Rules and Regulations for Bottled Water

Regulation Authority:

RIGL 21-23

Purpose and Reason:

These amendments require water bottler licensees to report to HEALTH within 24 hours, or by the next business day if state offices are closed, when sample results indicate that a water quality standard has been exceeded, and update an incorrect reference to the applicable FDA Standards in the current regulations with the correct current reference [21 CFR Part 165.110].

Brief statement of Reason for Finding Imminent Peril:

A management review of these regulations after the recent retirement of the only staff member assigned to this program discovered two problems that require an emergency filing to rectify: (1) The regulations contain no requirement for water bottlers to notify HEALTH when sample results indicate that a water quality standard has been exceeded. A reporting requirement already exists for Public Water Systems. Without this change, water bottlers may know that their product is contaminated but withhold the information from Health and sell unsafe bottled water to the public. (2) The reference contained within the regulations to FDA standards of quality is no longer current. Without an update to the correct current FDA standards, our regulations effectively lack a requirement to comply with FDA standards which puts product quality at risk but also jeopardizes any interstate licenses held by our in-state bottlers.