I am very interested in water quality and water pollution because water is essential to every living organism. We have a responsibility to ensure that our drinking water is safe. I found an article in the June 2011, Volume 73, Number 10 issue of the Journal of Environmental Health that speaks to the water quality of bottled natural spring water. Michael J. Sullivan, PhD, CIH, REA and Shannon Leavey write the feature article titled “Heavy Metals in Bottled Natural Spring Water.” This article describes a study conducted using a random sample of six sources of water to test for the presence of seventeen heavy metals. The heavy metals included in the study are silver, arsenic, barium, beryllium, cadmium, cobalt, chromium, copper, mercury, molybdenum, nickel, lead, antimony, selenium, thallium, vanadium, and zinc. The authors bought six natural spring bottled water brands from a local grocery store. The brands include Ethos, Icelandic Glacial, Fiji, Evian, Arrowhead, and Crystal Geyser. A total of three samples of each of the six brands was given a random number and sent to a lab for testing of the seventeen heavy metals. All of these metals except beryllium, mercury, and thallium were found in at least one of the bottled natural spring water sources. Arsenic was the only metal whose concentration was found to exceed the maximum contaminate levels established by the state of California. Based on the results, the authors recommended that changes be made to the way bottled water is regulated and stated that bottled water should have the same criteria for water quality as tap water. They also recommended that a process be developed to allow consumers access to testing results for bottled water. The authors suggested that the results could be posted on company websites or on water packaging. This will allow people to make an informed decision when choosing which brand to buy. I was surprised by the results of the study and I will be more careful about which brand of bottled water I drink from now on.

Sullivan, Michael J, and Leavey, Shannon. 2011 “Heavy Metals in Bottled Natural Spring Water.” Journal of Environmental Health Volume 73(10): 8-14.