Bottled water is a highly regulated product, subject to federal, state and industry standards.
This includes packaged water sold in smaller containers at retail outlets as well as larger five-gallon containers distributed to the home and office market. In addition, all bottled water products imported from countries outside of the U.S. must meet the standards established by their own country as well as comply with all of the U.S. regulations. In addition to FDA's extensive regulatory requirements, the bottled water industry is subject to state regulatory requirements as well. Although some state regulations are more comprehensive than others are, most state regulations either reference federal standards or are analogous to them. A significant responsibility of the state is inspecting, sampling, analyzing and approving sources of water.