by Dr. Joseph Mercola, Mercola:
Story at-a-glance
- A study published in PLOS Water found concerning levels of various contaminants in bottled, tap and household-treated water, raising safety concerns for all drinking water sources
- Trihalomethanes (THMs) are known carcinogens found in all water sources, with tap water containing the highest concentrations and accounting for 94.5% of its total cumulative toxicity
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- Heavy metals like lead, arsenic and uranium were also detected in tap and household-treated water samples, posing significant long-term health risks including neurological damage and cancer
- Bottled water, while often perceived as a safer choice, is not without risks; 8% of bottled samples exceeded safety limits for THMs, and were found to be contaminated with petroleum-derived compounds
- Strategies to ensure safe drinking water are outlined below, including installing a high-quality water filtration system both at the point of entry and at the point of use in your home
Drinking clean, pure water is essential for maintaining optimal health, yet over 2 billion people worldwide still lack access to safe drinking water.1 The increasing contamination of tap water with harmful substances has led many to seek alternatives like bottled water and home filtration systems in an effort to protect their well-being.
Yet, despite this shift, there’s still a lack of comprehensive scientific data on the safety of these water sources, particularly when it comes to the presence of hazardous chemicals and pollutants. This prompted researchers from California to investigate the safety and aesthetic qualities of three common drinking water options — bottled water, tap water and household-treated tap water.
Recently published in the journal PLOS Water,2 their findings reveal alarming levels of carcinogenic chemicals and other dangerous pollutants across all types of drinking water, raising concerns about what is truly safe to consume.
Cancer-Linked Chemicals Detected in Drinking Water
To conduct their analysis,3 the researchers collected 100 bottled water samples from 89 different brands, 603 tap water samples and 111 household-treated tap water samples from the San Francisco Bay Area. They tested these for 100 different contaminants, including metals, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), disinfection byproducts and microbial indicators, as well as evaluated factors that influence consumers’ choices in water source, including taste, odor and color.
One of the most alarming findings was the widespread presence of trihalomethanes (THMs) in all tested sources of drinking water. THMs are a group of disinfection byproducts that are formed when chlorine, which is used to treat drinking water, reacts with natural organic matter in the water. THMs are known carcinogens and have been linked to increased liver toxicity as well as reproductive and developmental problems.
The study revealed that tap water samples contained the highest concentrations of these chemicals, accounting for 94.5% of its total cumulative toxicity. Meanwhile, THMs accounted for 76.7% of the total toxicity observed in household-treated tap water.
Moreover, the researchers found that 2% of tap water samples exceeded the regulatory threshold for THMs, which is set at 80 micrograms per liter — a limit that is already higher than levels deemed safe for long-term health. In household-treated tap water, 25% of the samples still contained chloroform, a common THM, at concentrations that surpassed health-protective benchmarks.
In addition to THMs, the study found troubling levels of heavy metals in both tap and household-treated waters. Lead was detected in 51% of tap water samples and 30% of the household-treated samples, which researchers suggest is a result of aging water infrastructure and corroded pipes. Exposure to lead, especially in children, causes severe neurological damage and developmental delays.
Additionally, arsenic was found in 8% of household-treated tap water samples and 3% of tap water samples, while uranium was detected in 2% of both household-treated and direct tap water samples. Both contaminants pose significant long-term health risks, including cancer and kidney damage.
Bottled Water Is Not a Safer Alternative
While consumers often switch to bottled water due to concerns about the taste or safety of tap water, the featured study4 revealed that bottled water is not necessarily a safer option. While it generally displayed lower overall toxicity, it was not free from contamination.
Researchers found that 8% of bottled water samples exceeded California’s strict regulatory limit for THMs, with chloroform detected in 32% of the samples. Interestingly, some petroleum-derived compounds, including benzene and toluene, were detected exclusively in bottled water and were not found in tap or household-treated samples. As the researchers stated:5
“In BW [bottled water], additional detections and exceedances suggest that bottle production and processing may play a role in water quality. Two petroleum-derived compounds — benzene and toluene — were detected in BW only.
One benzene detection was in exceedance of the health benchmark, and all five toluene detections were below the health benchmark. One possibility is that these contaminants were introduced to bottled water products during processing.”
Another surprising finding was the prevalence of heterotrophic bacteria in bottled water, found in 43% of the samples. Although these bacteria are not typically associated with pathogens, their presence contradicts the common perception of bottled water as a purer alternative. According to the authors:6
“These findings corroborate previous studies identifying HPC [heterotrophic plate count] in BW, which found detections in 30% to 71% of samples. While tap water samples are likely to have HPC as well because of its ubiquitous presence in the environment, these findings are particularly interesting in BW because of marketing claims about the purity of BW.”
The results call into question the assumption that bottled water is inherently safer or cleaner than tap water. Both sources carry their own risks, and while bottled water addresses some aesthetic concerns, it still has its fair share of health-related issues you need to watch out for.
