Reusable water bottles promoted at universities

While it is very clear that you personally do not like bottled water and would prefer that others subscribe to your view, providing people with misleading and incorrect information perpetuated by anti-bottled water activist groups is not helpful to an open and engaged conversation. And, while I really appreciate your passion, unfortunately you are incorrect on virtually all of your points.

Your claim that 60-70 percent of bottled water is not regulated by the FDA because it is sold in intrastate commerce is completely false. FDA's jurisdiction over bottled water products (and any other product regulated by FDA) extends not only to those products that move in interstate commerce but also to those products sold within a single state that are enclosed in packaging materials that have moved in interstate commerce.

Known as the component theory of FDA jurisdiction, courts have long held that if any component of a food product moves in interstate commerce, FDA has jurisdiction over the finished product, regardless of whether the finished product itself moves in interstate commerce. In the case of bottled water, if the plastic used in the bottles, the plastic used in the caps, the paper and ink used on the labels, any other outer packaging materials, and even the water itself comes from out of state, then FDA has jurisdiction over that product. And in today's commercial society, that will almost always be the case. Congress has recognized this fact by enacting a law that expressly presumes that all food and beverage products are sold in interstate commerce. (21 U.S.C. § 379 (a))

You also claim that the FDA has only "half a person" to oversee regulation of the bottled water industry. This myth, apart from being completely false, is also illogical. Dr. Henry Kim is in charge of the bottled water program at FDA/Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN), located in College Park, Maryland. He shares regulatory tasks with two other senior staffers at CFSAN.

CFSAN is one of six product-oriented centers, in addition to a nationwide field force, that carry out the mission of the FDA. As you know, FDA is a scientific regulatory agency responsible for the safety of the nation's domestically produced and imported foods, cosmetics, drugs, biologics, medical devices, and radiological products. The Center has over 800 employees, including highly specialized professionals such as chemists, microbiologists, toxicologists, food technologists, pathologists, molecular biologists, pharmacologists, nutritionists, epidemiologists, mathematicians, sanitarians, physicians and veterinarians.

While these individuals and their staffs oversee regulatory enactment and enforcement of the bottled water industry, the key work is done by both FDA regional offices in the United States and the states themselves. Inspections and enforcement all happen in these locations, not in College Park. All 50 states have delegation agreements with FDA, meaning that when they inspect a bottled water plant (or ANY food processing facility), they act with the full authority of the FDA.

Bottled water is a smart decision and a healthy choice when it comes to packaged beverage options. Efforts to eliminate or reduce access to bottled water only hinder attempts to encourage people to choose healthier drink options and opt for ones with have more packaging, more ingredients, and greater environmental impacts than bottled water. Consumers choose bottled water for several reasons, including its refreshing taste, reliable quality, zero calories and additives, and convenience. For people who want to eliminate or moderate calories, sugar, caffeine, artificial flavors or colors, and other ingredients from their diet, choosing water is the right choice - whether from the tap or in a bottle.

Additionally, you accuse the bottled water industry of somehow undermining public water systems. To claim that the availability of bottled water in the marketplace somehow affects the infrastructure, funding, development, and maintenance of municipal water systems makes no sense and is completely unfounded. Many bottled water products use public water system sources, which is why the bottled water industry supports a strong public water system. That water is then produced utilizing a multi-barrier approach and placed in a bottle and sealed.

Lastly, about 98.5 percent of all bottled water sold in the United States is sourced domestically. The existence of a bottled water industry in the U.S. has no impact on the availability of drinking water in, or the public service infrastructure of, any other country.

The claim that bottled water products are less regulated that tap water is simply false. Bottled water is comprehensively regulated by the United States Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) as a packaged food product and provides a consistently safe and reliable source of drinking water. By federal law, the FDA regulations governing the safety and quality of bottled water must be at least as stringent as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations that govern tap water. And, in some very important cases like coliform bacteria and E. coli, bottled water regulations are substantially more stringent.

All bottled water products - whether from groundwater or public water sources - are produced utilizing a multi-barrier approach. From source to finished product, a multi-barrier approach helps prevent possible harmful contamination to the finished product as well as storage, production, and transportation equipment.

The claim is also made that PET plastic bottled water containers are not safe. PET plastic bottles, commonly small, portable 16.9 (half-liter) and 24 ounce sizes, are safe and reliable for food contact use. PET is used in a variety of packaging for many foods, including everything from peanut butter, soft drinks, and juices to beer, wine, and spirits. PET is approved as safe for food and beverage contact by the FDA and similar regulatory agencies throughout the world, and has been for over 30 years.

Regarding bottled water's environmental footprint, all bottled water containers are 100 percent recyclable. And, when you do the math, it turns out that of all the plastics produced in the U.S., PET plastic bottled water packaging makes up only 0.92 percent; less than one percent. Moreover, plastic bottled water containers make up only one-third of one percent of the U.S. waste stream, according to the EPA.

And, according to data released in January 2013, by the National Association for PET Container Resources (NAPCOR) at 38.6 percent, recycling rates for single-serve PET plastic bottled water containers have more than doubled in the last seven years.

Despite the bottled water industry's size, the amount of water actually sold is relatively tiny, compared to tap water volumes. To put it in context, the entire U.S. bottled water market is 9 billion gallons; New York City goes through that amount of tap water in one week.

Annual bottled water production accounts for less than 0.02 percent of the total groundwater withdrawn in the United States each year. In fact, the entire U.S. beverage industry uses less than 0.03 percent. At 57 billion gallons per day, the largest user of groundwater is actually the agriculture industry. That amount equals 68 percent of total groundwater extracted in 2010.