Bottled Water Dangers: New tests show 'levels that should not be' in drinks of top bottle companies

New water findings are challenging the popular impression that "bottled water is purer than tap water" and are concerning many consumers.

New tests on leading brands of bottled water turned up a variety of contaminants, including cancer-linked chemicals, according to a study released Wednesday by an environmental advocacy group.

The two-year lab study, done by the Environmental Working Group, has detected 38 chemicals in 10 brands, with an average of eight contaminants found within the 10 brands of bottled water. Tests showed coliform bacteria, caffeine, the pain reliever acetaminophen, fertilizer, solvents, plastic-making chemicals and the radioactive element strontium. However, all the brands met federal health standards for drinking water, and most of the detected contaminants are found in tap water as well. The tests were conducted on bottled water bought in California, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and Delaware.

Tests were done on one batch for each of the 10 brands. And the results? Eight of those brands did not have troubling levels of contaminants, carrying legal levels of many contaminants. Some of those chemicals though, like arsenic and
the solvent toluene, have been tied to health risks. However, two brands did,Sam's Choice sold by Wal-Mart and Acadia of Giant Food supermarkets. These brands showed the highest concentration of trihalomethanes, which are chlorine by-products, having over 35 parts per billion.

The Environmental Working Group had notified California's attorney general to sue Wal-Mart. The group wants the company to label its bottles in California with a warning of cancer-causing chemicals. Wal-Mart did not respond to a request for comment.

The chlorine by-products, which studies have also linked to birth defects, presumably come from chlorine used as a disinfectant, which ends up in public water systems. Tap water is often repackaged and sold as bottled water, and the researchers say that was true of these two brands.