There is a misconception about the health benefits of bottled water. According to the Beverage Marketing Corporation, Americans bought a total of 31.2 billion liters of water in 2006. The Pacific Institute estimates that this required 17 million barrels of oil, not including the energy for transportation. Bottling the water produced more than 2.5 million tons of carbon dioxide….and took 3 liters of water to produce 1 liter of bottled water.
According to a four-year study conducted by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) one-third of the bottled water tested contained levels of contamination. A key NRDC finding is that bottled water regulations are inadequate to assure consumers of either purity or safety. In fact, city tap water is subjected to more rigorous testing and purity standards than bottled water.
Once the bottled water is produced and consumed, the plastic bottle must be disposed of, which results in even more issues for our environment. The Container Recycling Institute reports that 86 percent of plastic water bottles used in the United States become garbage or litter. Incinerating the used bottles produces toxic byproducts and buried water bottles can take up to 1,000 years to biodegrade. For those who think recycling is the answer, almost 40 percent of the polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles that were deposited for recycling in the United States in 2004 were actually exported, sometimes to as far away as China, thus adding to the resources used by this product.
Many City Districts have banned purchasing bottled water:
City of Morgan Hill considers banning Bottled Water. Feb 19, 2008
San Jose City Hall studies ban on bottled water. Nov 12, 2007
Palo Alto Water district bans purchase of bottled water. Sept. 25, 2007
