Consumer Reports has just made public the results of an investigation into levels of arsenic in popular brands of bottled water. That report discovered that 11 brands out of 130 had detectable amounts of arsenic in them, which makes them potentially unsafe to drink over the long run.
Current federal regulations state that bottled waters may not have arsenic levels higher than 10 parts per billion. That said, Consumer Reports states that several experts claim that arsenic levels in bottled water greater than 3 parts per billion may be a health risk.
In the test conducted, four brands had detectable levels of arsenic (below 3 ppb), while six brands had arsenic levels of 3 ppb or greater. Those six brands are Starkey (owned by Whole Foods), Peñafiel (owned by Keurig Dr. Pepper), Crystal Geyser Alpine Spring Water, Volvic (owned by Danone), and two regional brands, Crystal Creamery and EartH₂O. What’s terrifying, however, is that one of the bottled water brands–Peñafiel, which is owned by Keurig Dr. Pepper–had an average of 17 ppb. This level is far above typical amounts.
In direct response to the report, Keurig Dr. Pepper said it will cease bottled water production for two weeks at its Mexico factory that makes Peñafiel for export to the U.S., but a full-scale recall is not currently planned. However, Consumer Reports states that the company should recall the contaminated products right away. If they do not, they say that the FDA should step in to regulate.
After reading that, if you’re worried about the arsenic levels in your bottled water, Consumer Reports has created a list of bottled water brands that you should be okay to drink to due to the fact that all the brands had arsenic levels that were nondetectable or below 3 parts per billion in their testing. The safe brands of bottled water include:
Aquafina
Arrowhead
Dasani
Deer Park
Essentia
Evian
Fiji
Glaceau Smart Water
Ice Mountain
Kirkland (Costco)
Life WTR
Market Pantry (Target)
Nestlé Pure Life
Niagara
Poland Spring
Propel