Pure Hype about Bottled Water

The company producing Pur Filters is touting the fact that its filters can remove trace pharmaceuticals and even some (but they don’t guarantee it will get all) of the cryptosporidium parasite sometimes found in  tap water. Similarly, a company called Freshwaters is promoting the Watergeeks Filtered Sports Bottle.  Both ad campaigns capitalize on the green’s campaign against bottled water, which as CEI points out on www.enjoybottledwater.org, is based on misinformation.

Nonetheless, now that the greens have managed to scare and misinform people about bottled water, the market is responding.  It shows how the marketplace is well equipped to meet consumer demands, even if they are ill-informed.  While there is no evidence that the trace chemicals found in tap or bottled water pose a serious problem, the key is consumer should have options–free of taxes and regulations.

Legislators are denying consumers choice when it comes to bottled water, imposing taxes and regualtions because of green hype. Contrary to the environmentalist claims, CEI demonstrates on www.enjoybottledwater.org that bottled water has a better safety record than tap water.  In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Environmental Protection Agency both recommend bottled water for people with compromised immune systems because it is more reliable than tap water.  Moreover, bottled water containers are extremely energy efficient to produce, lightweight for transport, and they represent a sanitary vehicle for storing emergency water supplies.

It is not clear that refillable containers with filters—such as the aluminum ones that are becoming popular—are more energy efficient over their lifecycle because they require much more energy to produce and likely must be reused many times before produce net energy savings.  In addition, filters must be kept clean and disposed.  The simply fact is, every product has its trade offs.  Consumers should have choices free of arbitrary taxes and regulations.