PORTLAND, Ore. – Sales are skyrocketing for the bottled water industry, but what are companies actually selling to customers?

In its new report "Take Back the Tap," Food and Water Watch researchers look at the booming business of bottled water, which surpassed soda in sales in 2016. The group finds nearly 64 percent of bottled water comes from municipal taps and that it cost almost 2,000 times as much as tap water and four times as much as gasoline.

Patty Lovera, food and water policy director with Food and Water Watch, says bottled water companies target demographics through advertising, especially immigrant communities.

"It is much more the norm in other countries where you have to go buy bottled water because the safety systems aren't there for tap water,” says Lovera. “That's not the case in most American cities. That's pretty predatory to convince people they need to keep spending their hard earned money to do that and undermining people's confidence in tap water."

Bottled water companies say their water actually is safer.

The report also found about 70 percent of bottles aren't recycled and that four billion pounds of plastic were used to produce bottles in 2016. That's enough to fill the Empire State Building 1.3 times.

Activists also have raised concerns that companies that do rely on groundwater are depleting people's local water supplies and hurting the ecosystem.

For a decade, Nestlé has tried to open bottling plants in the Columbia River Gorge, but failed. In 2016, people in Cascade Locks voted to ban large bottling facilities.

Lovera says the company kept trying to open a facility in the town until Governor Kate Brown killed its chances for good last year.

"The governor weighed in and basically blocked a fairly complicated deal that would have let Nestle do a water transfer to get access to build a water facility in the Columbia River Gorge,” she says. “So, it's a huge issue for communities when they see the volumes of water that would be removed."

Lovera says even though most tap water systems are safe, the country's water infrastructure is in need of maintenance, especially in places such as Flint, Michigan, and that federal funding is the best avenue for that. But she adds that it can be difficult to get support for this idea.

"It's hard to build that political will if people think that you buy water at the grocery store and you just have to go take care of it that way” she says. “We kind of undermine this sense of ownership and accountability for having a tap water system that works for everybody."


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Compared with other states, North Dakota has yet to see a big invasion of aquatic nuisance species. But officials are not letting their guard down, and to protect regional lakes, they ask boaters to pitch in with key cleaning steps.

The North Dakota Game and Fish Department says because of its location, North Dakota has largely been shielded from nonnative plants, insects and other organisms infesting its waterways as they have in coastal areas and the Great Lakes region.

Ben Holen, the department's aquatic nuisance species or ANS coordinator, said the southeastern part of the state has seen activity, namely with zebra mussels.

"Zebra mussels, they're manipulators of the ecosystem. They completely cover docks," he explained. "They clog water intakes. They push nutrients to the bottom, which increases vegetation growth out there."

That's bad news for native species, as well as economic activity from water recreation. As North Dakotans prepare their boats for the summer, they're asked to memorize key steps for each outing. Those include cleaning, draining and drying all equipment after every use, with a focus on removing all plants or animals from the watercraft prior to leaving the site. Doing so means these tiny creatures won't find their way to the next lake.

While his department does its mitigation work, Holen said, boat owners are being given tools to aid in their responsibility. Each year, boat-cleaning stations are being set up at access points to various North Dakota lakes.

"We've been looking to provide more and more each year for boaters, so it's never been easier for boaters to get cleaned, drained, dry at the boating access," he continued.

Holen said if boaters are not eager to help out, they could feel an economic pinch later through tax increases and higher water bills if state and local agencies have to clean or replace infrastructure damaged by an infestation.


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Iowa lawmakers are considering a bill that would require property owners to disclose the presence of lead water service lines during a real estate transaction.

Some of Iowa's residential water lines date back more than a century.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates at least half of the children in the United States are at risk of lead exposure from water lines.

The Iowa Environmental Council's Director of Climate Initiatives Cody Smith said the problem is especially acute in Iowa, where most of the homes built before 1980 have lead in the lines that bring water to the house, and added it will be extremely expensive to address.

"It's estimated that fixing Iowa's lead service line issue would cost about $900 million statewide," said Smith. "So, this is a pressing health concern for the children in our state."

Iowa is responding to a federal rule passed last year that requires all service lines that contain lead to be replaced by 2035.

House File 876 would require sellers to disclose that their house has lead service lines in a real estate transaction.

Iowa utility companies are notifying people if their house has lead in its service lines and offering assistance to remediate it.

Smith said homeowners can also find out for themselves if there's lead in their pipes.

"You can use, like, a penny to scratch your service line where it comes in to often the foundation of your home," said Smith. "And you'll see if it's copper. It it's copper, you're fine. Or if it's PVC plastic, you're fine. But oftentimes, it's going to be a lead service line."

HF 876 has passed the Iowa House and awaits action in the Senate.




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Both water quantity and quality are important in the dry climate of Nevada. Now, a proposal from the Environmental Protection Agency could roll back protections for the state's water resources.

EPA administrator Lee Zeldin said he wants to reduce protections granted under the Clean Water Act in an effort to undo "unfair burdens" on farmers and landowners. The 1972 federal law aims to maintain and restore the nation's waters.

Natasha Majewski, climate and energy consultant for the Nevada Wildlife Federation, said the waters covered by the act have changed over the years, but it is all an interconnected system.

"Lincoln County doesn't have the same amount of resources as Clark County, and yet water is still flowing from that county into tributaries such as the Muddy River," Majewski pointed out. "That goes into the Colorado River. That will end up being drinking water."

In 2023, the Supreme Court narrowed the definition of "waters of the United States." It determined only wetlands physically connected to other federally-recognized waters qualify for protection.

Majewski noted while Nevada has its own water laws, federal regulation is needed to maintain a baseline for all states. This week, listening sessions about the proposal will be held for government agencies and Native American tribes.

The Trump administration has said it wants to reduce "red tape" for business and industry but conservationists fear loosening restrictions will cause more pollution in Nevada's wetlands and ephemeral streams. Majewski argued water should not be a partisan issue.

"It is important that all Nevadans, whatever kind of political side they are on, are able to understand these issues more," Majewski stressed. "Because water, it surpasses the administration that it's currently in."

Majewski added changing water protections could affect the quality of the Colorado River and would cause complications due to the amount of agencies managing the river.

"The Colorado River and its different tributaries that come in, it is such a patchwork of people that manage those water sources," Majewski explained.