If you were offered a brand new bottle of water or a glass of water from the tap, which one would you reach for? We’ve talked before about how “enhanced” bottled waters are pretty gimmick-filled and may be more of an issue than a boon. We’ve also touched on the current water crisis as well as some of the current complications with tap water today. Any mention of Flint, Michigan will probably bring the dangers of water contamination and an overall shortage to mind for years to come. What about plain, bottled water?
Bottled water has had a chokehold on the American preference for decades. Many of us grew up believing that bottled water was just cleaner and more heavily filtered than what came out of the tap. Even as we drank from hoses and accidentally swallowed lake water, we knew that just based on the cost alone, there had to be something special about that plastic-encapsulated H20. That’s one reason many of us were up in arms when it came out that Aquafina was literally straight from the tap. So, besides the possibility that they are identical to what comes from your kitchen faucet, what are the other big reasons that bottled water might be a bust?
The most obvious reason is right in the name: Plastic. Plastic waste is one of the biggest contributors to global warming and we, as a global community, need to be doing our utmost to combat such an unnecessary strain. More than 17 million barrels of oil are required to produce enough bottled water to meet America’s current demand. Even though some plastic bottles can technically be recycled, less than 1 in 5 are eligible. Even fewer make it into the recycling process. Most end up in a landfill or the ocean. Millions of tons of plastic bottles are currently floating in the Great Pacific Garbage Island. In addition, plastic often carries several chemical contaminants. Have you ever left a water bottle in your car and wondered if it was still okay to drink? The simple answer is, probably not. The longer answer is that the integrity of the plastic used for most bottles (roughly 93% of them) holds up until about 70 degrees. At that point, you are likely ingesting a significant amount of microplastics and heavy metals as well as an unknown cocktail of chemical contaminants that differs slightly between brands. So again, if you are considering drinking that hot, bottled water from the backseat, maybe just don’t!
Below we’ve included some additional reading resources and next time we will talk a little more about how the production of bottled water is ironically wasting a precious, limited resource: water.
Resources:
The Real Reason You Should Stop Buying Bottled Water
The real cost of bottled water - Sustainability - University of Que ensland