Bottled Water: We Can't Afford It

Most of us think nothing of buying bottled drinking water.

Cheap, ubiquitous, and healthy – what's wrong with bottled water?

But consider this:

• Would you pay $24,000 for a cheeseburger?
• How about $88,000 for a gallon of gas?
• Imagine paying $8 million to rent a room for a month

Who’s feeling rich?

You probably think a bottle of water is cheap at $1 or a $1.25. But the equivalent amount of tap water costs .004 cents. You are paying a premium of almost 25,000% for the plastic, packaging, transportation, advertising, and profits to the bottler.

Bottled water is a relatively recent development. It is largely the same as tap water.

• It is not as regulated, therefore not as safe
• Taste tests have shown people cannot tell the difference
• Bottled water is wasteful

Tap Water, on the other hand, is healthy, safe, and economical

Bottled Water is a fad

After college, I joined the Peace Corps and lived from 1991 to 1993 in Mali, West Africa. There, the water was not safe to drink. Some villages have deep bore wells installed by charity groups, but many people drink water from shallow wells. These wells were often uncovered and the water could be contaminated with dust, algae, or animal waste. Us tender-stomached volunteers had to filter or treat our drinking water.

When I returned to the U.S., I exulted in being able to drink safe, clean water from the tap.

But I was surprised to see that in the time I had been gone, bottled water had become big business in the U.S.

Today bottled water is an $11.8 billion business in America. We are the biggest consumers of bottled water in the world.

It wasn’t always this way. Bottled water consumption and sales have increased 312% and 371%, respectively, since 1991.

According to the Sierra Club,

"It's an amazing new fad, one of the most successful advertising hypes in recent history. Advertising for bottled water suggests that drinking water in plastic can make you thin, sexy, healthy, affluent, and environmentally responsible. Water bottles have become a fashion accessory."

Basically no difference between bottled and tap

While public safety groups point out that many municipal water systems are aging and there remain hundreds of chemical contaminants for which no standards have been established, there's very little empirical evidence that suggests bottled water is any cleaner or better for you than its tap equivalent.

According to the New York Times, the Food and Drug Administration oversees bottled water, and U.S. EPA is in charge of tap water.

The FDA regulates bottled water as a food and cannot require certified lab testing or violation reporting. Furthermore, FDA does not require bottled water companies to disclose to consumers where the water came from, how it has been treated or what contaminants it contains.

• In theory, bottled water in the United States falls under the regulatory authority of the Food and Drug Administration
• In practice, about 70 percent of bottled water never crosses state lines for sale, making it exempt from FDA oversight

Tap water is regulated more stringently than bottled water.

The EPA can require water testing by certified laboratories. Public water systems must also provide reports to customers about their water, noting its source, evidence of contaminants and compliance with regulations.

Bottled Water is Wasteful

Bottled water is tap water that has an additional carbon footprint of petroleum-based transportation and plastics

What about the bottles themselves? Every year about 1.5 million tons of plastic go into manufacturing water bottles for the global market, using processes that release toxics such as nickel, ethylbenzene, ethylene oxide and benzene. In the U.S. alone 1.5 million barrels of oil are consumed in making the bottles. Most bottles end up in landfills, adding to the landfill crisis.

Tap Water Makes the Most Sense

When I say drink from the tap, I do not mean the beer on tap at the Brickyard.

"Roughly 40% of ALL bottled water sold is municipal tap water put into a plastic bottle"

What is the solution? Carry a stainless steel thermos with you, or a water bottle you can refill.

Some people insist they do not like the way tap water tastes. One solution? Filter the water at home.

Here are some ways I like to drink tap water

• In a pitcher, in the fridge
• Add some ice
• Lemon juice, twist of lime, or cucumber slices

Conclusion

To recap:

• Bottled Water is expensive
• Bottled Water is wasteful
• Tap Water is healthy, safe, and economical

Bottled water is another example of corporate privatization of common goods. Instead of drinking the water we get out of the tap at nominal cost, water which is perfectly healthy, clean, and safe, water which we subsidize with taxes and regulated by the government, we drink water that has been packaged into petroleum-based bottles, transported with more petroleum, and leaves petroleum-based waste, of which a very small percentage gets recycled.

Bottled water is a scam.

Bring a bottle with you wherever you go. This is New Mexico and it is hot and dry. Be sure to fill up with tap water at drinking fountains.

And, if you must pay more for a commodity, go ahead and pay $10,500 for a Toastmasters membership -- the 25,000% equivalent markup of a bottle of water.