1. - Americans spend billions of dollars every year on bottled water
- Americans spend billions of dollars every year on bottled water People choose bottled water for a variety of reasons including aesthetics (for example, taste), health concerns, or as a substitute to other beverages (CDC, 2009) CDC.gov

2. cont - In 2002, almost six billion gallons of bottled water were sold in the U.S., Americans paid $7.7 billion for bottled water in 2002, - The United States is the world’s largest consumer of bottled water, purchasing 37 billion bottles in 2005(CDC, 2010) Are the third of bottled water consumers who claim they are motivated by promises of purity (according to a 2000 survey) getting what they pay for? CDC.gov Howard,(2003)
In 2002, almost six billion gallons of bottled water were sold in the U.S., representing an increase of nearly 11 percent over According to the consulting and research firm Beverage Marketing Corporation Americans paid $7.7 billion for bottled water in 2002.
According to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), "More than half of all Americans drink bottled water; about a third of the public consumes it regularly. While most people would argue that bottled water is healthier than convenient alternatives like sugared sodas or artificially flavored drinks, are the third of bottled water consumers who claim they are motivated by promises of purity (according to a 2000 survey) getting what they pay for?

3. Standards ; The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates the quality of public water supplies, the agency has no authority over bottled water.
According to Howard,(2003); while the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates the quality of public water supplies, the agency has no authority over bottled water.
In most cases tap water adheres to stricter purity standards than bottled water, whose source can be far from a mountain spring
Bottled water that crosses state lines is considered a food product and is overseen by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which does mandate that it be bottled in sanitary conditions using food-grade equipment (Howard, 2003). Although the FDA has adopted some of the EPA's regulatory standards, it has decided not to adopt others and has not even ruled on some points after several years of in action. NRDC argues that the FDA provides no specific requirements--such as proximity to industrial facilities, underground storage tanks or dumps--for bottled water sources. For example; a brand of "spring water" which had a graphic of mountains and a lake on the label, was actually taken from a well in Massachusetts in the parking lot of an industrial facility.

4. Stand. cont source contamination by industrial chemicals (Olson, 2003) Is the amount of fluoride in bottled water listed on the label? Howard, (2003)
According to Olson (2003) An example is a well, which is no longer used for bottled water, was near hazardous waste and had experienced contamination by industrial chemicals. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not require bottlers to list the fluoride content in a bottle of water, but does require fluoride additives to be listed.

5. Different varieties Lavelle,(2002) Good housekeeping.(98)
A widening spectrum of bottled water types are crowding the market, including spring, mineral, purified, distilled, carbonated, oxygenated, caffeinated and vitamin-enriched, as well as flavors, such as lemon or strawberry, and specific brands aimed at children.
Indeed 40 percent of all these bottled waters come from the same place tap water comes from -municipal water facilities. Usually, this water is treated--filtered, purified, or distilled, with minerals added or subtracted to alter the taste. Under current law, once water is purified, the manufacturer doesn't have to tell you where it comes from.

6. Environmental and health impacts: Most Americans have safe tap water and drink tap water fresh from the kitchen faucet. Others choose to buy more expensive bottled water and the impacts include but not limited to the following; Food and water watch (2010)

7. --- cost , use of energy and resources --- oil consumption and emissions in the production process.
Bottling and transporting water can carry environmental costs and use energy and resources. Annual production of the plastic (PET or polyethylene) bottles to meet U.S. consumer demand for bottled water takes the equivalent of about 17.6 million barrels of oil, not including the cost of transporting the bottled water to consumers. That more or less equals the amount of oil required to fuel more than one million vehicles on U.S. roads each year.

8. Littering and garbage
Bottles contribute to littering if not properly disposed of. 86 percent of the empty plastic water bottles in the United States land in the garbage instead of being recycled.
Americans throw away 22 billion water bottles each year, over 60 million each day. It can take as long as 1,000 years for the average plastic bottle to biodegrade (

9. Fluoride and Bottled Water; Bottle water Safety in immunocompromised people CDC.GOV Olson, 2003
some bottled waters contain fluoride, and some do not. Fluoride can occur naturally in source waters used for bottling or be added. Besides having a cost that is between one-to-five thousand times more expensive than tap water, bottled water may not have a sufficient amount of fluoride, which is important for good oral health.
In NRDC report; bottled water quality is probably not inferior to average tap water, but says that gaps in the weak regulatory framework may allow careless or unscrupulous bottlers to market substandard products. And that may be of particular concern to those with compromised immune systems (Olson, 2003).

10. Contaminants; - Chemical release as a result of production e
Contaminants; Chemical release as a result of production e.g nickel, ethylene oxide, benzene and arsenic Olson, 2003.
Worldwide bottling of water uses about 2.7 million tons of plastic each year. Each one of those bottles required nearly five times its volume in water to manufacture the plastic and may have caused the release of nickel, ethylene oxide, and benzene.
In a tour-year scientific study, the NRDC tested more than 1,000 bottles of 103 brands of bottled water. A third of the tested brands were found to contain contaminants such as arsenic and carcinogenic compounds in at least some samples at levels exceeding state or industry standards (Olson, 2003).

11. Contaminants Microorganisms e.g Bacteria Olson, 2003.
Researchers at Case Western Reserve University and Ohio State University compared 57 samples of bottled water to Cleveland's tap water. 15 of the bottles water sample had significantly higher bacteria levels. The scientists concluded that although all of the water they tested was safe to drink, "use of bottled water on the assumption of purity can be misguided."
Even with widespread disinfection, consumer groups have raised numerous warnings about a host of different microorganisms and chemicals that have been found in bottled water.

12. Storage and transport of bottled water Food and water watch (2010)
Another area of potential concern is the fact that no agency calls for testing of bottled water after it leaves its initial packaging plant, leaving some to wonder what happens during months of months of storage and transport.
Some research reveals a potentially deadly toxin is being absorbed into bottled mineral water from their plastic containers and the longer the water is stored, the levels of poison increases.

13. Notes The public drinking water systems regulated by EPA, and delegated states and tribes, provide drinking water to 90 percent of Americans Through the Public Water System Supervision (PWSS) program, EPA implements and enforces drinking water standards to protect public health Numerous studies have shown that bottled water is generally no safer or healthier than tap water, despite costing up to 10,000 times more. Epa.gov

14. “Despite the Hype, Bottled Water is neither CLEANER nor GREENER than Tap Water” Is the extra expenses worth it?

15. For additional information The Natural Resources Defense Council
For additional information The Natural Resources Defense Council. Bottled Water Pure Drink or Pure Hype? Earth policy institute (2010) Bottled Water: Pouring Resources Down the Drain

16. References: Centers for disease Control and Prevention(2010)
References: Centers for disease Control and Prevention(2010). Community Water Fluoridation. Accessed on January 20, 2010 from Food and water watch; Bottled water, bad for People and the environment Howard, B. (2003). Message in a bottle. The Environmental Magazine, 14(5); Retrieved on December 28, 2009 from Walden library academic search premier database. Lavelle, M (2002). If there's trouble at the tap. U.S. News & World Report, 133(6). Retrieved on December 28, 2009 from Walden library academic search premier database. The truth about bottled water. Good Housekeeping, 227(5). Retrieved on December 28, 2009 from Walden library academic search premier database.  

17. Thanks