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Bottled water is a multi-billion dollar business. In fact it is now the fastest growing segment of the whole beverage industry, creating record profits!

Why has bottled water become so popular? As with many high selling products, the answer seems to be in perception ' the public perceives bottled water to be higher quality than tap water, and so they are willing to pay a premium price for it. And we do mean premium, as we are currently spending anywhere from $1 to over $4 per gallon on designer water!

The question is, is bottled water really what you think it is?

Most people assume that bottled water must be regulated for quality to assure that it is, in fact, 'pure.' Unfortunately, this is far from true. The bottled water industry is largely self-regulated, and even where it is government regulated, the standards are absurdly low. First, it is important to understand that the Federal government regulation of bottled water only applies when the water is transported across state lines. So bottled water that is produced and only distributed in your own state is literally not regulated at all! Currently, that means that 60 to 70% of the bottled water sold in the US is not regulated at all. So if you usually buy water from a large, nationally distributed company you should be okay, right? Wrong. Even for water distributed across state lines, the Federal regulations only require that it be 'as good as' tap water. As good as tap water? What is the point of paying up to $4 per gallon for water that is only guaranteed to be as good as your own tap water? Just to be very clear, not only is some bottled water only 'as good as' tap water, in many cases it actually is tap water. The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), a highly respected non-governmental organization, released a report in 1999 in which they stated that 40% of bottled water sold in the US came from some city or town water system ' in other words, tap water!

If bottled water quality is not demonstrably any superior to tap water, does that mean that the consumer is better off just drinking tap water? Well, you will certainly save money, but for health, tap water is not much better than, well, than bottled water! The evidence seems to be mounting that the very safest and most economical way to ensure a supply of clean and healthy water for you and your family is what the water industry refers to as 'point-of-use water filtration treatment.' That may sound daunting, but it simply means an in home water filter system. A quality water filter removes chlorine, lead, organic contaminants such as Crystosporidium and Giardia and more. Even the simplest water filter, such as the inexpensive pitcher style filters, will reduce the number of contaminants in your water. However, the best results will be found with a multi-stage filter. There are a number of high quality filters on the market today, and a comparison of them from an independent source can be found at the following URL: http://www.waterfiltercomparisons.com/Water_Filter_Comparison_Matrix.cfm

Regardless of the filter you choose, please choose one! Any water filter will be better for your and your family's health than no filter at all. Remember that your body is over 70% water, and that there are few, if any, more important things you can do for your health than to give it clean, healthy water each and every day.