Report: Most bottled water contains microplastic pollution

Experts say you need to get around 2 liters of fluids every day to be healthy and hydrated, but one unexpected ingredient found in bottled water could actually be working against you even as you try to enhance your health: microplastic.

A recent CBC marketplace investigation into bottled water on the market found plastic contamination in 30 of the 50 water bottles tested, and it was even found in bottled water that came in glass containers. Some of the plastics found included rayon and polyethylene.

In a similar study, State University of New York researchers tested 259 bottles of some of the world’s most popular brands of water including Evian, San Pellegrino, Dasani, Nestle Pure Life and Aquafina. The water they tested had 325 pieces of microplastics per liter on average, with more than 10 of these pieces exceeding 100 microns in size. Overall, 93 percent of the bottles that were tested contained some type of microplastic, including polystyrene, nylon, PET and polypropylene.

In that study, the most contaminated brand was Nestle Pure Life. A sample of this water was found to contain 10,390 particles per liter. The least contaminated brand wasn’t exactly perfect, however; San Pellegrino had 74 particles per liter.