Dive Brief: According to a report from Orb Media, a nonprofit digital journalism organization based in Washington, D.C., 93% of 259 bottles of branded water it tested contained microscopic pieces of plastic.
The average across all brands was 325 microplastic particles per liter.
The study found a wide range of microscopic plastic particle levels across brands — and even varying levels within brands — which makes it hard to gauge the severity of these findings.
The report noted that most ingested microparticles, depending on size, could pass through the intestines and not cause problems, but that some could possibly migrate to the lymphatic system.
It added that little research has been done in this area and that some scientists view that factor as cause for concern.
These findings may not be a surprise to the waste industry, however.
Marine waste — and plastics especially — have been a hot topic for years, and the industry is well-aware of how much plastic winds up in waterways on a regular basis.
Plastics in water do break down overtime, creating the microplastic particles that Nestle and Coca-Cola said are common in the environment.
Canada’s environment minister, for example, recently declared she wants to build on a "zero-plastics-waste" charter, and British Prime Minister Theresa May wants her country to cut out all "avoidable" plastic waste in the next 25 years.
And it’s not just governments.

It was in response to a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency lifetime health advisory for certain chemicals used in a variety of commercial products since the 1950’s.
Those chemicals are found in firefighting foam the Navy has used to put out aircraft fires during training and incidents.
Marine Corps Outlying Landing Field (MCOLF) Atlantic is in the community of Atlantic.
Cherry Point Communications Officer Mike Barton explained while records have not yet shown that firefighting foam was ever used at Marine Corps Outlying Landing Field (MCOLF) Atlantic, the Navy is still testing water in Atlantic as a precaution.
Barton said of the 223 drinking water wells that were tested, samples from two drinking water wells indicated the presence of these chemicals exceeding the EPA Health Advisory.
Water testing is now in its second round of testing in Atlantic.
Barton said the Navy is now providing bottled water to the residents in the two homes where the private wells tested for the chemicals in an amount exceeding the EPA Health Advisory.
The Navy, in a release, provided the following information on the chemicals they are testing for: In May 2016, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued lifetime health advisory levels for two perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) – specifically perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) – at 70 parts per trillion, individually and combined when both are present.
It has been used in a variety of products and substances such as non-stick cookware, food packaging such as microwaveable popcorn bags, and water resistant textiles and sprays used to treat carpets and fabrics.
Although there are no known records indicating AFFF was used at MCOLF Atlantic, based on the Navy’s policy protocol, the Navy is voluntarily conducting this drinking water investigation for PFOS/PFOA.

UK consumption of water drinks rose 7% in 2017 to nearly 4,000 million litres, with a retail value of £3.1bn, while sales of plain bottled water in retail packs increased by 8% to over 3,100 million litres, and volume through bottled water coolers grew a more modest 2% to 310 million litres.
Conversely, sales of flavoured, functional and juicy waters, which increased by 2% in 2016, advanced by 5% in 2017, after more strong branded players entered the market.
Plain bottled water, with average annual consumption of 54 litres per person, strengthened its market dominance in 2017 to account for 87% of total sales.
Zenith chairman Richard Hall said: “Environmental concerns have grown, but are being tackled by lighter bottles with more recycled content and by new packaging formats as well as recycling initiatives.” The top five UK plain water brands – Highland Spring, Evian, Buxton, Nestlé Pure Life and Volvic – are collectively responsible for 30% of total water drinks sales, whilst the top 5 water plus brands – Volvic Touch of Fruit, Calypso Clear, Trederwen Essence, Drench Juicy and Perfectly Clear – account for 5%.
Zenith forecasts that, by 2022, the total market for UK water drinks will reach 5.3 billion litres, 32% above 2017 levels.
Plain bottled water is set to lead this advance, with average growth of 6% per year.
Flavoured, functional and juicy waters are forecast to expand more slowly.
The release of the figures follows a US report which found that 93% of 259 bottles of branded water it tested contained microscopic pieces of plastic.
However, Nestle, The Coca-Coca Company and other bottled water manufacturers responded by noting that microplastics are common in the environment and that their filtering and testing protocols are designed to assure the safety of their products.
Following the Orb Media report, the World Health Organization told the BBC that it planned to assess the current level of research and review how much of a threat, if any, microplastics pose to public health.

