Bottled water, a natural resource taxing the world's ecosystem

Bottled water, a natural resource taxing the world's ecosystem

Bottled water consumption, which has more than doubled globally in the last six years, is a natural resource that is heavily taxing the world's ecosystem, according to a new US study.

"Even in areas where tap water is safe to drink, demand for bottled water is increasing, producing unnecessary garbage and consuming vast quantities of energy," according to Emily Arnold, author of the study published by the Earth Policy Institute, a Washington-based environmental group.

Arnold said although in the industrial world bottled water is often no healthier than tap water, it can end up costing 10,000 times more.

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Simple economic behavior.... While Arnold asserts bottled water is often no healthier than tap water, I'd be willing to bet that if enough was said about the poor quality of bottled water, consumers would not be so enamoured by it.

[edit on 10-2-2006 by loam]

Yep, one way more for human to achieve extreme wasting of resources.

And once again someones are making huge profits by almost pure fraud. (bottling tap water)


"Most people would rather die than think; in fact, they do so."
-Bertrand Russell

If the government bought me a high quality selective water filtration system I would stop buying bottled water.

It's a misconception for the consumer to think all bottled water is better then tap water. It's also a misconception to think all bottled water is equal or less in quality to tap water. The fact of the matter is bottled water companies do not have the same quality standards to adhere to as tap water, so there is more variance in its quality. If you do some research you can, as I have, find which bottled water companies have relatively pure h20. In the same light, you can discover which companies basically just bottle tap water.

I drink Hawaiian Ultra Pure usually:

www.hawaiiwater.com...

I'd be willing to bet that if enough was said about the poor quality of bottled water, consumers would not be so enamoured by it.

In fact wasn't it the information about the poor quality of tap water that drove the consumer to bottled water?

So if the bottled water industry is bad for the ecosystem (as most big industries are, im sure) what is your alternative?:

Don't drink bottled water, drink tap water?

Don't you have a thread on water fluoridation? (bottled water is rarely fluoridated)...

www.abovetopsecret.com...

The best option is to buy a high quality selective water filtration system.

[edit on 072828p://10u39 by Lucid Lunacy]

Lucid Lunacy:

I may have been unclear. I was making the point (poorly I might add) that *if* people actually believed tap water was safe, fewer would drink bottled water.




[edit on 10-2-2006 by loam]

A while back I heard on WPR that in Madison, WI there were traces of pharmaceuticals found in the public water supply. The BBC had also reported the same for London.

A quick search found

Prozac and painkillers found in tap water - Portland IMC 11.13.04

Prozac 'found in drinking water' - BBC 8.8.04

Prozac found in Britain’s drinking water - 8.9.04

Antidepressant drugs found in drinking water - 8.19.04