A study carried out by an environmental group reached the (probably not so) surprising conclusion that bottled water is not purer and thus not safer than tap water.

Washington, D.C.-based Environmental Working Group took samples of several brands of bottled water and studied them. The results showed that bottled water of top-selling brands contained as much as of 38 pollutants. The list of pollutants is quite similar to the one of tap water and includes fertilizer, industrial chemicals, bacteria and the residue of drugs such as Tylenol. Not all water samples contained 38 pollutants. The average number of pollutants per sample was of 8.

The results of the study are of paramount importance considering the fact that the number of Americans who drink bottled water grew considerably over the past decade. The number more than doubled since 1997. More exactly, the United States residents drank 8.8 billion gallons at a cost of $10.3 billion in last year. The stats were provided by the Beverage Marketing Corp.

Don’t let yourself get tricked into thinking that bottled water comes from the mountain springs shown in the commercials. The reality is that most bottled water comes from the city’s water supplies, according to the researchers who carried out the study.

“If you're going to pay 1,500 times more for bottled water than for tap you'd expect that you'd be getting a cleaner, better product,'' said Renee Sharp, an Environmental Working Group senior scientist. “And that's not necessarily true.''

The Environmental Working Group took samples from 10 U.S. bottled water brands analyzed them to find out that in some cases, bottled water matches the levels found in some of the nation's most polluted big city tap water systems.

"Consumers can't trust that what's in the bottle is anything more than processed, pricey tap water," said Jane Houlihan of Environment Working Group.

On the other hand, the International Bottled Water Association underlined the fact that bottled water isn't simply tap water in a bottle. The bottled water producers use the water from a municipal source, but the water is treated and purified.

The next step to solve this problem would probably be to require bottled water producers to inform customers about contaminants that may be present in the water, to tell customers where the water comes from and how it's purified; just as public water utilities are required to do.