By now it's not news to anyone that drinking bottled water is a big eco-no-no. But, if like me you know a few who are still reluctant to part with their precious clear plastic-encased libations, here are few compelling facts to help usher them along into the post-bottled water era:
- At least a third of bottled water on the market is just packaged tap water (think Dasani and Aquafina).
- It's cost is up to 1,000 times (and sometimes more!) the cost of tap water. Pepsi Co. et al. have got many suckered into lining their deep corporate pockets with that priceless liquid drawn directly from the tap. (I do have to hand it to them though, it's brilliant marketing. If only that energy had been expended on something a little more benevolent...)
- Since most of the plastic bottles are made of polyethylene terephthalate (or PET), they come with health risks - leaching contaminants.
- Their environmental impact is severe and tragic: the depletion of energy sources (petroleum for manufacturing plastics), the carbon dioxide produced in the manufacturing process, the pollution from transportation, and the transmission of contaminants in our food chain to name a few.
*edited to add: a fellow reader brought this to my attention - spell Evian backwards and it should make you chuckle or at least raise an eyebrow!
Good points! And what is the price of a litre of water compared to a litre of gas.
ReplyDeleteI agree with David Suzuki when he said that instead of buying bottled water we should put that money and energy into ensure that our tap water is safe for everyone.