Bottled Water: FDA Safety and Consumer Protections Are Often Less Stringent Than Comparable EPA Protections for Tap Water

This Report (GAO-09-861T) of testimony from the Government Accountability Office argues that the FDA’s regulation of bottled water when compared with EPA’s regulation of tap water, reveals key differences in the agencies’ statutory authorities and that states’ requirements to safeguard bottled water often exceed those of FDA, but are still often less comprehensive than state requirements to safeguard tap water.