A few weeks ago, we wrote about two new government reports that raised concerns about the safety of bottled water (“New Reports on Plastic Water Bottles: Question Your (Water) Sources & Just Drink From the Tap“), as well as the environmental impact of the bottles themselves.

Chief among the concerns raised by the US Government Accountability Office report was the wide gulf in regulation between tap and bottled water, stemming primarily from the fact that bottled water is regulated as food by the FDA, whereas it's the EPA that regulates tap water. The Environmental Working Group (EWG) report noted that “only 2 of 188 bottled waters surveyed make public 3 basic facts about their products routinely disclosed by municipal water utilities.”

Now the site Food & Water Watch, nonprofit consumer organization based in Washington, D.C, reports that Nestlé has posted a decline in water bottle sales. Nestlé's bottled water division, Nestlé Waters, both packages and sells water under over 50 brands worldwide, including: Arrowhead, Calistoga, Deer Park, Poland Spring, and Perrier.

The 3.7% decline in volume isn't huge, but perhaps it marks a growing change in consumer choices. Nestlé has also been in the news lately for having to issue a product recall for its cookie dough in June. Make your own cookies; drink from the sink. No trend here.

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