Study Shows Nearly 64% of Bottled Water in America is Just Tap Water: Here’s the Brands

Study Shows Nearly 64% of Bottled Water in America Is Just Tap Water: Here’s the Brands

For many people, grabbing a bottle of water from the store feels like the safest way to stay hydrated. It’s convenient, portable, and often marketed as pristine, clean, and pure. But a new study has revealed that nearly 64% of bottled water sold in America is actually just tap water. Yes, you read that right: the same water that comes from your faucet is being bottled, branded, and sold for a premium price.

So what does this mean for consumers? And which brands are guilty of selling tap water in a bottle? Let’s dive into the findings and what you need to know before you make your next bottled water purchase.

The Study: Bottled Water Exposed

The study, conducted by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), examined a wide range of bottled water brands to determine the quality of the water they contain. They found that almost two-thirds of bottled water in the U.S. is sourced from municipal water supplies—essentially tap water—rather than from natural springs or pristine sources, as often advertised.

The research also showed that many of these bottled waters go through a filtration process, but it’s essentially the same treatment that tap water undergoes before it’s dispensed from your faucet. In other words, these bottled waters are often no better (or sometimes even worse) than the water you get at home, and you could be paying a premium for something you already have access to.

What Makes Tap Water “Bottled” Water?

Bottled water companies often take tap water, filter it, and then bottle it for sale. The filtration process used by many brands might involve reverse osmosis, carbon filtering, or distillation—methods that remove impurities from the water, much like the treatment facilities do for your home’s water supply. While this filtration process can improve taste or reduce chlorine and other chemicals, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the water is any purer than tap water after it’s gone through similar treatments.

Some bottled water companies go a step further, adding minerals back into the water for taste. However, these are not the natural minerals you would find in spring water or mineral water, but rather additives to enhance flavor.

Which Brands Are Bottling Tap Water?

The brands that use municipal water sources, often without clearly labeling it, include some of the most popular names on the bottled water shelf. Here are a few of the big players that have been found to bottle tap water:

1. Dasani (Coca-Cola)
   • Source: Municipal water (tap water).
   • Filtration: Dasani uses a reverse osmosis filtration process to purify the tap water, removing impurities before bottling.
2. Aquafina (PepsiCo)
   • Source: Municipal water (tap water).
   • Filtration: Like Dasani, Aquafina uses reverse osmosis to filter its tap water, ensuring it’s clean and taste-free.
3. Nestlé Pure Life
   • Source: Municipal water (tap water).
   • Filtration: Nestlé Pure Life water is also sourced from public water supplies and undergoes a filtration process similar to those used by Aquafina and Dasani.
4. Poland Spring
   • Source: While Poland Spring claims to source water from natural springs, some of their sources are tapped from municipal water systems, depending on the location. This has raised some controversy, and questions have been raised about the accuracy of their marketing claims.
5. Smartwater (Coca-Cola)
   • Source: Municipal water (tap water).
   • Filtration: Smartwater is another Coca-Cola-owned brand that sources its water from municipal supplies, then filters and adds electrolytes for taste.

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