temperature” while others are described as having a “large mouth feel and is best served as a pre-dinner drink with hors d’oeuvres“.
Water doesn’t come cheap here — small bottles range in price from A$16
to A$20 ($15 to $18) compared to a glass of local wine which costs
between A$11 to A$13!
But guys, bottled water is not necessarily the best water to drink. The UK version of Coca-Cola’s Dasani brand bottled water was found
to have originated from the London public supply. Following a four-year
study the National Resources Defense Council in which researchers
tested more than 1,000 samples of 103 brands of bottled water, found
that an estimated 25 percent or more of bottled water to be just tap
water in a bottle. Some of these were further treated some were not.

An independent beverage research company Canadean found at
least two out of every five bottles of water sold around the world are,
like Dasani, “purified” waters, rather than “source” waters which
originate from a spring.

Check the bottle labels– To determine bottled water is
really just tap water, check if the bottle label or the cap says “from
a municipal source” or “from a community water system”.
Know the health risks — During the survey NRDC found
most bottled water relatively free of contaminants. The survey opined
that the the “spotty” quality of products of some brands might “pose a
health risk, primarily for people with weakened immune systems (such as
the frail elderly, some infants, transplant and cancer patients, or
people with AIDS).”
About 22 percent of the brands they tested contained, in at least one
sample, chemical contaminants at levels above strict state health
limits. If consumed over a long period of time, some of these
contaminants could cause cancer or other health problems.
Problems of plastics– Recent research conducted by
NRDC revealed the presence of chemicals called phthalates, which are
known to disrupt testosterone and other hormones, and can leach into
bottled water over time. One study found that water that had been
stored for 10 weeks in plastic and in glass bottles contained
phthalates, suggesting that the chemicals could be coming from the
plastic cap or liner. Incidentally, there are regulatory standards
limiting phthalates in tap water and there are no legal limits for
phthalates in bottled water. The US bottled water industry waged a
successful campaign opposing the FDA proposal to set a legal limit for
these chemicals.