G: So the list of contaminants that the EPA has—the official ones that they crack down on, or say they crack down on—is incomplete?
NL: Definitely. Based on the contaminants being found, we know that list is incomplete. Tap-water suppliers are really only required to test for contaminants that are regulated, but some of them actually test for other contaminants and the more they test for them, the more they find. So, there are more contaminants to be found, and a lot of them have not been assessed for safety.
G: What about pharmaceuticals in our water?
NL: Yes, there are a lot of stories in the news recently that there’s been pharmaceuticals in the water, all these other industrial pollutants. There are just so many emerging contaminants, and we think the number that is regulated needs to be increased.
G: Tell me about the 2008 study you did exposing the contaminants in bottled water.
NL: We contracted a lab to look for almost 200 contaminants in 10 major brands—and we found 38 pollutants in the 10 brands, averaging about eight per brand. We decided not to disclose the brands, because we wanted it to be a snapshot of the industry at the time. The only two brands that we name are Sam’s Choice and Acadia, because those two looked remarkably similar to tap water.
G: What did you find in the other water?
NL: In general, we found disinfection byproducts, urban waste-water pollutants, heavy metals, industrial pollutants—I mean, things that you would find in tap water that you wouldn’t expect to find in bottled water. And we’re not saying that all bottled waters are like that, but it’s just that you don’t know. It’s really a hit-or-miss game. You just don’t know what you’re getting, and based on the price of bottled water, we estimate that the public pays about 1,900 times more for bottled water [than] they pay for tap water. And there is this implicit expectation of purity, and that’s not there.
