Posted by Savneet Singh on Sep.03, 2009

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If you are using bottled water, you are spending up to 10,000 times more per gallon than tap water, thinking it safe and pure, even though this bottled water can be even worse. In addition to the health risks bottled water may pose, it harmsl the environment. Bottled water, thought to be an healthy alternative, now is criticized as an environmental menace, and for health risks bottled water may pose from the presence of harmful chemicals.

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) has found chemical contaminants present in every bottled water brand they have analyzed. The bottled water industry is not required to disclose the results of any contaminant testing that it conducts on bottled water products. On the other hand, tap water consumers are provided with water quality test results carried out every year. The attractive and expensive advertisement campaigns by the bottled water industry tempts us to believe that we are buying water that has been purified to a level beyond the municipal tap. Thus, we end up piling up water bottles, thinking the bottled water cleaner than the water that comes out of the garden hose. The truth is that tap water has to go through more stringent quality standards than bottled water. Studies have proven that some brands of bottled water are just tap water in disguise.

Environmental Costs of Bottled Water

The environment cost that we are paying for these bottles is even higher. The bottled water industry causes a severe strain on the environment, as rightly said by Eric Olsen of Natural Resources Defense Council ”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…” An estimated 1.5 million gallons of oil is used to make plastic water bottles, and much more is consumed transporting these bottles. This oil is enough to run more than 100,000 cars for a whole year. Burning of this oil releases a lot of air pollutants, which are responsible greenhouse effect and global warming.

Bottled Water Wastes Water

Bottling plants extract a lot of water in the areas near bottling plants, which in turn has led to water shortages in those areas. This is affecting people living nearby. Much water gets wasted in the process of purification of the water itself. It is said that two gallons of water is wasted in the purification process for every gallon. This is in addition to the millions of gallons of water used in the plastic-making process.

Bottled Water Creates Solid Waste

Only 10% of water bottles used in a day are recycled. This leaves a lot of wastes in the landfills, and these plastic bottles takes thousands of years to decompose. Waste management has become a large problem in the world, with the number and size of landfills growing. Some bottles are washed and reused to lessen their negative impact on the environment, which again questions the purity of the water contained in the bottles. Reusing plastic bottles lowers the quality of the water, since more and more phthalates leaches from a bottle as it gets older.

The solution

• Buy a filter pitcher. Refill it whenever you need. You can have two or three pitchers, so that you never run  out of filtered water at home. These pitchers are available in different sizes and can be kept in car while you are travelling.
• Get an inexpensive faucet filter to remove traces of chemicals and bacteria.
• Use a reusable bottle and refill it along the way. Travel bottles with built-in filters are also available in stores.
• Use activated carbon water filters, like Brita pitchers or faucet attachments. They are affordable option for filtering tap water.
• If you can afford you can have a reverse osmosis filter, which will eliminate all impurities.

The above suggested ways are good both for your health and wallet, above all for the planet.

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Posted under Drinks, Healthy Water, Nature and Environment.