In 1998, the National Resources Defense Council completed a four-year test of 103 bottled waters and found that one-third of them contained bacteria, and other chemicals exceeding industry standards. It showed deficiencies in industry regulation. That is likely because 43 of the 50 US states have the equivalent of fewer than one single staff person dedicated to regulating bottled water. Some states have no regulation at all for bottled water. In an early pilot survey on bottled water, the Environmental Protection Agency found that the actual chemical composition of the water did not always match the label information, and trace amounts of chlorine, nitrates, copper, manganese, lead, iron, zinc, mercury, and/or arsenic were found. Chemical and bacteriological analysis were not performed regularly, and when they were, there were quality control problems such as incomplete chemical analysis for the source of water or the processed (bottled) water. The newest problem is bottled water tampering. In September of 2000, New York City was plagued with a series of incidents involving bottled water scares when two dozen people complained of mouth burns after drinking from bottles of Perrier, Aquafina, and Poland Springs. Health officials said the waters were contaminated with ammonia, sodium hydroxide, and chlorine. Some bottlers treat their water with ozone, de-ionization, carbon, and micron filtration, and ultraviolet light to purify it. Perrier, for example, uses ozonation to treat their bottled water in several of their American plants. Perrier's bottled water brands include Arrowhead Mountain Spring Water, Perrier, and Zephyrhills. Mineral waters may also be high in minerals like sodium, arsenic, or cobalt. When Consumer Reports Magazine tested bottled waters in the summer of 2000, it found several brands above the EPA's proposed standard for arsenic. Previous investigations have found sodium counts as high as a whopping 397 milligrams. (People on low-sodium diets should avoid water with high sodium content.) FDA regulations require bottled water be processed, packaged, transported, and stored under safe and sanitary conditions. Bottlers must monitor their source waters and their finished products for contaminants.

The world's deepest known source for bottled spring water is Trinity Springs in Paradise, Idaho, adjacent to the Sawtooth National Forest. The spring is 2.2 miles deep; that is equivalent to standing eight Empire State buildings on top of each other. Trinity's geothermal water forces its way up through faults in this mass and reach the surface at a seething 138 degrees F. A batholith of solid granite carbon dated at 16,000 years protects the water from contamination by other ground waters. Still though, at a dollar a bottle, your best option would be to do what I have been for years, which is to distill your own. That way you only pay about 25 cents a gallon and you get the purest of all waters.

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