Water Delivery Popularity Still Lingers

The home water delivery industry is loosely regulated. Sales of water delivery are increasing and companies like Zephyr Hills and Sparklets water delivery are seemingly prospering, as are claims for fraud and complaints about unethical sales practices. Consumers must beware of salesmen who attempt to frighten them and claims of government approval for water treatment units.

Landfills that leak deadly contaminants into groundwater; pipes that lace tap water with lead; pesticides that taint lakes and streams those are just a few of the images that come to mind when the safety of our water supply comes into question-and they are prompting an expanding number of Americans to purchase home water delivery. Between 2001 and 2007, spending on home water treatment units increased by some 50 percent, to nearly $2 billion annually. Expert's project that by 2009 that figure will rise again–to almost $3 billion.

At the same time sales of home water treatment units are raising, however, so are reports of questionable sales practices and fraudulent claims. Between 2003 and 2007, consumers filed more than 4,000 written complaints about water purifiers with the Better Business Bureau.

That comes as no surprise to the federal government. After conducting a thorough review of the home water treatment business, the U.S. General Accounting Office concluded recently that regulation of home water delivery is incomplete and inadequate, largely because it is fragmented among several different federal and independent agencies that have not coordinated their administrative efforts. The result, beyond the dishonest sales tactics and fraud running rampant in the industry, is that consumers are left particularly vulnerable to buying units that don't do what their makers say they do.

That's not to say that all pitches for home water treatment units are scams. Even the General Accounting Office says there are many reputable companies among the 600-plus manufacturers that make up the industry. Nevertheless, the office's conclusion that inadequate regulation of home water treatment units leaves consumers at risk underscores the importance of "testing the water" carefully before spending $25 to upwards of $2,000 on a water purifier.

Don't let a salesperson frighten you into buying a water filter or other type of treatment unit, particularly because the chances are quite high that you don't need one. Although drinking water from some sources, particularly private wells, can in rare instances pose a health hazard, the major portion of our water delivery comes from public water supplies that comply with safety standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency. Unfortunately, some marketers scare consumers into believing that even water that meets the government's safety standards is contaminated. Take the example of the New York-based company that hawked its water purifiers in New York via television advertisements suggesting that tap water contains such toxins as cancer-causing pesticides and industrial waste. One of the ads went so far as to picture a woman giving a child a drink from a faucet spewing a stream of orange and yellow water. (The New York Attorney General's Office and the Federal Trade Commission later acted against the company and received more than $700,000 in consumer redress.)