Americans drink some 15 billion gallons of bottled water each year—around 45 gallons per person, according to the International Bottled Water Association. While many people may buy bottled water out of convenience when they’re on the go, others may believe it’s safer than tap water. Bottled water often undergoes some kind of filtering before being sold, so it can be a good idea if you know your tap water is contaminated, at least until you have addressed the problem through filters or another solution.
Still, bottled water is not a good long-term solution, for several reasons.
First, there have been periodic reports, including from CR, of some bottled waters testing positive for heavy metals, PFAS, and other contaminants.
More on Water Quality
And aside from potential concerns about the purity of the water itself, the fact that bottled water is typically packaged in plastic is problematic. Polyethylene terephthalate (PET), the kind of plastic used in many water bottles, can leach toxic things such as antimony, bisphenols, phthalates, and microplastics into the beverages inside.
Also concerning: The manufacturing and disposal of the plastic in all those water bottles is a major source of many of the chemicals that ultimately end up in, and contaminate, our drinking water.
“If people have concerns about their municipal drinking water, they should also know that a lot of that is because of industrial contamination, and the plastic industry is actually a really big contributor to that,” says Roopa Krithivasan, director of research at Defend Our Health, an environmental health advocacy group.
When you need water on the go, you’re better off filling a reusable glass, stainless steel, or silicone water bottle with tap water.
If You Drink Bottled Water, There Are Ways to Do It More Safely
Don’t reuse single-use bottles. These break down more quickly than sturdier plastic bottles that are meant to be reused, and studies suggest that this microscopic damage can shed microplastics, says Susan Richardson, chemistry professor at the University of South Carolina.
Don’t let plastic water bottles get too hot. High heat can damage plastic and lead to chemicals leaching into water, especially when exposed for extended periods, Krithivasan says. So Krithivasan recommends that you not store water bottles in vehicles.
Look for purified bottled water, CR’s experts say. That typically indicates that the water has undergone filtration before being bottled.
Editor’s Note:This article also appeared in the January 2024 issue of Consumer Reports magazine.
Lauren Kirchner
Lauren Kirchner is an investigative reporter on the special projects team at Consumer Reports. She has been with CR since 2022, covering product safety. She has previously reported on algorithmic bias, criminal justice, and housing for the Markup and ProPublica, and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Explanatory Reporting in 2017. Send her tips at lauren.kirchner@consumer.org and follow her on Twitter @lkirchner.
