How Safe is Your Bottled Drinking Water?

Transportation and storage of drinking water have been one of the main concerns of humankind for many centuries. In olden days, potable water was stored predominantly in animal hide, earthenware, glass bottles followed by plastic bottles. The introduction of plastic was a true revolution due to its lightness, inexpensive and durability unlike glass bottles. Plastic water bottles have become an integral part of our life and its usage has been in a surge in recent years. About 1 million plastic bottles are bought around the world every minute, and this number is set to increase by another 20% by 2021. There is a common perception that bottled water is healthier, tastier and superior to other water sources. Bottled water is marketed as safe, pure, clean, however recent studies show otherwise. So how safe is our bottled water?

A study by scientists from the State University of New York revealed that the supposedly pure and clean bottled water is actually transfused with tiny particles of plastic that go completely unnoticed. The researchers tested 259 individual bottles across 11 brands sold in nine countries viz. Brazil, China, Thailand, Indonesia, the US, Mexico, Lebanon, Kenya and India (19 locations in Mumbai, Delhi, and Chennai). The study found that more than 93% of bottled water samples contain microplastics (about 0.10 mm size) at an average of 325 plastic pieces per litre. Samples from India emerged as third-most contaminated, after the United States and Thailand.So, how does bottled water get contaminated? Water-packed in bottles gets contaminated with almost invisible microplastic particles and are most likely to flow into the water during the packaging or bottling process. Plastic detritus found is mainly Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET), nylon and polypropylene, which are used to manufacture bottle caps. Other sources of microplastics are from the manufacturing or bottling environment in the factories. A recent study indicates that each cycle of a washing machine could release 700,000 microplastics into the environment. Plastic particles are reported even in bottled water that was sold in glass containers. Recently, the WHO has announced a review into the potential risks of plastics in drinking water after some of the world’s most popular bottled water brands contain plastic particles.

In Maharashtra, food and drug administration (FDA) agency drew 95 water samples from packaged drinking water plant and found 53% has failed FDA test. Similar instances of unsafe and substandard packaged waters are reported from Pune, Aurangabad, Chennaiand Nagpur.The prevalence of such menace is ascribed to unchecked illegal and unauthorised packaging plants,where bottles are refilled with tap or groundwater and sell it as processed drinking water. Consequently, the Bureau of Indian Standards and Food Safety and Standards Authority of India are working for the solution on the issue of plastic contamination in bottled water.