The most obvious issue with bottled water is the fact that it creates rubbish. This can either be burned (end up in atmosphere) or buried in a landfill (pollutes soil), or can even be discarded in our lakes, rivers and ultimately our mother, the ocean. This photo was taken on a Caribbean beach in the Dominican Republic - not so pristine as you would have thought eh?
The plastic bottle itself is made using oil. In fact, fill a bottle to 1/3 of its volume and that is the approximate amount of oil it takes. Then it needs to be transported from the water source (usually an UNtested well), to the distributor, then again to the grocery store and then the consumer typically drives a vehicle to the store in order to purchase it. That's a lot of oil.
Bottled water is not tested nearly as often as tap water.
TAP WATER - it's healthier for you and our planet!
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ReplyDeleteHealthier? I thought that you had said that the "tap water" was filled with chlorine to cleanse it after it was used for toilets, and the chlorine caused cancer...
ReplyDeleteDon't use initials then and instead come up with your own handle. Or just use a first name only. I have opted for my last name only.
ReplyDeleteRe: Healthier for the planet I don't think you can debate that it's better for the planet when you consider the production and transportation of the bottles (and that entire infrastructure).
Re:Healthier for you,
You have a good point. What about when those plastic bottles are burned and end up in my air, or leach into my tap water? E.Coli and other parasites can kill so we must use chlorine. This can be monitored by a government whose interests in theory are to look after you, or by a corporation whose interests in fact are to profit from you. You can very easily eliminate chlorine in your drinking water by either a) using a Brita (costs $) or b) simply leaving it sit for 24 hours in a jug in your fridge. I practice b.
The debate is discussed here (link below) on Green lifestyle website and agrees with your statement, but also mentions that 25% of bottled water is simply tap water to begin with, so there is no benefit in buying the bottle.
http://www.organiclifestylemagazine.com/green/issue-3/bottled-water-vs-tap-water.php
You may want to check out the trailer for the film "Tapped" which exposes the financial motives behind the bottled water industry. We may be able to view the film at a future date.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72MCumz5lq4
*bows in acquiescence*
Deletethis is my weekly comment
ReplyDeleteBottled water to me is like bottled life, why should I have to pay a 4000% mark up(1) on something that is here for all of us to share. While I don't think we should have to pay at aall for water our cities charge us on average less than one dollar for every thousand litres of tap water we consume (2) that fact alone is good enough for me to avoid bottled water (1)http://www.dailyfinance.com/2011/02/18/biggest-grocery-store-markups/
(2)http://www.toronto.ca/water/kids/story_of_water/html/costs.htm
This is my weekly post
ReplyDeleteBottled water was originally seen as a ridiculous ploy, one that made little to no sense whatsoever. "why would anyone pay for water when it's pretty much free?". Since soft drink companies started seeing a decline in sales they realized that they had to do something to regain control of the beverage market. They decided to create a manufactured demand for this unnecessary product by using a technique known as manufactured demand. By manipulating public opinion and convincing a lot of people that tap water is evil, untreated, impure water they created demand for a "better" alternative, bottled water. Using this manufactured demand two of the biggest brands of water, Aquafina and Dasani, were able to take tap water, filter it and convince the public that their product was somehow superior to ordinary tap water. (1)
This doesn't even take into account the environmental impact the production of water bottles and transportation of these bottles around the world has. Some brands of water claim that they are immune through carbon reduction initiatives which would be better for the environment if they actually went through with these initiatives. Fiji water has made these claims but has not gone through with their plans for carbon reduction.
"The firm plan was to plant four square miles of trees in Fiji by 2010 which would fulfil its claims for three years.
However, in March, Fiji Water’s environmental advisers, Conservation International, told Dispatches that only 1.4 square miles had actually been done – less than half the amount expected – with no indication of when the rest might be planted." (2)
Lastly I will leave you with the statistics of how much resources one one litre bottle of fiji water really uses
6.74 litres of water, 1 litre of fossil fuels and emits 1.2 lbs of greenhouse gases, think about that the next time you crack open a bottle of pure refreshing evil, no better than the water in your tap.
(1) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Se12y9hSOM0
(2)http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/8585182/Fiji-Water-accused-of-environmentally-misleading-claims.html
(3)http://www.treehugger.com/clean-technology/pablo-calculates-the-true-cost-of-bottled-water.html
This is my post for this week...
ReplyDeleteTo start off, I think it's really sad that something as simple as drinking water has become a branded and labeled consumer product in society. Bottled water doesn't sell because it's "safer", it sells because the media pressures the consumer to believe that bottled water is safer than tap water. Understandably, for homeowners with wells, bottled water may be the easiest and least costly method of avoiding some water pollutants(1) but with the resources to test our water and the ability to maintain clean water, this could be a non-issue. Consumers choose bottled water for several reasons, including taste, quality, and convenience- but really that just means laziness and convenience. Like really, grab a cup. According to the UN, 11% of our global population is without clean drinking water (2) and we as Canadians sit in our cozy houses with 24 bottles for $1.97, and why? DING DING; CAPITALISM. The frame of mind: I'm going to make the most money I possibly I can off of YOU even if it means that I exploit my country's natural resources. Out of every 6 bottles, only one makes it to the recycling, the others end up in landfills or trashed on the ground. They end up in our rivers and lakes and they take over 1000 years to disintegrate(3). Water is good for us, and in a time where obesity and diabetes are prevalent in our cultures (and yes it IS our culture) drinking water consistently is a good idea. But we do need to think about and consider where our water comes from and how it is being monitored and manufactured.
(1): http://extension.psu.edu/water/discovery-watersheds/news/2011/bottled-vs.-tap-which-is-better
(2): http://www.un.org/en/globalissues/water/
(3): http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/stories/spacescience/water-bottle-pollution/
ps FIRST BLOG