18 Jul EcoTip #13 The Price We Pay for Bottled Water

Bottled water advertising leads us to believe that bottled water is healthier than tap water.  But, according to Environmental Working Group (EWG),  “the government does not mandate that bottled water be any safer than tap water. In fact, the chemical pollution standards are nearly identical.” Furthermore EWG reports that Food and Drug Administration inspectors rarely visit bottled water plants.

Bottled water is expensive. Water has been a common resource shared by all until recently. Now large corporations are privatizing water all over the world. They bottle the water and sell it back to us at an amazing rate – hundreds or even a thousand times more that tap water costs. Bottlers extract large amounts of water from aquifers and springs, potentially drying up wells and even wetlands. Taking the water from communities living near the source affects access to drinking water, farming, and ecosystems in the area.   

We also pay a high price for packaging and transporting bottled water. The use of fossil fuels to package and transport bottled water takes a significant toll on the ecosystem. The Earth Policy Institute reports that “making bottles to meet Americans’ demand for bottled water requires more than 17 million barrels of oil annually, enough to fuel more than 1 million U.S. cars for a year. Worldwide, some 2.7 million tons of plastic are used to bottle water each year.”
 

You can save money, protect water resources and reduce packaging and tranposrt when you stop buying bottled water. If you are concerned about the quality of your tap water, install a filter and use reusable glass or stainless still containers when you carry water with you.

“Bottle vs. Tap” – Environmental Working Group – http://www.ewg.org/health/report/BottledWater/Bottled-Water-Scorecard/Bottle-vs-Tap

“Pouring Resources Down the Drain” – Earth Policy Institute   http://www.earth-policy.org/plan_b_updates/2006/update51