Bottled Water Pricey in More Ways than One

[YankeyMCC]

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The world’s fastest-growing beverage is a boon to the industry but a bust for the environment and for the more than 1 billion people worldwide who lack access to clean drinking water, according to a new Vital Signs Update from the Worldwatch Institute.

Excessive withdrawal of natural mineral or spring water to produce bottled water has threatened local streams and groundwater, and the product consumes significant amounts of energy in production and shipping. Millions of tons of oil-derived plastics, mostly polyethylene terephthalate (PET), are used to make the water bottles, most of which are not recycled. Each year, about 2 million tons of PET bottles end up in landfills in the United States; in 2005, the national recycling rate for PET was only 23.1 percent, far below the 39.7 percent rate achieved a decade earlier.
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"Bottled water may be an industry winner, but it’s an environmental loser," says Ling Li, a fellow with the Institute’s China Program who authored the update. "The beverage industry benefits the most from our bottled water obsession. But this does nothing for the staggering number of the world’s poor who see safe drinking water as at best a luxury, and at worst, an unattainable goal." An estimated 35–50 percent of urban dwellers in Africa and Asia lack adequate access to safe potable water, according to Worldwatch’s State of the World 2007 report.
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In industrial countries with highly regulated water supplies, tap water has been proven to be just as safe, or safer, than its commercial counterpart. In the United States, regulations concerning bottled water are generally the same as for tap water, but are weaker for some microbial contaminants. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which regulates bottled water at the federal level, permits the product to contain certain levels of fecal matter, whereas the Environmental Protection Agency does not allow any human waste in city tap water. Bottled water violations are not always reported to the public, and in most cases the products may be recalled up to 15 months after the problematic water was produced, distributed, and sold.
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http://www.worldwatch.org/node/5063

I'm certainly guilty of buying bottled water from time to time, although I have for a long time tried to reduce my use of it (I have a camelback I usually fill for family outings) and I always recycle the bottles even dragging empties home from wherever we bought them if there was no recycling receptacle there and reusing a bottle by filling it with tap water after drinking the initial contents. But I will try and be even more restrictive in how much I buy.

[Redstone]

1. Well, buying a bottle of water instead of a bottle of soda when you're on the road is one thing,

but I know people who keep refrigerators full of it in their office and / or house. THAT's just decadent and wasteful.

And based on the videos I've seen, I guess our soldiers have never even HEARD of a canteen. Iraq must be COATED with those bottles.

Redstone

[NightWatcher]

2. Plus, the more water we buy, the more water companies steal from locals

so that they may sell it to us. Companies like Nestle have been increasing in their predatory ways of stealing water sources from locals and poor comunities so that they can bottle it and sell it literally "out from under" the feet of people who have little else but the water. Native Americans who have been forced off their land for generations are now fighting to keep the last resource that they have.

I'm with you guys, a Camelback and water filters at home.

[don954]

3. I put a chain of 4 carbon and 1 micron filters on my freezers water tap

and i have the best water I've ever tasted. Cheaper than bottled, and i never have to lug the things home... :)

[Q3JR4]

4. I too buy

carbon filters, fill up at home, and then lug the water around with me when I go places.

Q3JR4.

[benddem]

5. we have a 5 cent bottle

deposit in Oregon but it doesn't cover water bottles. I get so angry when I go by the trash cans at the park...where the little league plays and see them over flowing with plastic bottles. The big water jugs work fine. The legislature is working on increasing the deposit to juice and water bottles...you know the grocers are screaming.

[booksenkatz]

6. Can someone recommend a good filter system?

I know I need to put a filter on our tap, because I can't bring myself to drink the chalky, awful-tasting water we get. Would love to kick the bottle habit.

[NightWatcher]

7. the Brita commercial variety is what I have

but I am looking into an upgrade because they wear out fast.

Has anyone ever heard of Berkey water filters?