BOTTLED WATER MIRAGE? STUDY SAYS TAP IS SAFE FOR YOU, SAFER FOR EARTH.

Byline: Joseph Giordono Staff Writer

Never mind worries about the ``Big One,'' a new study Thursday rocks the very foundation of Los Angeles' lifestyle: bottled water is no healthier than tap water.

A study by researchers in Geneva, Switzerland, found no evidence that a $2 bottle of water shipped to L.A. from remote mountains and tropical islands is any better for you than plain tap water.

The World Wildlife Fund, which commissioned the study, conceded that bottled water might taste better than some from the tap, but said it's not healthier or safer. In one clear way it's worse: the production and discard of so many bottles is polluting the environment.

``When you compare public drinking water supplies with bottled water in the United States, you come to the same conclusion,'' said Jim McDaniel, director of water quality at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.

``Public water is a great deal, it's just as safe and it's a heck of a lot cheaper,'' he said.

Bottled water is the fastest-growing beverage industry in the world, with up to $22 billion in U.S. sales alone, the study found.

The study also pointed out that some 1.5 million tons of plastic are used to bottle water every year, releasing toxic chemicals and crowding landfills.

``Bottled water may be no safer, or healthier, than tap water in many countries, while selling for up to 1,000 times the price,'' the study found.

But as long as the likes of ``chromium 6,'' ``MTBE'' and ``arsenic'' continue to be associated with drinking water in Los Angeles, many consumers say they will gladly continue to pay for bottled water.

``What are you, suicidal?'' exclaimed Luins Williams Jr., who combined the Southland's fixation on designer labels and healthy lifestyles by putting corporate logos and other specialized labels on water bottles.

``Would you really take a glass, put it under the tap where you live and drink that? The city puts chlorine in it, but other than that it's still filthy.''

Williams, who says his Premier Label Water Co. was the first bottled water company to take Internet orders, counts several big names as satisfied clients.

Thanks to him, everyone from Warner Bros. Studios to Microsoft to Sally Jesse Raphael to even the Los Angeles Department of Health have their own private label waters. And, yes, Williams has done labels for weddings and bar mitzvahs.

His latest label is a ``Designated Driver'' label, aimed at bars and clubs.

Other water industry figures challenged the WWF study as well.

``Bottled water sales are a symptom of the problem, not the cause itself,'' said Stephen Kay, a spokesman for the International Bottled Water Association in Virginia.

``Standards for bottled water are at least as protective as those for tap water.''

But the World Wildlife Fund study concluded that standards for tap water are often more stringent than for bottled water.

A spokeswoman at the Food and Drug Administration in Washington, D.C., confirmed that tap water is under the purview of the EPA while bottled waters are considered a food product and subject to FDA guidelines.

Environmental activists say that while local water might not be clean enough to be trusted, there are other, lower-cost alternatives to bottled water.

``We run the tap through a filter at my house,'' said Gail Ruderman- Feuer, wife of City Councilman Mike Feuer and a senior attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council, which has done studies on both bottled water and tap water in the United States.

``There are problems with both. With bottled water, there is very little regulation. It could come from a spring in an industrial area. With tap water, one of the biggest problems is arsenic, which has national attention now.''

The bottom line, Ruderman-Feuer said, is that consumers should be wary of both products.

``The lesson is, even if you are paying a lot for water, you don't know if it is safe,'' she said.

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(color) Premier Label Water Co. provides customized labels for the Southland's ubiquitous water bottles, like this one for Warner Bros. in Burbank, and not surprisingly endorses packaged drinking water over tap sources.

Phil McCarten/Staff Photographer