Investigation into the Quality of American Water System's Bottling of Drinking Water

摘要

Water is bottled for community relations and marketing purposes at various AmericanWater Works subsidiary companies. Taste and odor issues occur that relate to the chlorineresidual of the water, the treatment process practices of the bottler and the bottle and capmaterials. The most significant problem discovered was the presence of food preservatives andflavoring. To ensure that bottled water quality is a positive reflection of American’s potablewater quality and service provided the following recommendations are made.The American utility subsidiary must use bottling facilities approved by the governingstate agency and not fill the bottles by manual means. Subsidiaries must verify that their bottledwater complies with their state’s bottled water regulations for bottling, testing, water transport,recording keeping and reporting practices. Initial and periodic bacteriological testing must beconducted to verify bottled water quality.The bottling facilities must supply records indicating current certification. Thesefacilities must fully disclose the procedures used to sanitize, rinse and fill the bottles; thetreatment processes the bottled water will under go; and the quality control testing resultsassociated with each batch of water bottled. Bottling facilities must ensure that contaminationfrom other bottled products (water or other beverages) does not carryover into American bottledwater. The bottled water will undergo as minimal treatment as possible to maintain the integrityof American’s product.Bottles will be made from virgin polyethylene terephthalate resin with an intrinsicviscosity of ≥ 0.8 and an acetaldehyde level of < 1.0. High-density polyethylene or poly vinylchloride materials must not be used. Caps should be made from virgin polypropylene plastics.