State Inspection of Drinking Water Machines Sought
The state’s largest vendor of machine-dispensed drinking water is seeking greater industry oversight by health officials to reassure consumers that the water is safe.
In the wake of a Los Angeles County study that found drinking water sold from supermarket vending machines has higher bacteria levels than tap water, representatives from 25 companies, which own nearly all of the drinking water machines in California, met Wednesday in Sacramento with California Department of Health Services officials and Los Angeles County toxicologists to discuss the findings.
Stuart E. Richardson Jr., the state’s food and drug division chief, said there was general agreement among the industry representatives that “we’ve got a problem. It might be a public perspective problem, but we want to make sure there is oversight.”
Glacier Water Services Inc., the largest operator of water vending machines, called for a mandatory state inspection program, to be funded with a $20 to $40 fee per vending machine charged to owners.
“We believe that’s a small price to pay to ensure consumer confidence in our product and our industry,” said Glacier’s president, Jerry A. Gordon.
William Gibson, an analyst who tracks the drinking water industry for Irvine brokerage Cruttenden, Roth, said such a fee-based inspection program might give a deep-pocket company like Glacier an edge over mom-and-pop competitors.
“It raises barriers and makes it harder on smaller companies,” said Gibson, who is also a Glacier shareholder.
Glacier, which owns 7,000 of the state’s 9,000 water vending machines, “has the most to gain, but also the most to lose from companies that do a lousy job [maintaining their machines],” Gibson said.
Public worries about the safety of vending machine drinking water, he said, could damage the industry.
Currently, vending machine operators are required by the state to test their machines twice a year.
Richardson said a working group was formed with representatives from the companies and state and county agencies. The group will meet in December to propose specific actions.
A yearlong study released last month by the Environmental Toxicology Bureau of Los Angeles County’s Agricultural Commissioner / Weights and Measures Department described water sold at hundreds of locations around Los Angeles as unclean.
The report called for surprise inspections of the vending machines, but found “no clear evidence of danger for consumers,” despite the high bacteria levels.
Consumers expecting pure water from the machines, according to the report, are “paying for water quality [they are] not getting.”
The report cited several reasons for the allegedly contaminated water.
Many of the machines had dirty spigots or aging carbon filters that can no longer remove all contaminants. Others had purification systems that fail to remove odors and dissolved solids, as well as germicidal treatment processes that do not properly disinfect the water, the study found.
