Bottled water is the fastest growing drink choice in the United States, and Americans spend billions of dollars each year to buy it. Some people drink bottled water as an alternative to other beverages; others drink it because they prefer its taste or think it is safer than their tap water. Whether it travels through a pipe to your home or comes packaged in a bottle, safe drinking water is essential to good health. All our drinking water comes from similar sources, either from sources we can see, such as rivers and lakes, or from sources we can't see, such as underground aquifers. In the same way that tap water's taste and quality may vary from place to place, so too does bottled water's taste and quality vary among and even within brands. The taste and quality of both bottled water and tap water depend on the source and quality of the water, including its natural mineral content and how, or if, the water is treated. Drinking water can reasonably be expected to contain at least small amounts of some contaminants.

Cover title. "September 2005." "EPA/816-K-05-003."