Measures to toughen up bottled water laws in the state of California have come a step closer after a bill was yesterday approved by four to one by the state’s Assembly Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committee.
The bill if passed would make California’s bottled water laws among the toughest in the US, requiring companies to put out water quality reports similar to those public water suppliers and include greater detail on product labels. The bill would also allow authorities the same inspection rights to bottled water facilities as they currently have to public water plants. Bottled water companies would be charged a levy to finance the new regulations.
Having passed through the Assembly Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committee, the bill now moves to the Appropriations Committee before coming before the full Assembly.
Bottled water companies have suggested that the proposed measures are unnecessary and costly. Stephen Kay, a spokesman for the International Bottled Water Association, said bottled water suppliers already meet standards set under the state’s food laws.
