GAO, Nonprofit Researchers Urge Stricter Labeling for Bottled Water

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) and the Environmental Working Group (EWG), a nonprofit research and advocacy organization, released reports at a July 8, 2009, congressional subcommittee hearing that called for bottled water to be labeled with the same level of information as municipal water products. The GAO report stated that federal safety protections are often less stringent for bottled water than tap water, recommending at a minimum that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) require bottlers to tell consumers ways of obtaining comprehensive information about the source of their products and compliance with applicable regulations. The EWG report included a survey claiming that all but a few bottled-water companies do not list the sources of their bottled water and how it was treated.

EWG reportedly urged Americans to make bottled water “a distant second choice” to filtered tap water because of the lack of information about bottled water. “If the municipal tap water systems can tell their customers this information, you would think that bottled-water companies that charge 1,000 times more for this water could also let consumers know the same thing,” said an EWG spokesman in published reports.

Bottled water is regulated by the FDA, and companies are required to disclose nutritional information and ingredients on labels. Municipal water is under the control of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The two agencies have similar standards for water quality, but FDA has less authority to enforce them and the EPA requires more testing, according to GAO.

Leaders of the Committee on Energy and Commerce and its Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations have sent letters to 13 companies seeking information on the testing and sources of the companies’ water products. See Associated Press, July 8, 2009; The Wall Street Journal, July 9, 2009.