[Pharmwaste] Water and What Else?

DeBiasi,Deborah dldebiasi at deq.virginia.gov
Mon Oct 20 10:36:41 EDT 2008


http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/18/opinion/18sat3.html?th&emc=th

October 18, 2008
Editorial

Water and What Else? 

As consumers hunker down to cope with hard economic times, an
environmental group in Washington has offered a suggestion for saving
money: Get your water from the faucet not a bottle. 

The Environmental Working Group released a report Wednesday that charged
that some bottled waters were "no different than tap water." And it
found fertilizer residue, pain medication and other chemicals in some
major brands. 

While a lot of bottled water may be as pure as promised in those
alluring commercials, the real problem is telling which is which. Public
water supplies are regulated by the federal government. Not so for
bottled water. The Food and Drug Administration does have some
oversight, but bottled water is not very high on their long list of
priorities.

The International Bottled Water Association, which represents most of
the industry, has voluntary standards to make sure there are no
contaminants. The association encourages (but does not require) bottlers
to release pertinent information about what's in their water when
consumers call and ask. 

Among the states, so far only California has set strict standards to
make sure carcinogens and other contaminants are not being sold as
something purer than that mountain stream usually pictured on the
labels.

Some metropolitan water is better than others, of course, and New
Yorkers are proudly unafraid to ask for their four-star tap water at the
fanciest restaurants. The federal government requires all public water
works to tell consumers once a year what is in their water and whether
it meets federal standards. 

Those public reports are not always as helpful as they should be. Some
are printed in ant-size type and best understood by chemists. But at
least they are readily available, and the same detail should be publicly
available for bottled water. 

For the extra cost and the promise of added purity - and the mound of
plastic in landfills - that bottled water should be as good or even
better than the less-expensive stuff that comes out of a tap. And
consumers should be able to see certified data that prove it. 


Deborah L. DeBiasi
Email:   dldebiasi at deq.virginia.gov
WEB site address:  www.deq.virginia.gov
Virginia Department of Environmental Quality
Office of Water Permit Programs
Industrial Pretreatment/Toxics Management Program
PPCPs, EDCs, and Microconstituents
Mail:          P.O. Box 1105, Richmond, VA  23218 (NEW!)
Location:  629 E. Main Street, Richmond, VA  23219
PH:         804-698-4028
FAX:      804-698-4032



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