Lately, bottled water has become as essential as a cell phone. You see almost everyone walking down the street carrying one, or it is strategically placed in a convenient pouch in your backpack for the occasional thirst quench. But is bottled water's health risks disguised by convenience? In an age where safety concerns are raised by everything from seat belts to the radio waves used by cell phones, water is no exception. However, is water any safer or better for us just because it comes out of a bottle?Recently, the Natural Resources Defense Council conducted a four year study of the bottled water industry. What they found was pretty scary. They tested over 1000 bottles of water provided by 103 different brands. It turns out that 23 of the 103 brands of water were not legally safe enough to drink, according to California's state laws.
The general consensus, as reported by National Geographic, was that there was no guarantee that water from a bottle is any safer than water from a tap. The same Natural Resources Defense Council stated that some of the bottled water contained levels of bacteria and chemicals that were unsafe because they could potentially cause cancer or other illnesses. 