Oversight of Bottled Water Lacking, GAO Finds

While Americans now drink 23.9 gallons of bottled water per-person every year, federal requirements for the purity and safety of city tap water far exceed those for bottled water, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

In its report Bottled Water, the GAO found that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has no authority to require bottled water producers to use certified laboratories for water quality tests or to report test results, even if violations of the standards are found. In addition, the GAO found that state requirements for the safety of bottled water often exceed those of the FDA, but are still less stringent than state requirements for the safety of common tap water.

“For example, water quality testing conducted by some of these (public interest) groups, and others, has shown that bottled water does not necessarily have lower levels of contamination than tap water,” stated the GAO in its report. “Furthermore, bottled water’s potential environmental impact has also come under scrutiny. Several organizations have raised concerns about a low recycling rate for plastic water bottles, the amount of energy used to manufacture and transport the product, and the impact of groundwater extraction on local resources.”

Environmental Impacts of Bottled Water: It has long been known the energy demands of producing bottled water far exceeds those of producing public tap water. In addition, the discarded containers are quickly filling up the nation’s landfills. Indeed, the GAO reported that three-quarters of the water bottles produced in the U.S. in 2006 were discarded and not recycled.

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