When it comes to water in bottles, there are two kinds of plastic to consider: PET & Polycarbonate. We’ll handle PET first.

PET plastic has the recycle code# 1 under the bottle. Most bottled water comes in PET. There are a couple health concerns of note with PET (ranked from most serious to least):

• Bacteria - It happens when water is left stagnant. Especially when the water is dechlorinated like most bottled waters (plus the bottles are difficult to wash). Most of the health problems associated with this kind of bacteria is diarrhea, stomach upset. This is the chief reason it is not recommended to reuse the bottles.

• Antimony - A few studies have shown antimony trioxide does leach into water from PET plastic over time. The levels are below the EPA standards of antimony. Still a longer range concern.

That’s about it. Bisphenol-A is NOT present in PET. In 2003, DEHP was shown to leech into water after long term storage, but the results have not be accurately reproduced since.

At this point, PET is considered safe by many entities.