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what's in your water? Local experts sound off on the nation's bottled water craze
Between Aquafina Purified Drinking Water, Crystal Geyser Natural Spring Water and Fiji Natural Artesian Water, consumers are swimming in a sea of bottled water choices.
“Most customers, and even some people in the industry, don’t understand the difference between spring water, purified water, artesian water and the other varieties of bottled water,” said Jamie Carroll, founder and president of Fontis Water, a Marietta-based bottler of Georgia Blue Ridge natural spring water.
Natural spring water is sourced from an underground natural spring. It usually is filtered as an additional measure to assure its purity, but it must retain the same composition and physical properties as it naturally occurs in the spring to be labeled as bottled spring water.
When choosing a bottled water source, Carroll cautioned to be a careful label reader. Purified water is usually nothing more than tap water that has gone through a purification process.
“Don’t be fooled by what you see on the label. Read it carefully. There is a lot of purified water out there with mountains on the labels. Read where the water is sourced from,” the Marietta resident said.
According to the International Bottled Water Association, Atlantans drink an average of 2.1 servings of bottled water per day, significantly less of an amount than other major metropolitan areas. The survey also found Atlantans drink an average of 4.1 servings of tap water per day, substantially more than most other major markets.
For Sarah Cherry, the choice to drink bottled water is simple. After reading a study that concluded 3 in 5 people would get cancer and 1 in 5 would die from cancer, the 27-year-old wanted to do everything in her power to decrease her cancer risk. One of those efforts included drinking bottled water.
“I read an article that scared me. It said tap water is likely to have contaminants and too much chlorine, which is bad for you,” said the self-proclaimed “bottled-water junkie.”
For her water drinking needs, she chooses distilled water, which has been heated to the boiling point so impurities are separated from the water. It becomes vapor or steam, which is then cooled and condensed back into pure liquid form.
“Another big reason I drink bottled water is the taste. At most restaurants, the water tastes like chlorine and metals,” said Ms. Cherry, a technology consultant at Computer Associates off Windy Ridge Road.
Tap water for Cobb County residents is obtained from the Chattahoochee River and Lake Allatoona and treated at two plants. Glenn Page, assistant general manager at the Cobb County-Marietta Water Authority said tap water is not as harmful as perceived by the bottled water companies and views the disparaging comments by bottled water manufacturers as nothing more than a marketing ploy.
“Bottled water is governed by the Food and Drug Administration. Public tap water is regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency. Our plants are inspected by state agencies. We perform continuous monitoring required by the law,” he said. “Not to mention that tap water is a basic supplier for the bottled water industry.”
Whether it is a taste preference or a health issue, more consumers are indeed drawn to it more. In the past decade alone, bottled water consumption has increased by 1,000 percent. Bottled water is now even more popular than beer and coffee, second only to soda as the nation’s most popular drink.
Tagged: bottled water, fontis water, water delivery, atlanta water service
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