One fifth of the brands tested positive for the presence of synthetic chemicals, such as industrial chemicals and chemicals used in the manufacturing process.
Bottled water companies, are not under the same accountability standards as municipal water systems, and may provide a significantly lower quality of water than the water from the tap.
Rather than deriving its water from natural springs, Coca-Cola has actually been filling its Dasani bottles with filtered tap water.
Bottled water, depending upon the brand, may actually be less clean and safe than tap water.
Many people do not like the taste of their tap water.
For example for about $30 you can put a filter on your faucet that will take away the chlorine taste, and many potential contaminates as well.
An estimated 4 billion PET bottles end up in the U.S. waste stream each year, costing cities some $70 million.
Most recycling is down-cycling: making lower quality products than the originals, and requiring the addition of virgin plastics and toxic chemicals in the process.
Bottled water produces up to 1.5 million tons of plastic waste per year.
According to Food and Water Watch, that plastic requires up to 47 million gallons of oil per year to produce.

Why do people drink bottled water? Is it more convenient? Does it taste better then tap water? Is it safer then tap water? Where does it come from? Read on for answers. Bottled water may be hurting your health. A new study suggests plastic bottles release small amounts of chemicals over long periods of time. The longer water is stored in plastic bottles, the higher the concentration of potentially harmful chemicals. 132 brands in 28 countries were tested. Most water bottles are made from polyethylene terephthalate, or PET. One fifth of the brands tested positive for the presence of synthetic chemicals, such as industrial chemicals and chemicals used in the manufacturing process. Phthalate an endocrine inhibitor, a harmful chemical that leaches into bottled water from its plastic container is particularly nasty. Bottled water companies, are not under the same accountability standards as municipal water systems, and may provide a significantly lower quality of water than the water from the tap. Recent allegations against the Coca-Cola Company and its brand name of bottled water, Dasani, have publicly highlighted one of the biggest misconceptions about the quality of bottled water. Coca-Cola, advertises its bottled water as “pure, still water,” is now being investigated for misleading consumers about the true nature of the contents of its bottles. Rather than deriving its water from natural springs, Coca-Cola has actually been filling its Dasani bottles with…

Water crisis: Minister was warned bottled water would cause undue alarm The West Australian Public health officials warned Education Minister Sue Ellery that handing out bottled water at schools may spread undue alarm but she insisted it was the right decision yesterday “because we’re talking about children”.
The first day of school was thrown into disarray for hundreds of students, parents and teachers when they were told water at their new schools may be contaminated, in the latest lead fiasco to grip the State’s public infrastructure.
After concerns about lead in stagnant water and leaching from construction materials at Perth Children’s Hospital in October, Ms Ellery ordered taps to be flushed during the long summer break at 809 established schools, and for 11 newly built schools to be tested.
She blasted the Department of Education and the Department of Finance’s Building Management and Works arm yesterday for failing to come up with a testing regime to clear all the new schools in time for the first day of first term or advise her last week that a delay in results was possible.
As parents slammed the Government’s communication over the affair and the teachers’ union demanded the testing regime be widened to all recently built schools, Ms Ellery said it was “the right thing to do” to hand out bottled water because that was what parents would want.
The extraordinary intervention came despite Ms Ellery emphasising that a harmful lead intake could only accumulate after continued exposure over a long time and that none of the five schools that had elevated levels had tested positive at drinking fountains — only activity sinks and gardeners’ taps.
Testing had cleared one school, Fremantle College, while the remaining five schools’ results had not come back.
Adding to the confusion, Ms Ellery initially told reporters that bottled water would besupplied to all 11 schools, but her office later clarified that water would only go to the five schools awaiting results.
Bottled water was not necessary at five schools with positive results, which were returned in initial but not later tests, because the “non-drinking” sinks and taps had been isolated and turned off.
“Even though the health officials would say ‘You do not need to, and in fact you should not provide alternate sources of water because you run the risk that you’ll make this into something bigger than it is’, I had to make a decision,” Ms Ellery said.

Water crisis: Minister was warned bottled water would cause undue alarm The West Australian Public health officials warned Education Minister Sue Ellery that handing out bottled water at schools may spread undue alarm but she insisted it was the right decision yesterday “because we’re talking about children”. The first day of school was thrown into disarray for hundreds of students, parents and teachers when they were told water at their new schools may be contaminated, in the latest lead fiasco to grip the State’s public infrastructure. After concerns about lead in stagnant water and leaching from construction materials at Perth Children’s Hospital in October, Ms Ellery ordered taps to be flushed during the long summer break at 809 established schools, and for 11 newly built schools to be tested. She blasted the Department of Education and the Department of Finance’s Building Management and Works arm yesterday for failing to come up with a testing regime to clear all the new schools in time for the first day of…

This article has been updated to reflect the latest information.
SALEM — A large water main break on Highland Avenue has left numerous customers without water this morning, and caused two schools in the area to distribute bottled water to students.
Police confirmed that, as of 9:30, public works crews were still on scene trying to make repairs.
The break occurred to a 16-inch line near Tropical Products at 220 Highland Ave., across from the Hawthorne Square shopping plaza.
Salem police first notified the public about the situation around 5:30 a.m. One resident in the area, however, reports she lost service overnight.
Sgt.
The school district said Salem High, which is further down Highland Avenue, and Witchcraft Heights Elementary School over on Frederick Street, were both experiencing low water pressure as a result of the situation.
Bottled water was being made available to students in place of drinking fountains at the schools.
The shelter took to its social media accounts to share its plight and ask supporters to bring some water over for the thirsty pets there.
The water Main on Highland Ave has broken, so there is currently no water at our Shelter.

