Not much more than tap water
In some cases it is true that bottled water is healthier than tap water, given that 1.1 billion people on earth do not have access to safe drinking water. According to the Earth Policy Institute, however, 40 percent of bottled water is nothing more than ordinary tap water. Often the only difference is the addition of mineral salts that have no noticeable health benefits (and which in large quantities are even harmful). In inspections carried out by the National Food Inspection Agency (EFET) in 2003 and 2004 of 542 samples from 25 bottling firms, tests showed that 2 percent of the samples were unfit for drinking and chemical analyses found problems with 3 percent.