Is Bottled Water Better?
by Elizabeth Borelli,
Sustainability Evangelist, Nubius Organics
www.nubiusorganics.com
Bottled water is a new trend with a huge payoff, and price tag. As few as ten years
ago, there was no market for bottled water. Today, the approximately 2 million plastic
bottles used in the US every 15 minutes drive this multi-billion dollar market.
Why the shift? Bottled water manufacturers’ spends millions of dollars encouraging
the perception that their products are purer and safer than tap water. But the reality
is that tap water is actually held to more stringent quality standards than bottled
water, and some brands of bottled water are just tap water in disguise. The environmental
price tag carries the hidden costs. "It causes 60 million plastic bottles A
DAY to be manufactured, transported and then disposed of in U.S. landfills. It's
killing our planet, and for no good reason..."
-Eric Olsen, Natural Resources Defense Council
Environmental Impact
Fossil fuel consumption. Approximately 1.5 million gallons of oil—enough
to run 100,000 cars for a whole year—are used to make plastic water bottles, while
transporting these bottles burns thousands more gallons of oil. In addition, the
burning of oil and other fossil fuels (which are also used to generate the energy
that powers the manufacturing process) emits global warming pollution into the atmosphere.
Water consumption. The growth in bottled water production has increased water
extraction in areas near bottling plants, leading to water shortages that affect
nearby consumers and farmers. In addition to the millions of gallons of water used
in the plastic-making process, two gallons of water are wasted in the purification
process for every gallon that goes into the bottles.
Waste. Only about 10 percent of water bottles are recycled, leaving the rest
in landfills where it takes thousands of years for the plastic to decompose.
The Simple (and Cheaper) Solution
The next time you feel thirsty, forgo the bottle and turn to the tap. You’ll not
only lower your environmental impact but also save money—bottled water can cost
up to 10,000 times more per gallon than tap water. And because the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency’s standards for tap water are more stringent than the Food and
Drug Administration’s standards for bottled water, you’ll be drinking water that
is just as safe as, or safer than, bottled. For water on the go, try SIGG or Klean
Kanteen. Bringing your own bottle is also safer than drinking from plastic, which
has been shown to leach BPA, a hormone disruptor, into the liquid contents.
If, however, you don’t like the taste of your tap water or are unsure of its quality,
you can buy a filter pitcher or install an inexpensive faucet filter to remove trace
chemicals and bacteria. If you will be away from home, fill a reusable bottle from
your tap and refill it along the way; travel bottles with built-in filters are also
available, such as the New Wave Enviro Biodegradable Reusable Filter Bottle available
at www.nubiusorganics.com. Both for
your health, your wallet and most especially for the planet, reusable is the right
solution!