Shades of Green: Ditch bottled water

Americans purchase more than 8 billion gallons of bottled water annually, which is estimated at one 8 ounce serving per person per day; this amounts to approximately 22 gallons per person per year. The bottled water industry boasts over $11 billion in sales. But environmentally, bottled water consumes a tremendous amount of resources and ditching it is a fast and easy way to green your living.

What is bottled water? Bottled water starts out as plain old tap water. In fact, Pepsi Co.'s Aquafina labels each bottle with "PWS": public water source.The water then goes through a rigorous purification process, including filtration or reverse osmosis. However, the bottled water industry isn't well regulated, and is in fact much less regulated than tap water. Tests have revealed traces of arsenic, disinfection byproducts and bacteria in bottled water. On their website, the FDA states that "Bottled water plants generally are assigned a low priority for inspection."

The resources used to make the plastic for bottles consumes up to 1.5 million barrels of oil, which would power 100,000 cars for one year. While recycling is an option, it is estimated that close to 90% of the bottles are not recycled. Factoring in the oil to transport the bottled water from the manufacturer to the warehouse to the distributer and then to you, the amount of oil per serving rises exponentially.   Every bottle of water uses approximately one-fourth of it's volume in oil; in other words, a 16 ounce bottle of water consumed approximately four ounces of oil.

Per serving, bottled water can cost up to 10,000 times that of municipal tap water. But beyond the monetary cost, bottled water sucks up a water supply that can leave others in the area short. We have our own water-sucking beverage producting venture here in Wake County: is it sucking more than it's share of water (and bottling it for consumer purchase)?

But what about the water? In reviewing a series of calcluations, I discovered that bottling water wastes approximately seven times more water than is bottled! Seven times more! This includes the water used in the purification of the plastic, plant cooling and maintenance, and transport.

So ditch bottled water and fill up with tap. Many coffee shops and eateries will allow you to bring your own container in for refills; if you dont know, just ask. The environmental impact of filling up with tap water is less than one fourth of purchasing a bottle of water, and is comparatively one one-hundreth of the cost. If flavor is a factor, you can purchase a filter or reverse-osmosis system (similar to those used by water-bottling plants). With the advent of stylish and funky stainless steel water bottles, toting your iced tap water is not only green, but fashion concious, too.