How Scoring Works

Overview

We all need water, but not all water is the same. Whether it's bottled, straight from the tap, or filtered, understanding the cleanliness and health of water is vital for taking care of our health and supporting longevity.

Every water has its own unique characteristics and we've created a scoring system to help you understand the quality of the water you drink. Please note our scoring system is subject to change in light of new scientific evidence and research.

We choose to open-source our scoring system to allow for transparency and to encourage feedback and improvement.

How we score bottled water

Everything is scored out of 100, and we penalize each item depending on a few factors:

• Source
• Contaminant amount and levels
• PFAS
• Packaging/material
• Filtration method
• PH

Source

The source of water is the first thing we consider when scoring water. Not all water is the same and it starts with the source. A large portion of bottled water comes straight from municipal water supplies and undergoes intense treatment to remove the countless toxins inside. This treatment strips water of its natural minerals, making it harder for the body to digest and often adds disinfectant by-products to the water.

Other sources of water include natural springs, aquifers, icebergs, deep wells, and other natural sources. Ideally, the water doesn't need to be filtered much and comes from a natural source which includes healthy minerals.

Penalties:

• Municipal water supply: 20
• Rain: 10
• Unknown (not stated in report): 20

Contaminant amount and levels

It's hard to find water on Earth anymore without some level of contamination. However, we set a high standard and believe water can only be 100/100 if it has no harmful contaminants. We penalize water for the number of unique contaminants and the levels of each substance (based on the legal limit or health guideline).

Penalties:

• Contaminant severity score (1-5) * amount over health guideline
• Max penalty per contaminant: 40
• No lab report: 25

Packaging

The container a water is stored in greatly impacts its quality as contaminants can leech into the water from packaging..

Penalties:

• Plastic: 20
• Can: 15
• Aluminum: 15
• Cardboard: 12
• Glass: 0

PFAS

PFAS (perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are a class of chemicals that are very common in water sources across the United States and are highly toxic. No amounts of PFAS are recommended for consumption. This is an added penalty in addition to the one it receives in the contaminant scoring.

Penalties:

• Postive PFAS: 10
• Untested for PFAS: 10
• Non-detect: 0

How we score filters

As Earth's water becomes more and more polluted, the need for water filters has increased. There are many different types of filters, and often it isn't clear which filter is best. We analyze the testing report of the filter to determine the percentage of each contaminant category removed.

Contaminant categories commonly found in water:

• Chemical disinfectants (i.e. chlorine, bromine, etc.)
• Fluoride
• Haloacetic Acids
• Heavy Metals
• Microplastics
• PFAS
• Pesticides
• Pharmaceuticals
• Phthalates
• Radiological Elements
• Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)
• Microbiological elements

The overall filter score is calculated by the percentage of each contaminant category removed divided by all contamiant categorie removed. For example if a filter removes 20% of Haloacetic Acids and 30% of Microplastics and 100% of all other categories it will receive a score of 87.5%

How we score tap water

Tap water is popularly known as a commodity that is safe to drink and available to everyone. However, the quality of tap water can vary greatly depending on where you live, and it has become increasingly polluted. When analyzing tap water, we consider the following factors:

• Unique contaminants
• Levels of each substance (contaminant severity score * amount over health guideline)

Important Note: Because tap water does not come in a container, nor is it tested for microplastics / PFAS ever it is not rated on the same scale as bottled water. For example if a city's water is rated at 30 and a bottled water is rated at 25 this DOES NOT necessarily mean the tap water is better. Majority of the time bottled water is far better than any tap water source.