ABSTRACT
Bottled water can be a viable and important part of the solution to the problem of providing safe, sanitary drinking water to communities worldwide. On a global scale, the availability of safe, sanitary drinking water is becoming a major economic and health concern in developed, emerging and undeveloped economic regions of the world. An approach has been developed for the use of bottled water as an interim or even long-term measure for supplying areas of critical need while the water infrastructure is financed and developed. Unlike most public water supplies and distribution systems owned by public agencies, bottled water companies are typically privately owned and not operating under the aegis of public authorities. There are basically three types of water treatment technologies used in the bottled water industry: filtration, disinfection, and purification. In many communities, particularly in developing countries, street vendors sell bottled water of unknown source and quality, often at significant cost.
