The high cost of bottled water

By Colleen Heenan

Barbecues, beach trips and hot, humid summer days may boost up your thirst, but before you grab that bottle of Evian, think again.

For the last few decades there has been an increase in buying bottled water as a convenient thirst-quencher. But buying a reusable water bottle could be an easy way to lower your environmental footprint.

By living in America we have something that not everyone in our world has access to: clean, drinkable water. And our water comes out of multiple faucets in each residence and business. We are so lucky to have such a vital non-renewable resource at our finger tips.

Buying bottled water is harmful to the environment and for some reason, many consumers don’t think of the environmental impact bottled water has and that many bottled waters come from a faucet and then is bottled in plastic, which is made from oil, and is then gathered and packed again with more plastic to be shipped across the country, to then be stocked in our fridges or a local store for our convenience.

If there is one thing that you can start doing today to green-up you life, it is to buy a reusable water bottle and keep yourself hydrated for free.

Here are some staggering facts that I came across from http://www.thinkoutsidethebottle.org that may change your mind about buying your drinking water in bottles:

• 74% of Americans drink from non-reusable water bottles and 1 in 5 of American only get their water from these bottles.
• Americans spent $100 billion in 2005 on non-reusable plastic bottles
• Over 4 billion pounds of plastic bottles end up in land fills every year (according to earth 911 it takes over 700 year for plastic bottles to start decomposition)
• “studies have shown bottled water is on average no safer than tap water and can sometimes be less safe”. Our tap water is more often regulated and tested. Bottling companies have their own regulation schedules.
• “To bottle, transport, dispose of, and even to recycle bottled water containers requires a massive amount of energy. Making bottles to meet Americans’ demand for bottled water required more than 17 million barrels of oil last year – enough fuel for more than 1 million U.S. cars for a year - and generated more than 2.5 million tons of carbon dioxide.”

Another recent “scare” about drinking from plastic bottles (reusable or non-reusable) is the potential exposure and accumulation of the chemical known as Bisphenol A (BPA). BPA is a polycarbonate chemical, and an environmental estrogen, used in many of the plastics we use today; typically they are found in baby bottles, plastic food containers from all grocery stores and shatter-proof reusable bottles.

According to the U.S. National Toxicology Program, potential concerns could attribute to “neural and behavioral effects of BPA to all humans”. They also warn against heating plastics which cause the plastic to break down faster.

If what I just told you about does not change your mind about where you drink your water from, then maybe a sweet new PBA-Free bottle will. It’s more fun to drink out of cool bottle designs especially if you know they are chemical free.

P.S. some of them are even recyclable. Check out my favorite eco-wise bottle company, Sigg, and drink Happy!