Bottled Water :: Are Filtered and Alkaline Waters Healthier?

For years, we've all looked down at water coolers; we've all turned our noses up at kitchen faucets. Bottled water, and only bottled water, was the only type of water ever allowed to bless our lips. Anything else, simply wasn't good enough for consumption.

The concept that bottled water is better than other water is what the folks at Arrowhead and Fiji would love everyone to drink in. But, recent - and even not so recent - research has discovered that bottled water isn't necessarily any better than other types. Suddenly Aquafina is dripping with embarrassment.

As far back as 1999 - in what seemed like the height of the bottled water craze (everyone who was anyone had one) - the Natural Resources Defense Council petitioned the FDA with a report based on four years of study. This report, the NRDC argued, showed there were both bacterial and chemical containment in bottled water and the bottled water regulations - seemingly air tight - possessed a fair share of cracks. The NRDC concluded the belief that bottled water was safer than tap water was just that: a belief.

According to Reuters Health, the findings in this eight year old report were recently compounded at the American College of Sports Medicine 11th Annual Health and Fitness Summit in Dallas, Texas. Here, Cynthia Sass, a sports nutritionist based out of Tampa, Florida testified that bottled water is not always the best water. She even went on to say that, according to her findings, up to a quarter of the bottled water on the market was actually just tap water, placed in a prettier, healthier looking package.

This, as well as the other reports determining the same, is a blow to the bottled water industry. Since bottled water is certainly not cheaper than tap, the industry aimed to speak specifically to a target market: the health conscientious. Now, the health conscientious may stop listening.

In theory, bottled water should be regulated by the FDA, but, according to Sass, this doesn't always happen. Approximately 60 to 70 percent of bottled water is packaged and sold in the same state. This leaves the FDA's hands tied by exempting their regulations. To makes things worse, according to Sass, 20 percent of states do not regulate bottled water. This means bottled water drinkers in certain states might be getting much more than they bargained for…such as bacteria and chemicals.

Even with this mark against bottled water, tap water isn't a proverbial angel: it has its fair share of problems as well. While most states do easily meet the regulations for tap water, Sass reported that 19 US Cities recently surveyed had traces of arsenic, pesticides, and lead.

According to Sass, bottled water treated with reverse osmosis, distilled water, or city tap water that is put through a filtering system, like a Kangen water machine, are the best options for quenching thirst and staying healthy and can also create a more alkaline water.