I found this very informative article about bottled water and what's really going on: where it comes from, who produces it, and the major companies behind the deal. I've decided to just reproduce the entire article below. And don't forget, (as the
Brita water filter commercials keep reminding us) using water filters at home is for the most part just as good, without all that plastic waste. The original article can be found
here.
Where Your Bottled Water Comes From?
By Liz Metcalfe
A brouhaha erupted four years ago when it was revealed that Coca Cola’s Dasani brand of bottled water is purified municipal tap water. But according to the independent beverage research company Canadean, at least two out of every five bottles of water sold around the world contain "purified" water, rather than "source" water that come from a spring. Most big-name water producers market more than one line of purified water that comes from municipal water supplies.
If the label doesn’t name the source, or spring, it’s usually purified tap water. That’s not a bad thing. Although bottled water purveyors purify tap water and sometimes add things to it, municipal water straight out of the tap is every bit as safe – some say safer – to drink as bottled water. And if you have to buy water when away from your house or didn’t bring a re-usable bottle that you can fill, it’s good to know that the water you’re drinking didn’t have to burn up even more fossil fuel while being shipped or flown thousands of miles to get to your store.
Despite the growing number of bottled water labels, some stating exotic sources in the Alps, the lion’s share of the market is owned by big companies such as Nestle, Coca Cola, and Pepsi. Nestle has a big footprint in Toronto. Almost all Toronto-area grocery stores greet shoppers at the entrance with stacks of cases of Nestle’s Pure Life Natural Spring Water. Nestle also owns the Perrier, Montclair, and Sanpellegrino brands of water. Nestle’s website says that water in Pure Life brand bottles come from several sources, including purified tap or well water. The bottles of Pure Life Natural Spring Water in Toronto come from a spring in Aberfoyle, Ontario, which is about 10 kilometres south of Guelph.
Water is commonly sold in four categories:
•Spring water: from an underground source that flows naturally to the surface.•Purified water: water that has been distilled, de-ionized, or filtered through reverse osmosis or other processes.•Sparkling water: water that still has the same amount of carbon dioxide in it when tapped at source. This may involve replacing the carbon dioxide after processes.•Mineral water: Water that contains at least 250 parts per million dissolved minerals. This must be present in water at the source. Minerals cannot be added.
If you must drink bottled water, that makes Nestle’s Pure Life Natural Spring Water not a bad choice for Ontarians, since those bottles don’t have to be shipped very far. Ditto for Montclair water (also owned by Nestle), because it also comes from Aberfoyle. And Pepsi-Cola’s Aquafina bottles contain purified Mississauga tap water. Aquafina also purifies Vancouver tap water. In Alberta, Coca Cola purifies Calgary tap water. And 8 Degrees, water from Arctic icebergs, is bottled in St. Anthony, Newfoundland. Evian, Perrier, Vittel and Sanpellegrino, by contrast, are shipped to Canada from Europe.
If your ground water supply is suspect or you often get boil water advisories, large, returnable bottles of purified local water or water from local springs is a good choice. Read the labels to find out how far your water has traveled.
Below is a table of the sources and owners of some of the most popular brands of bottled water in Canada (
Brand: Source / Owned by).
Evian: More than one source near Évian-les-Bains in the French Alps / Danone
Perrier: A spring in the Gard district of the Languedoc-Roussillon region of southern France / Nestle Group
Montclair: A spring in Aberfoyle, Ontario / Nestle Group
Nestle Pure Life Natural Spring Water: A spring in Aberfoyle, Ontario / Nestle Group
Sanpellegrino: A spring near Bergame in a valley of the Italian Alps / Nestle Group
Vittel: The Gérémoy spring in the Vosges Mountains of eastern France / Nestle Group
Dansani: In Canada, purified tap water from Calgary, Alberta / Coca-Cola
Aquafina: In Canada, purified tap water from Mississauga, Ontario or Vancouver, British Columbia / Pepsi-Cola
