The Bottled Water Debate

I have a Mother. A wonderful, knowledgeable, helpful Mother. She is the reason for getting my brain thinking "Where does that water come from in that bottle?".  She is the reason for my pondering many things, but let's just ponder this one for now. About 6 years ago, when my husband's Navy job had taken us to Canada on an exchange tour for 3 years, I was on a huge mission to make myself healthy, lose weight, and spend more time on myself, ultimately improving myself as a whole. When I had decided that I was sick of being overweight, I managed to lose about 70 lbs. I spent countless hours at the gym and drank water like there was no tomorrow. Here's my "results not typical" success story .  We have lived in the States for the past few years and I had surgery to remove my gall bladder 3 years ago. Someone told me that having my gall bladder removed would promote weight gain. I guess it makes sense knowing the main purpose of the gall bladder is to aid in the digestion of fats from food. Because of the fact that the United States feels the need to triple food portions, plus my overall love of food, not to mention a wee bit of depression from moving around all of the time, I have gained a few pounds back. For those reading, trying to lose weight: Don't get discouraged, it can happen, and the pounds can stay off.  I was skinny for about 5 years after losing all that weight originally. I have to say that life comes into play, and I am guilty of losing all control the past 2 years. Now, I will have to work double time to get back to 130 lbs. Anyway, (I am so good at losing sight of the current topic!) this is about water, no? WATER....the most important element in our bodies. About 60% of our body weight comes from water. As we already know, water is more important than food when it comes to survival. But, water can also be bad for us. How so? Water can carry contaminants, carcinogens, diseases, and more. The bottle the water is in can contain leaching chemicals (like Bisphenol A).  When truly giving this topic consideration, we need to go back to the initial source of any water, bottled, tap, or otherwise.


This definition table comes from the FDA:

Table 1. Various types of bottled water.

TYPE	DEFINITION
Artesian Water	Water from a well tapping a confined aquifer in which the water level stands at some height above the top of the aquifer.
Mineral Water	Water containing not less than 250 ppm total dissolved solids that originates from a geologically and physically protected underground water source. Mineral water is characterized by constant levels and relative proportions of minerals and trace elements at the source. No minerals may be added to mineral water.
Purified Water	Water that is produced by distillation, deionization, reverse osmosis or other suitable processes and that meets the definition of "purified water" in the U.S. Pharmacopeia, 23d Revision, Jan. 1, 1995. As appropriate, also may be called "demineralized water," "deionized water," "distilled water," and "reverse osmosis water."
Sparkling Bottled Water	Water that, after treatment and possible replacement of carbon dioxide, contains the same amount of carbon dioxide that it had at emergence from the source.
Spring Water	Water derived from an underground formation from which water flows naturally to the surface of the earth at an identified location. Spring water may be collected at the spring or through a bore hole tapping the underground formation feeding the spring, but there are additional requirements for use of a bore hole.

Growing up we had artesian well water, and it tasted great! It was cold from the tap, especially in the winter. "Town" or "City" water would be considered purified. I have lived with this kind of water all over the United States. In Southern Texas, the city water was so full of chlorine that when I took a shower it smelled like an indoor swimming pool area and my eyes would burn. At one house I lived in there was an ample amount of sulfur in the water so the water smelled of rotten eggs. That was not nice. I also worked at a restaurant where the water was so bad, a customer walked into the back kitchen, holding her glass of foul smelling water while yelling, "How dare you serve this water?".  Water has so many variables. There are so many things that can contaminate it and spoil it's taste or consequently, enhance it's flavor with benefits (minerals).

I can barely remember when bottled water hit the market. It was definitely a luxury item at first. Most bottled waters that I would see on the store shelves were from other countries, like Iceland or France. Evian is the first brand I recall ever seeing and it cost about $2 per bottle, if not more.  I thought to myself, at the time, who the heck would PAY for a bottle of water? Now look at "us". What office or waiting area doesn't have a huge water cooler? What soda machine doesn't have a bottled water selection? Most cafes and eateries only offer bottled water (and you have to shamelessly beg for "free" water out of the tap if you don't want to pay for the bottled water).

Investigations have been performed to dissect bottled water brands. Here are the findings that were conducted for the Environmental Working Group on some name brand bottled waters and the chemicals that were carried in these waters: http://www.ewg.org/reports/BottledWater/Bottled-Water-Quality-Investigation


Bottom line of the reports:

"Two of 10 brands tested, Walmart's and Giant's store brands, bore the chemical signature of standard municipal water treatment — a cocktail of chlorine disinfection byproducts, and for Giant water, even fluoride. In other words, this bottled water was chemically indistinguishable from tap water. "

 So, some bottled water is just expensive tap water- in a bottle.

It would be so nice to know EXACTLY where my water comes from (just as I wish I knew exactly all of my food comes from).
In my own conclusion, I feel that spring water, out of a real spring, that is no where near industrial sites, or anything that can contaminate it's underground source, is the way nature intended. Of course, I want it tested before I drink it ;o)
Because of all that I have read on this subject, I did not believe there was a water out there that is true SPRING WATER, tested for purity then put direct into a bottle to be sold.  There is one such brand of bottled water available by Beyond Organic. It comes from a true spring, at the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Georgia surrounded by 130 acres of organic land. Here is it's story: http://organicforlife.mybeyondorganic.com/Web/us/en/products-beverages-overview.dhtml
To purchase this true "Reign" spring water, it costs less than $.90 per bottle.  It's packaged in a BPA free, recyclable bottle. My children seem to go for anything that is packaged (rather than re-filling a water thermos). I prefer they grab one of these waters from the refrigerator than run out of the house without any hydration. It's also nice for us when we are in a hurry to leave and need to grab some water for the road. For the benefits of true Spring water, I think it's a deal.