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Bottled water: nature's enemy

Water is nature’s gift to mankind. It’s essential to life, and we drink gallons of it everyday. However, what may be nature’s most abundant resource is now becoming a booming industry. Bottled water is a big business, and it has huge negative ramifications on the environment.

The scope of the problem

To give you some perspective and the magnitude of the problem, in 2004 the global consumption of bottled water reached 41 billion gallons, up 57 percent from 1999. According to the Earth Policy Institute, “Even in areas where tap water is safe to drink, demand for bottled water is increasing—producing unnecessary garbage and consuming vast quantities of energy.”

The United States consumed 17 percent of that total—more than any other country. What’s most troubling are the myriad side effects of producing and consuming so much bottled water. To satisfy demand in the US alone, the bottled water industry uses more than 1.5 million barrels of oil annually, enough to fuel some 100,000 U.S. cars for a year. Worldwide, some 2.7 million tons of plastic are used to bottle water each year.

And it doesn’t stop there. According to the Container Recycling Institute, 86 percent of plastic water bottles used in the US are not recycled or reused. Incinerating plastic bottles creates toxic byproducts including ash containing heavy metals and chlorine gas. Buried water bottles can take up to 1,000 years to biodegrade.

Why are consumers buying into the bottled water trend? Most of it comes down to two things: convenience and marketing. It is simply more convenient to buy that bottle of water whenever you need and trash it when you’re finished. And with such clever marketing approaches including Smart Water (which makes your smarter?), Fiji (a momentary escape to an exotic place through a refreshing beverage treat), and now a wide selection of vitamin-infused waters - the bottled water industry has figured out many ways to make water appealing to consumers in new ways.

What can I do to help?

The #1 way to help with this issue it to stop buying bottled water and start carrying an environmentally-safe refillable water bottle with you. Fill it with tap water - you’ll be surprised at how safe tap water is in most places. The EPA has a great FAQ to answer your questions about the safety of tap water.

The best choices for refillable water bottles are ones made of ceramic, steel, or glass. Many plastics used for refillable water bottles are themselves environmentally unsafe. Recent studies show that many commonly used plastics leach chemicals into the water—chemicals shown to be hormone disrupters and carcinogens. If you stick with plastic, there are better and worse options. Look at the bottom of the bottle for the code telling you which type of plastic it is fabricated from.

Plastics to avoid include #2 (HDPE), #4 (LDPE), and #5 (PP).

The best plastic choices are: #3 (PVC), #6 (polystyrene), and #7 (a catchall category—includes polycarbonate hard plastic camping and baby bottles).