Katie Couric's Notebook: Bottled Water
They're everywhere on a hot summer's day: those plastic bottles of water we all seem to carry. Americans drank $16 billion dollars worth last year, but how much do you really know about your favorite brand?
Two reports out today recommend better labeling. The utility that pumps water to your house has to publish an annual quality report. Bottlers don't. In fact, out of 188 brands analyzed, only two disclose where their water comes from, how it's purified and what chemicals it may contain.
Bottlers test their water regularly and insist it's pure and no one disputes that. But what comes from the kitchen faucet practically for free is often just as good or better than what you paid two bucks for.
By not giving customers the facts, there's no way to tell and some bottlers like it that way. 40 percent of bottled water comes from the tap. If you knew YOURS did, would you still buy it?
That's a page from my notebook.
I'm Katie Couric, CBS News.
Two reports out today recommend better labeling. The utility that pumps water to your house has to publish an annual quality report. Bottlers don't. In fact, out of 188 brands analyzed, only two disclose where their water comes from, how it's purified and what chemicals it may contain.
Bottlers test their water regularly and insist it's pure and no one disputes that. But what comes from the kitchen faucet practically for free is often just as good or better than what you paid two bucks for.
By not giving customers the facts, there's no way to tell and some bottlers like it that way. 40 percent of bottled water comes from the tap. If you knew YOURS did, would you still buy it?
That's a page from my notebook.
I'm Katie Couric, CBS News.
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