STEP #14

Break the Bottled Water Habit

Some truly great bottled waters exist, and it’s true that we sometimes crave these ultrapure waters. No getting around it. Glacial, Fijian or high alpine waters with their pure essence add romance to the dining experience. On the other hand, have you ever thought about how much jet fuel is needed to bring that water to your hometown? And how many of those plastic bottles ever get recycled? (Less than half) Do you know what plastic water bottles are made from? You guessed it. Oil.

According to the Pacific Institute’s fact sheet, manufacturing the 30+ billion plastic water bottles we bought in 2006:

• Required the equivalent of more than 17 million barrels of oil—enough to fuel more than one million vehicles for a year.
• Produced more than 2.5 million tons of carbon dioxide.
• Used three times as much oil as the amount of water in the bottle.

And these numbers don’t include transporting the bottles. Nearly 25 percent of bottled water crosses national borders before reaching consumers. Adding the transportation, the energy used comes to over 50 million barrels of oil—enough to run 3 million cars for a year.

What’s more, while most of us buy bottled water believing it is healthier than tap water, senior policy analyst for Living Cities at the Environmental Defense Fund Ramon Cruz tell us “More than a quarter of bottled water is just processed tap water, including Pepsi’s Aquafina and Coca-Cola’s Dasani.”

Still we are gulping bottled water faster than ever, consuming some 7 billion gallons in 2004. When we consider that laws allow higher levels of many contaminants in bottled waters than those in municipal supplies, we’ve got to wonder about our water consumption.

Installing a filter on your tap and investing in some good reusable water bottles is the best way to stop the flood of damage caused by consuming too much bottled water. Water filters like those from PUR or Brita are inexpensive options, though many attest to the health benefits of water filtered through Athena and Kangen water filters. In fact, a preliminary study conducted by the Green Patriot Working Group, proved that the combination of a tap filter combined with a filter pitcher can remove virtually all contaminants from the highly polluted drinking water of Los Angeles, California.

Food and Water Watch also offers a detailed look at tap versus bottled water in its report Take Back the Tap at www.foodandwaterwatch.org/water/bottled.

Distillation is another great option. Check out the distillation units at www.waterwise.com.