Last Updated on June 27, 2022 by Shabnam Sengupta
Quick Take
A social media post is claiming that bottled water is not safe for drinking. We fact-checked and found this claim to be False.
The Claim
A video on social media attempts to show “a dirty secret that alkaline water companies don’t want you to know.” The video claims ‘they use purified water, which is highly acidic.” The video continues with the narrator saying water producers “add chemicals, like baking soda, which is very bad for your kidneys” and states “Check this out, now it’s alkaline,” the narrator says, “not good for you.” A screenshot is attached below:
Fact-Check
How is Bottled water regulated?
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has set the standards for bottled water. They require manufacturers to process and transport bottled water under sanitary conditions and to use processes that ensure the safety of the water. Therefore, in the majority of cases, bottled water is safe to drink. In case of a sporadic event, however, bottled water recalls occur due to contamination.
Is bottled water shown in the video (claimed to be Dasani) unfit for drinking?
No. As per the manufacturing standards of Dasani, the ingredients include purified water, magnesium sulfate, potassium chloride, salt, and minerals added for taste. Neither of these ingredients is acidic in nature.
The water companies make alkaline water either by getting the water from a source that has dissolved alkaline minerals in it or using electrolysis to separate out ions to alter the water’s pH.
The acidic or alkaline nature of the water is for marketing reasons, mainly because water is neutral, so very little acidic or alkaline salts are needed to change its pH. The minerals are added in trace to give a taste to it. The mineral concentration and total acidity are extremely small in water compared to other beverages and foods which we consume.
Also, there is nothing to substantiate the narrator’s descriptions of the various substances used in the video, including nothing to prove that the water poured from the bottle was the original product in the bottle. Therefore, the claim is false.
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