Bottled water is bad for the environment, expensive, and despite what many people believe, it’s not superior to tap water.
The bottled water industry uses vast amounts of carbon dioxide–generating fossil fuels to bottle and transport its bottled cargo. Further, it takes 1.5 million barrels of crude oil to provide the plastic for just one year’s worth of water bottles. It takes the equivalent of 37,800 18-wheel trucks to distribute a year’s supply of the stuff. Every step of this distribution process means the release of greenhouse gases.
Bottled water is incredibly expensive. A single 20-ounce bottle of water costing $1.50 would pay for about 1000 gallons of municipal water. If your tap water cost the same as the cheapest bottled water, your average monthly water bill would be about $9,000!
A lot of people think bottled water is better than tap water, but it isn’t. As a matter of fact, 25 to 40% of bottled water is tap water, nothing more. Because FDA standards for bottled water are looser than EPA standards for public tap water, sometimes bottled water contains more impurities and contaminants than public tap water. Perhaps you might consider kicking the habit. In doing so you will be saving money, helping the environment and even doing your bit to slow global warming.
Source: Raymond T. Jones, article for the Brentwood newsletter