February 10, 2006

Tap Water FOR Conservation

Bottled water drinkers of the world, STOP.

You're destroying the environment.

    Bottled water consumption, which has more than doubled globally in the last six years, is a natural resource that is heavily taxing the world's ecosystem, according to a new US study.

    "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," according to Emily Arnold, author of the study published by the Earth Policy Institute, a Washington-based environmental group.


...
    The study said that demand for bottled water soared in developing countries between 1999 and 2004 with consumption tripling in India and more than doubling in China during that period.

    That has translated into massive costs in packaging the water, usually in plastic bottles made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) which is derived from crude oil, and then transporting it by boat, train or on land.

    "Making bottles to meet Americans' demand for bottled water requires more than 1.5 million barrels of oil annually, enough to fuel some 100,000 US cars for a year," according to the study. "Worldwide, some 2.7 million tons of plastic are used to bottle water each year."

    Once the water is consumed, disposing the plastic bottles poses an environmental risk.


I bet the SUV driving soccer moms with the Kerry/Edwards sticker on their bumper just took a collective big gulp. (no pun intended).

For the ecosystem's sake. Drink tap water. Just run it through a PUR water filter. It's fine. Think of the children.

On the web Posted by AlexC at February 10, 2006 11:36 AM

Actually, the only thing a PUR filter (or any other common tap water filter) will remove is sediment and some tastes/odors. Bacterium, heavy metals and other trace elements are virtually unaffected. (The reason they are so popular is that municipal water is fairly safe from these threats, requiring only chlorine reduction which PUR carbon type filters does very well.

If your home water supply is a well, as is mine, you would be wise to install a reverse osmosis water filtration system. A complete system is only $230: http://www.wattspremier.com/watts/showdetl.cfm?&DID=15&Product_ID=162&CATID=1

Or, you could buy the same thing at Costco (as I did) for $140.

(You can all thank me later.) ;)

Posted by: johngalt at February 10, 2006 3:53 PM

There's a great anti-bottled-water contingent that includes my pal, John Stossel. As it's my week to be contrarian around here, let me point out that the opposition tends to miss the point.

I drink bottled water out of convenience, not for its superior taste and not for status. It is not Evian vs. tap water, it is bottled water vs. Coke. It's in the fridge, it's cold. No Sugar. No Caffeine. No dirty glass. (I'm boorish enough to refill the bottle out of the 'fridge door.)

Sorry about the oil use but I drive a little car and keep my modest house cool in the winter -- I gotta keep AlexC and his pals employed somehow.

Posted by: jk at February 10, 2006 4:39 PM

Yes, I'll drink Costco or WalMart bottled water too, because it's cold in the fridge and ready to travel when I am. Trouble is, I never buy the stuff. We only have it when it's left over from a vaulting competition or some such. (Which is another good use for the stuff - feed it to kids on road trips.)

There are many people, however, who believe it's "better." In fact, my boss buys the stuff by the truckload and pays someone to haul it upstairs in our building because (our buyer insists) it's actually CHEAPER than the 5 gallon reusable bottled water service. Go figure.

Posted by: johngalt at February 11, 2006 1:54 AM | What do you think? [3]