Most people choose plastic water bottles out of convenience, instead of just bringing your own bottle with you. There are also many who believe that plastic water bottles are filled with healthier filtered water, which is cleaner and safer than tap water. However there are plenty of reasons why bottled water is not actually a better choice.

First off, single use plastics are extremely wasteful, they’re polluting our planet and contributing to climate change and irreversible damage. This is the leading reason as to why Canada is looking to ban single-use plastics as early as 2021, in efforts to reduce ocean waste.

Secondly, most of the water that corporations sell is obtained from public water sources for next to nothing. Mega-corporations profit off the fact that humans need water to survive. It’s estimated that more than 60% of bottled water is really just tap water in a bottle, sometimes further treated, sometimes not.

If your bottled water says “from a municipal source” or “from a community water system,” this means it’s derived from the tap.

On Tuesday June 18th 2019, The California Center for Environmental Health (CEH)issued a release regarding independent testing that was performed to detect arsenic levels, and they found high levels in two prominent brands of bottled water. 

Arsenic is a toxic metal which acts as a carcinogen. Even small levels of ingestion can disrupt the body’s endocrine system. Arsenic is known to cause reproductive harm, cancer and birth defects. 

The CEH has sent legal notices to both Starkey Water, owned by Whole Foods, and Penafiel, owned by Keurig Dr. Peppers, which is bottled in Mexico and sold at Target and Walmart.

The Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA), is a specialized department within the California Environmental Protection Agency, and they are responsible for evaluating health risks from environmental chemical contaminants. 

In 1986, California voters approved an initiative to address their growing concerns about exposure to toxic chemicals. That initiative is known as Proposition 65 and it requires the State to publish a list of chemicals known to cause cancer or birth defects or other reproductive harm. This list must be updated at least once a year, and has grown to include approximately 800 chemicals.

Prop 65 enables Californians to make informed decisions about protecting themselves from exposure to these chemicals, and with recent tests on bottled water – these two major brands have been found to contain enough arsenic to require a health warning on labels.

This isn’t the first time that these brands have been in trouble over the arsenic content in their water. Starkey Water recalled over 2,000 cases of bottled water between 2016 and 2017. The Food and Drug Administration has known for years that these brands contain dangerous levels of arsenic. Consumer Reports’s recent testing revealed that arsenic levels were about double the federal legal limit. Consumer Reports even revealed that the arsenic levels were about double the federal legal limit.

Prolonged arsenic ingestion can lead to toxicity for all bodily system. Chronic intake of arsenic can negatively impact over 200 enzymes which are responsible for vital functions such as DNA synthesis and repair. 

Symptoms associated with a chronic ingestion of arsenic include heavy metal build up in the kidneys, liver, heart, lungs, nervous system, muscles, spleen, and gastrointestinal tract, leading to multi-system diseases. 

Bottled water just isn’t worth it. You shouldn’t be paying a ridiculous markup for a bottle of plastic tap water, but you also shouldn’t be drinking water that isn’t filtered to remove arsenic, chlorine, lead and other toxic metals and chemicals. 

If you invest in a quality reusable water bottle and make the switch to a countertop water filtration system, you could save up $2,700 on water each year. Read more on at-home water filtration here.

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