This article has been updated to reflect the latest information. SALEM — A large water main break on Highland Avenue has left numerous customers without water this morning, and caused two schools in the area to distribute bottled water to students. Police confirmed that, as of 9:30, public works crews were still on scene trying to make repairs. The break occurred to a 16-inch line near Tropical Products at 220 Highland Ave., across from the Hawthorne Square shopping plaza. Salem police first notified the public about the situation around 5:30 a.m. One resident in the area, however, reports she lost service overnight. Sgt. Bob Lubas said he didn’t believe…

"We continue to monitor water sales and work closely with our suppliers to ensure we have plenty of stock on hand over the coming weeks."
Foodstuffs media spokesperson Antoinette Laird said with the hotter weather the company has definitely seen a lift in sales of products like ice cream, ice and bottled water throughout the country.
Foodstuffs operates PAK’nSAVE, New World and Four Square Supermarkets, and On the Spot convenience stores.
"Gore is no exception and water has been flying off the shelves.
We would like to reassure customers that we have plenty of water in stock, in fact we have four pallets of water about to be stacked on the shelves.
"We are out of stock of some variants of bottled water, but our supply team is working hard to ensure that our customers have what they need when they need it."
In Gore, demand is up because the Gore District Council has had to start pumping water from the Mataura River to supplement the town’s water supply.
Environment Southland director of science and information Graham Sevicke-Jones said the Gore District Council has consent to take 2851m3 of water per day, at a rate of 33 litres per second, from the river to supplement Coopers Well, which supplies the town with water.
Gore council 3 Waters manager Matt Bayliss said the tanker was refilled on Wednesday morning.
– Stuff

Bottled water is flying off the shelves in Southland supermarkets as the drought takes a firm hold on water supplies. Countdown South Island operations manager Jo McNaught said the supermarket chain had seen an increased demand for bottled water throughout the country and sales have increased more than 18 per cent on last year, including high demand during the hot summer. “We continue to monitor water sales and work closely with our suppliers to ensure we have plenty of stock on hand over the coming weeks.” Foodstuffs media spokesperson Antoinette Laird said with the hotter weather the company has definitely seen a lift in sales of products like ice cream, ice…

Determined to do something about it, van der Heever recorded a message on WhatsApp and sent it to around 300 people she knew in East London.
People in East London were asked to donate two five-liter jugs of water to Cape Town and offer access to drop-off points across the city.
Van der Heever also came up with a savvy plan to carry the water to Cape Town, using her inside knowledge of the farming market.
In less than 24 hours, van der Heever’s WhatsApp account was inundated with requests from people and companies wanting to donate water bottles, farmers pledging to transport water on their empty Cape Town-bound trucks at no charge, and businesses offering their premises as drop-off points.
Every time someone sends me a message on WhatsApp, by the time I finish reading it it’s already moved down another 100 messages," van der Heever said.
Drop-off points were organized across these cities, with the help of a nationwide disaster-relief charity, Gift of the Givers, which just launched the "Water 4 Cape Town" campaign on social media with the help of van der Heever and others.
"We started a drive to transport donated water to our Cape Town branch for distribution to old-age homes, as well as Water Shortage South Africa," Boucher said, referring to the drought-relief organization.
"We don’t have enough space to store the water coming down," van der Heever said.
van der Heever said.
As the campaign gets bigger, a Twitter account dedicated to #Water4CapeTown is now urging people to change their profile photo to keep raising awareness Imtiaz Sooliman, chairman of Gift of the Givers, told CNN the overall water collection across South Africa topped 50,000 five-liter bottles, and donations are starting to come from abroad, including the US.

Determined to do something about it, van der Heever recorded a message on WhatsApp and sent it to around 300 people she knew in East London. The message was simple: we need to help Cape Townians before it’s too late. “I went to the bathroom, flushed my toilet and recorded it on my phone saying, ‘This sound of toilet flushing and tab opening is the sound we take for granted in our everyday life, and in Cape Town this sound is going to disappear soon,'” van der Heever said. People in East London were asked to donate two five-liter jugs of water to Cape Town and offer access to drop-off points across the city. Van der Heever also came up with a savvy plan to carry the water to Cape Town, using her inside knowledge of the farming market. “I grew up in a farm,” she said. “Farmers that bring their produce to East London, Johannesburg, Durban, their trucks go back to Cape Town empty. So I thought that maybe they can carry the water with them.” In less than 24 hours, van der Heever’s WhatsApp account was inundated with requests from people and companies wanting to donate water bottles, farmers pledging to transport water on their empty Cape Town-bound trucks at no charge, and businesses offering their premises as drop-off points. “My…