Quick Answer: Almost certainly trace amounts, and the line you buy decides how much. Great Value is Walmart’s store brand, not one water: its Purified Drinking Water is reverse-osmosis-treated municipal water — the same process that keeps Aquafina and Dasani near 0.4-0.5 ppt — so it should test similarly low. Its Spring Water line comes from natural springs with no RO step, the category that tends to test higher (~1-2 ppt). Great Value has no published PFAS test, so the numbers are inferred from process — but the label word “Purified” vs “Spring” tells you which is the safer bet. Under the 4 ppt EPA legal limit either way.
The Key Distinction: Great Value Is Not One Water
Most “does Great Value water have PFAS” searches miss the single most important fact: Great Value bottles more than one kind of water, and they are made completely differently. Confusing them is why online answers conflict.
| Great Value Line | Source | Treatment | Likely PFAS risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| Purified Drinking Water | Municipal | Reverse osmosis | Low — RO removes PFAS |
| Spring Water | Natural springs | Minimal (filtration only) | Higher — no RO step |
| Distilled Water | Municipal | Distillation | Low — distillation removes PFAS |
If your bottle says “Purified Drinking Water”, it went through reverse osmosis and belongs in the same low-PFAS group as Aquafina and Dasani. If it says “Spring Water,” it is a natural spring product with no membrane step — the same category as Poland Spring, which tested at 1.66 ppt.
What We Know — And What We Don’t
Here is the honest state of the evidence:
- No published independent PFAS test exists for any Great Value line. The widely cited Consumer Reports analysis of 47 bottled waters did not include Walmart’s store brand. So we cannot give a hard number the way we can for Aquafina (0.5) or Poland Spring (1.66).
- Great Value is co-packed by third-party bottlers. Walmart does not operate its own springs; it contracts established bottlers to produce each line to spec. The purified line uses standard RO purification common across the industry.
- The purified line is very likely low. Because reverse osmosis removes 94-99% of PFAS regardless of source municipality, Great Value Purified is very likely in the same sub-1 ppt range as other RO brands.
So the honest answer: the purified and distilled lines are almost certainly low, the spring line is a question mark, and none has a verified public number. Anyone quoting a precise Great Value PFAS figure is extrapolating.
Why the Purification Method Is Your Best Guide
When a specific test does not exist, the treatment process is the most reliable predictor — and the pattern across every tested brand is consistent.
Reverse osmosis and distillation both physically remove PFAS. RO forces water through a membrane with pores around 0.0001 microns, smaller than PFAS molecules; distillation boils and re-condenses water, leaving PFAS behind. Every RO-treated brand that has been tested — Essentia (0.2), Dasani (~0.4), Aquafina (~0.5) — came in under the 1 ppt scientist-recommended threshold. Great Value Purified and Distilled use these same methods.
Spring water, by contrast, is typically only filtered for sediment and disinfected — no step that removes PFAS. That is why Poland Spring tested at 1.66 ppt. Great Value Spring shares this vulnerability, though without a test we cannot say where in the range it falls.
How Great Value Fits the Broader Rankings
| Brand | Total PFAS (ppt) | Type |
|---|---|---|
| Essentia | 0.2 | Purified (RO) |
| Dasani | ~0.4 | Purified (RO) |
| Aquafina | ~0.5 | Purified (RO) |
| Great Value Purified | No published data (likely <1) | Purified (RO) |
| Great Value Spring | No published data (likely ~1-2) | Spring |
| Kirkland | No published data (dual-line) | Purified / Spring |
| Poland Spring | 1.66 | Spring |
Like Costco’s Kirkland, Great Value is a dual-line store brand — the line decides the likely level. Full rankings: Best Bottled Water Without PFAS and our complete bottled water rankings.
Which Great Value Water Should You Buy?
If PFAS is your deciding factor, the choice within the range is straightforward:
- Choose Purified or Distilled. Both use a process (reverse osmosis or distillation) that physically removes PFAS. Absent a specific test, these are the safer bets by a clear margin.
- Be cautious with Spring. Not because it is known to be high — it is untested — but because the spring-water category as a whole is where higher results have shown up. Untested plus higher-risk-category is a reason for caution, not alarm.
- Check the label every time. Walmart sells all three lines, and packaging changes. The words “Purified,” “Distilled” or “Spring” on the front are the fastest read on likely PFAS risk.
Is the Likely Level Safe to Drink?
For the purified and distilled lines, the likely range sits well under every current benchmark. The EPA legal limit is 4 ppt for individual regulated compounds, the industry voluntary standard is 5 ppt total, and even the strict 1 ppt scientist-recommended threshold would not be breached by a typical RO or distilled product. At sub-1 ppt, Great Value Purified would be one of the smallest contributors to your total PFAS exposure.
The caveat remains that this is inference from process, not a lab result. If you want certainty rather than a well-founded estimate, the only route is home filtration with a verifiable output.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Does Great Value water have PFAS?
No Great Value line has a published independent PFAS test. However, Great Value Purified and Distilled use reverse osmosis and distillation — processes that remove 94-99% of PFAS — so they very likely test under 1 ppt like other purified brands. Great Value Spring, with no such step, belongs to the spring-water category where higher results have appeared.
Is Great Value water just tap water?
Great Value Purified starts as municipal water and is then treated with reverse osmosis and filtration, so it is purified rather than raw tap water. The Spring line comes from natural springs. They are different products under the same store brand.
Which Great Value water is best for avoiding PFAS?
Great Value Purified Drinking Water or Distilled Water are the safer choices, because reverse osmosis and distillation are the most effective PFAS-removal methods. The spring line lacks that step and is untested.
Is Great Value water safe to drink?
Yes. All lines meet FDA and IBWA bottled water standards. The PFAS question is about optimising an already-safe product, not a safety failure. For most people any line is fine; the purified and distilled lines simply have a lower likely PFAS level.
Why is there no PFAS test for Great Value?
Store brands are less frequently included in independent testing than national brands. The prominent Consumer Reports study tested 47 waters but did not include Walmart’s Great Value, so no widely cited number exists — only inference from its purification methods.
Which bottled water has the lowest PFAS?
Among tested brands, Icelandic Glacial reported non-detect and Essentia measured 0.2 ppt. See the full PFAS-free bottled water rankings.
The Bottom Line
Great Value water almost certainly contains trace PFAS like nearly all bottled water, but the honest answer depends on which line you buy — and none has a verified public number. Great Value Purified and Distilled, made with reverse osmosis and distillation, are very likely in the same sub-1 ppt range as Aquafina and Dasani and are the safer choices. Great Value Spring, drawn from natural springs with no RO step, sits in the higher-risk spring-water category, though it remains untested.
The practical rule is simple: read the front label, choose “Purified” or “Distilled” over “Spring” if PFAS is your concern, and remember that no bottled brand gives you a number you can personally verify. For that, home filtration with a certified NSF 53/58 system is the only route to a result you can check yourself.
References
- Consumer Reports — Bottled Water PFAS Testing (47 products)
- EPA — PFAS National Primary Drinking Water Regulation (2024)
- FDA — PFAS in Food & Bottled Water
- International Bottled Water Association — Standards & PFAS Position
- Environmental Working Group — PFAS Contamination Map
Affiliate disclosure: as an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. It never affects our rankings or the numbers we report.