Major brands of bottled water have been found to contain tiny particles of plastic, according to a new study.
Orb Media, a non-profit journalism organisation based in Washington, D.C., conducted tests on 259 bottles from 11 leading brands, including Evian, San Pellegrino, Dasani, Nestle Pure Life and Aquafina, purchased from 19 location in nine countries.
The tests were conducted at the State University of New York in Fredonia, where researchers used a red dye called Nile Red, which absorbs to the surface of plastics, making them easier to see under infrared light.
The testing revealed 93 per cent of the bottle show microplastic contamination from a combination of polypropylene, nylon, and polyethylene terephthalate (PET).
Of the 259 bottles tested, 17 had no particles.
Brands included in the study made aware that the results showed a far greater amount of microplastics in their bottles when compared to their own tests.
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There’s also dangers to drinking prosecco out of a plastic cup.
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There’s something awful about every step of the bottled water process.
They encourage distrust of tap water, even though that’s essentially what they are selling us.
“Purity” and “Health” Marketing water as a health product is just…dense.
“When we’re done, tap water will be relegated to showers and washing dishes.” — Susan D. Wellington Not only are companies explicitly targeting health and weight-conscious young women, they’re also targeting parents and their children.
They’re not subtle at all: the aim is to make us pay a premium for water, which is a human right.
Actual quote: “When we’re done, tap water will be relegated to showers and washing dishes.” — Susan D. Wellington, former President of Quaker Oats Co.’s U.S. Beverage Division (later acquired by PepsiCo).
Latin-American immigrants, particularly mothers.
The angle is this: despite admitting that tap water is much cheaper and usually safer, corporations like Nestlé market bottled water as part of the immigrant “heritage” of coming from places with less access to clean drinking water.
They are potentially making them sick and targeting people of color and low-income communities — people who are already subjected to systematic oppression in so many other ways.
Clean, safe drinking water is a human right.

The study indicated that the contamination was partly the result of plastic packaging, and partly the fault of the bottling process.
“Bottled water brands are packaged in plastic PET bottles.
This new report adds dimensions which need to be clarified.
If they do not do this, there is psychological damage that can be deep and counter-productive to brand intent,” he added.
The study was carried out on more than 250 water bottles sourced from 11 brands in nine countries, including India.
Brands tested included Aqua (Danone), Aquafina (PepsiCo), Bisleri (Bisleri International), Dasani (Coca-Cola), Epura (PepsiCo), Evian (Danone), Gerolsteiner (Gerolsteiner Brunnen), Minalba (Grupo Edson Queiroz), Nestlé Pure Life (Nestlé), San Pellegrino (Nestlé), and Wahaha (Hangzhou Wahaha Group).
When approached, most brands vouched for the safety process that their water goes through but did not touch upon the bottle themselves being an issue.
We stand by the safety of our products, and welcome continued study of plastics in our environment.
We are interested in being part of any serious scientific research into micro-plastics.
All Bisleri production facilities have their own quality testing labs that ensure that every Bisleri product is made as per guidelines set by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and WHO (World Health Organization) We are currently investigating this issue.

The world’s leading brands of bottled water are contaminated with tiny plastic particles that are likely seeping in during the packaging process, according to a major study across nine countries published Wednesday.
“Widespread contamination” with plastic was found in the study, led by microplastic researcher Sherri Mason of the State University of New York at Fredonia, according to a summary released by Orb Media, a United States-based non-profit media collective.
“In this study, 65 percent of the particles we found were actually fragments and not fibers,” Mason told AFP.
“I think it is coming through the process of bottling the water.
I think that most of the plastic that we are seeing is coming from the bottle itself, it is coming from the cap, it is coming from the industrial process of bottling the water.” Particle concentration ranged from “zero to more than 10,000 likely plastic particles in a single bottle,” said the report.
Experts cautioned that the extent of the risk to human health posed by such contamination remains unclear.
“We know that they are connected to these synthetic chemicals in the environment and we know that plastics are providing kind of a means to get those chemicals into our bodies.” Time to ditch plastic?
Previous research by Orb Media has found plastic particles in tap water, too, but on a smaller scale.
The three-month study used a technique developed by the University of East Anglia’s School of Chemistry to “see” microplastic particles by staining them using fluorescent Nile Red dye, which makes plastic fluorescent when irradiated with blue light.
“It’s more urgent now than ever before to make plastic water bottles a thing of the past.” AB

