An estimated 60 to 70 percent of the bottled water sold in the United States is sold in ” intrastate commerce” (i.e., it is bottled and sold in the same state). For example, the large delivered 5-gallon bottles that are put in office or home water coolers are often intrastate waters, as are many of the brands sold in grocery, convenience, and other stores. 

FDA says its bottled water regulations apply only to water “that is in, or is intended to be shipped in, interstate commerce.” Therefore, according to FDA’s interpretation, 60-70 percent of the bottled water sold in the U.S. — all bottled water sold in intrastate commerce — apparently is not covered by the FDA rules. This leaves the government regulation of this water, if any, to state governments. 

The position that intrastate bottled water is not covered by FDA’s rules is based on FDA’s interpretation of the limitations of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, which FDA says allows it to regulate only interstate commerce (i.e., water that crosses state lines). This interpretation of the FFDCA has been questioned by experts, including some in the bottled water industry. The FDA interpretation of the FFDCA appears to be unduly narrow, in light of the clear nexus between virtually all intrastate bottled water sales and interstate commerce, as demonstrated, for instance, in the fact that packaging materials and consumers of the bottled water frequently come from out of state. 

The impact of the narrow FDA interpretation cannot be overstated. Often states have few if any resources dedicated to policing bottled water. Therfore, in many states, compliance with federal and state bottled water standards essentially is discretionary for many bottlers, and the public’s only protection is voluntary industry self-regulation. This offers little or no protection from fly-by-night bottlers in some states. 

These problems, as you might imagine, make it difficult to know exactly what is in your water unless you use a portable water filtration device. With the use of water filters to filter your water, you can once again be in control of what you are drinking.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 28th, 2007 at 6:41 am and is filed under Filtered Water, Portable Water Filtration, water filters. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.