Have you read them? ;)
Did find a couple of those, neither these or other sites I found seem to show anything conclusive or in depth, just a summary at best that doesn't give you anything to tell if one brand is really better than another. I did notice a lot of sites link to the Natural Resource Defence Council's (http://www.nrdc.org) "snapshot" test, where they tested over 103 brand samples. But there's nothing here I'd pass on to anyone. From what I'm drinking I noted.
(http://www.nrdc.org/water/drinking/bw/appa.asp)
Brand / Source / HPC Bacteria (cfu/ml) / Arsenic (ppb)
Evian - Cachat Springs, Evian, France - 63 - 2
Vittel - Vittel Bonne Source Well, Vittel, France - Not detected - 11
Volvic - Clairvic Spring, Volvic, France - 11 - 14
This is from 1-2 samples tested from each brand! What kind of water test is that? They did say they kept testing some bottles further after the test had finished, however I can't find the reports for this (maybe they meant they drank the rest of the freebies).
Going on this (if you can) and some of the articles I've been reading on tap vs cap (mostly backed up with little\no evidence) it does suggest bottled water isn't much safer from the average bacteria\arsenic\other contaminant levels recorded in tap water in the US, well unless these water systems happen to be supplying you:
County Water station Arsenic
NAPA VETERANS HOME OF CALIFORNIA 992.6ppb
AK PAUG VIK, INC. INLET SALMON 220ppb
SONOMA MOUNT WESKE ESTATES MUTUAL WATER COMPANY 89.4ppb
ROCKINGHAM WYNRIDGE CONDOMINIUM 92.3ppb
*List of Public Water Systems in Which Arsenic Was Found in the 25 States Reporting Data
Natural Resources Defence Council, February 2000
Top one could be a typo as it doesn't make the top 50 (http://www.nrdc.org/water/drinking/arsenic/table5.asp) but then it mentions the list may have been compiled before all samples were taken, like that's there for no reason.
Most articles base their conclusions on tap water being safer than bottled water on assumptions, for example the FDA requires tap water to be disinfected, filtered and tested for a whole host of things hundreds of times a month, where as bottled water isn't forced to be checked more than once a week, and that's just on simple bacteria levels. Problem is, this doesn't mean bottled water doesn't get checked as much, or even more than tap water, infact it actually does. Volvic state:
"Volvic Natural Spring Water is tested at the bottling plant in France several hundred times per day to confirm that the water being bottled is identical to the water as existing at the natural source. This testing ensures Volvic's natural purity and constant mineral composition, as well as the absence of contamination. In addition, the Volvic source itself is tested regularly to ensure its continued integrity and stability."
I certainly believe that, not for our benefit though, but far too much is riding on the brand name to let something slip past.
Think i'll stick to bottled water for now, but with one eye on the look out for a decent water filter unit.
R.