Water in a plastic bottle is safer than other waters, right?
But what happens when the plastic itself becomes the contaminant?
The report, led by journalism collective Orb Media, depicts a water bottle market rife with contamination, claiming that 93 percent of the 259 bottles of water studied contained traces of what were “likely” microplastics.
Eleven brands from around the globe were studied, including Aquafina, Dasani, Evian, Nestle and San Pellegrino.
Bottles made by Aqua (Indonesia), Bisleri (India), Epura (Mexico), Gerolsteiner (Germany), Minalba (Brazil) and Wahaha (China) were also examined.
There is little concrete evidence as to the health effects of microplastics on the human body, but concerns are growing that toxicity may result from the accumulation of particles in the body.
"There are connections to increases in certain kinds of cancer to lower sperm count to increases in conditions like ADHD and autism," Sherri Mason, lead researcher for the study, told Agence France-Presse.
The bottled water brands were quick to respond, citing lack of regulation and testing methods for microplastics in consumer products.
“The non-peer reviewed study released by Orb Media is not based on sound science, and there is no scientific consensus on testing methodology or the potential health impacts of microplastic particles,” wrote the International Bottled Water Association in a statement.
A similar Orb Media study showed that, while tap water contains the same microplastics, concentrations are lower.

The link between fracking and the bottled water industry is one more reason to take back the tap The new Food & Water Watch report Take Back the Tap: The Big Business Hustle of Bottled Water details the deceit and trickery of the bottled water industry.
Here’s one more angle to consider: The bottled water business is closely tied to fracking.
The report reveals that the majority of bottled water is municipal tap water, a common resource captured in plastic bottles and re-sold at an astonishing markup — as much as 2,000 times the price of tap, and even four times the price of gasoline.
Besides being a rip-off, there is plenty more to loathe about the corporate water scam: The environmental impacts from pumping groundwater (especially in drought-prone areas), the plastic junk fouling up our waterways and oceans, and the air pollution created as petrochemical plants manufacture the materials necessary for making those plastic bottles filled with overpriced tap water.
There is a growing international awareness that plastic is a serious problem.
In 2016, about 4 billion pounds of plastic were used in the bottled water business, and most of those bottles are not recycled — meaning they often end up in landfills or as litter.
There’s also the matter of whether we should be putting our drinking water in those bottles in the first place: The most common packaging (polyethylene terephthalate, or PET) includes compounds like benzene, and the bottles can leach toxins like formaldehyde and acetaldehyde.
But perhaps the biggest problem is where we get all this plastic in the first place.
Many of the raw materials used to create those plastic bottles come from fracking.
In addition to air and water pollution, the fracking boom has delivered an abundant supply of the hydrocarbon ethane, which is used in petrochemical manufacturing to create ethylene, which is turned into plastic.

(CBS NEWS) — More than 90 percent of some of the most popular bottled water brands contain tiny particles of plastic.
Tests on more than 250 bottles from 11 brands showed contamination with plastic including polypropylene, nylon and polyethylene terephthalate.
Plastic particles in the 0.10 millimeter size range were found in bottled water at an average of 10.4 per liter, while smaller particles likely to be plastic averaged 314.6 per liter.
"Orb’s findings suggest that a person who drinks a liter of bottled water a day might be consuming tens of thousands of microplastic particles each year," it said.
German bottler Gerolsteiner said its tests showed "significantly" lower qualities of microparticles per liter, and Nestle’s tests of six bottles from three locations showed between zero and five plastic particles per liter, according to Orb’s account.
The other manufacturers declined to participate.
The health ramifications are far from clear, but the findings are part of the impetus behind a World Health Organization plan to review the potential risks of drinking plastic in water, according to the BBC.
Microbeads — tiny plastic beads found in some beauty products that were bannedin the U.S. in 2015 — are another source of plastics in water.
Microbeads were intentionally put in products to make them "scrubby," while microfibers and microplastics are unintended byproducts, noted Patty Lovera, assistant director at advocacy groups Food & Water Watch and Food & Water Action.
The concern about plastic contained in the plastic bottles is somewhat ironic considering the bottles themselves are inefficient and environmentally unsound, given that the majority are not recycled, Lovera added.