QUALITY-CONTROL OF BOTTLED AND VENDED WATER IN CALIFORNIA - A REVIEW AND COMPARISON TO TAP WATER

Current regulations and compliance for quality control Of bottled and vended water in California are compared with that of the tap water industry in this research. Over 35% of the bottled water sold in the U.S. is consumed in California where a third of the residents use such water as a primary source of drinking water. California is one of several states that regulates bottled water more rigorously than the federal government. In California, water quality standards for the two industries are comparable except that many of the organic standards for bottled water are applicable only to the source water, a concern due to potential organic contamination during processing. Reporting requirements, significantly less stringent for bottled water, allow considerable latitude in assessing risks and make assessment of compliance difficult. Based on available statistics, compliance for the two industries is comparable; the majority of violations posed no health risks. For both industries, small systems comprised the majority of violations whereas large systems had excellent compliance rates.