Labeling Wars Part 2... the Battle Over Bottled Water

My friend Matt sends me this story about 2 Democratic House Members asking the GAO to investigate EPA's drinking water standards for contaminants (TCE and perchlorate), the labeling of bottled water, problems associated with bottled-water-container production, and the impacts of bottled-water consumption on landfills and the energy used for transportation.

Some key points:
*"There are a bevy of bottled-water varieties: artesian, artesian-well, ground, mineral, purified, sparkling and spring. Water can undergo distillation, reverse osmosis, absolute 1 micron filtration and ozonation."

*"About 30% of bottled water is sourced from a municipal system, according to the International Bottled Water Association, the industry trade association."

*"Dasani relies on about a couple dozen municipal water sources across the United States, according to spokesman Ray Crockett...Citing proprietary reasons, he declined to reveal the location of Dasani water sources."

This is my favorite: "'As a general business practice, we sell our products in the same communities where we produce them thereby minimizing the emissions generated from lengthy transportation routes,' according to Crockett."

Translation: "we take the communities' tap water, bottle it, and sell it back to them."