Jenny Li Thu Feb 04, 2010 10:29 pmJust 40 years ago, water was just plain water. It was a simpler time, a time in which tap water was the norm. There was no Vitamin Water, there was no Smart Water, there was no bottled water, period. So just where did all these multi-million dollar companies spring up from? Why did they come to dominate our world when tap water was sufficient in providing us with perfectly drinkable water? The answer is this: we are caught up with the façade that bottled water is safer, cleaner, and better for our health yet such a concept can’t be further from the truth.
Did you know bottled water does not necessarily even come from beautiful natural springs like Arrowhead, Fiji, and many other bottled water corporations claim? The truth is that bottled water is simply tap water that has been purified. “Purified” isn’t even the right word to describe it, because bottled water often contains more dangerous chemicals than normal tap water does. Jane Houlihan, Vice President for Research at EWG (Environmental Working Group said, “… our tests show that pollutants in some popular brands match the levels found in some of the nation’s most polluted big city tap water systems”. Yet despite all the evidence provided, people still continue to consume bottled water at towering speeds and quantities. In 2004, the global consumption of bottled water reached 154 billion liters (41 billion gallons), up 57% from the 98 billion liters consumed five years earlier. Not to mention that bottled water can cost as much as $3.79 per liter, that’s more than gasoline and 1,900 times more than the cost of a gallon of public tap water!
Along with the fact that bottled water is no better than tap water, it’s also one of the most damaging causes of pollution in our world. In the process of making water handy and portable, we have littered our world with non degradable plastic bottles. At the same time, the multi-million dollar companies that provide us with water are the same multi-million dollar companies that are destroying the environment of developing countries by sucking them dry of THEIR water – such as Nestle who has established sites in places like Pakistan. That’s right, we don’t even drink water that belongs to our country but from countries whose people are poorer than we are and need their water more than we do. And those companies are depriving those people of water that has been free for centuries and in return are polluting their environment in the process of draining their fresh water supplies.
So the next time you put to your mouth a water bottle, remember, you’re polluting the world, you’re depriving many others less fortunate than you of their water, and you’re drinking water that contains chemicals which can lead to health hazards.
Sources:
APES book
http://www.bottledwaterweb.com/
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/environment/2008-10-15-bottled-water_N.htm
http://www.waterconserve.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=51812
http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/bolivia/waterbottle.html
http://www.answers.com/topic/nestl-waters
Did you know bottled water does not necessarily even come from beautiful natural springs like Arrowhead, Fiji, and many other bottled water corporations claim? The truth is that bottled water is simply tap water that has been purified. “Purified” isn’t even the right word to describe it, because bottled water often contains more dangerous chemicals than normal tap water does. Jane Houlihan, Vice President for Research at EWG (Environmental Working Group said, “… our tests show that pollutants in some popular brands match the levels found in some of the nation’s most polluted big city tap water systems”. Yet despite all the evidence provided, people still continue to consume bottled water at towering speeds and quantities. In 2004, the global consumption of bottled water reached 154 billion liters (41 billion gallons), up 57% from the 98 billion liters consumed five years earlier. Not to mention that bottled water can cost as much as $3.79 per liter, that’s more than gasoline and 1,900 times more than the cost of a gallon of public tap water!
Along with the fact that bottled water is no better than tap water, it’s also one of the most damaging causes of pollution in our world. In the process of making water handy and portable, we have littered our world with non degradable plastic bottles. At the same time, the multi-million dollar companies that provide us with water are the same multi-million dollar companies that are destroying the environment of developing countries by sucking them dry of THEIR water – such as Nestle who has established sites in places like Pakistan. That’s right, we don’t even drink water that belongs to our country but from countries whose people are poorer than we are and need their water more than we do. And those companies are depriving those people of water that has been free for centuries and in return are polluting their environment in the process of draining their fresh water supplies.
So the next time you put to your mouth a water bottle, remember, you’re polluting the world, you’re depriving many others less fortunate than you of their water, and you’re drinking water that contains chemicals which can lead to health hazards.
Sources:
APES book
http://www.bottledwaterweb.com/
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/environment/2008-10-15-bottled-water_N.htm
http://www.waterconserve.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=51812
http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/bolivia/waterbottle.html
http://www.answers.com/topic/nestl-waters