The cost of bottled water.

[trof]

Here's my April column for our local watershed watch newsletter.
You lucky folks get a sneak preview.
:-)

Around the Bay

Maybe you should get a canteen?

The World Wide Web (www dot whatever) is truly an amazing thing.
The other day I was reading an article on pesticides in U.S. river basins at the World Wildlife Fund website(www.worldwildlife.org), and that article referenced another article, and pretty soon I was reading about the bottled water industry.

I had no Idea. Just look at all this "gee whiz" stuff:

Bottled water is now a $100 Billion-with-a-'B' a year industry.
$22 billion of that is spent just in the U.S.A.
There is an International Bottled Water Association (IBWA). www.bottledwater.org
Yes, they have lobbyists.
In 2004, worldwide bottled water consumption was over 160 billion quarts.
It is the fastest growing beverage industry in the world.

Depending on your brand preference, bottled water costs from 100 times to 1000 times the cost of tap water.
It costs more than gasoline.
Coke and Pepsi both sell bottled water.
EPA standards for tap water are higher than FDA standards for bottled water.
Drinking distilled water will drain your body of essential minerals.

Most bottled water containers are made from PET (polyethylene terephthalate) plastic.
2.7 millions tons of plastic are used to bottle water every year.
That's 1.5 million barrels of oil. Enough to fuel 100,000 cars for a year.
Massive quantities of fossil fuels are burned just to transport water from bottler to consumer.
In 2004 alone, a Helsinki company shipped 1.4 million bottles of Finnish tap water 2,700 miles to Saudi Arabia.
Some Americans import water shipped some 5,600 miles from Fiji.

In the U.S. 86% of the used plastic bottles wind up as garbage or litter.
I was in Boston a few months ago. Nearly everyone I saw on the streets, locals and tourists alike, was carrying a bottle of water. Some in clever satchels with a shoulder strap or clipped on the belt.
Think of that. A whole new industry comes into being, just to tote that water around.
"Evian" spelled backwards is "naive". One definition of "naive" is "gullible".

Driving and boating around the watershed I notice more and more roadside and waterside trash is the ubiquitous plastic bottle.
If your tap water doesn't taste so good, you could get a filter pretty cheap.
When I was a boy scout, I always carried a canteen on hikes and camp outs. It was made of metal and you could use it over and over again. In fact, I don't think I ever wore my canteen out or had to replace it.
Wonder if it's still around here anywhere?
See you around the bay.