Bottled water debate hits a boiling point

[Karl]

AFP, 29 June 2008 –

A debate over water is boiling over in the United States and elsewhere amid growing environmental concerns about bottled water and questions about safety of tap water. The US Conference of Mayors in June passed a resolution calling for a phasing out of bottled water by municipalities and promotion of the importance of public water supplies. While largely symbolic, the vote highlighted a growing movement opposing regular use of bottled water because of its plastic waste and energy costs to transport drinking supplies.

Janet Larsen, director of research at the Earth Policy Institute, cites a "backlash against bottled water as more people are realizing what they get out of the bottles is not any better than what they get out of the faucet." The Pacific Institute, a California think tank on sustainability issues, contends that producing bottles for US water consumption required the equivalent of more than 17 million barrels of oil in 2006, not including the energy for transportation. The group says bottling water for Americans produces more than 2.5 million tons of carbon dioxide and consumes three liters of water for each liter of bottled water produced.

The debate in the US mirrors that taking place worldwide in places such as Paris; Liverpool, England; Florence, Italy; Vancouver, Canada. According to the EPI, the issue making waves among policymakers in locations including Denmark and New South Wales, Australia, among others. The backlash comes even amid surging sales of bottled water in the United States. Some of this is linked to concerns about contamination of public water supplies, although critics of the industry say marketing hype is a greater factor. Aficionados of Evian from France or Fiji from the South Pacific swear by the taste and health benefits of those waters, but others decry the high cost of energy for a product that may not be any better than local water.

A Natural Resources Defense Council concluded that "most of the tested waters were found to be of high quality (but) some brands were contaminated." The group said bottled waters "are subject to less rigorous testing and purity standards than those which apply to city tap water." In fact, says the group "about one-fourth of bottled water is actually bottled tap water" while government rules "allow bottlers to call their product 'spring water' even though it may be brought to the surface using a pumped well, and it may be treated with chemicals."

Article Link: http://www.wbcsd.org/includes/getTar...Det&id=MzA1MzY

Related: UK Sales of Bottled Water Face Environmental Backlash

[natureguy]

US doesn't have proper testing of the water their reserviors... Check the lastest incidence....HERE

[Karl]

Originally Posted by natureguy

US doesn't have proper testing of the water their reserviors...

Yes, that may be so. But is the solution to that (in the US and elsewhere) to increase the consumption of bottled water? According to the article in your link, the potable water supply may contain carinogens, but...

"Bottled water has recently been linked to cancer because of its plastic container. In the latest issue of Cancer Research, the official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, a report showed the link between a bisphenol A, a chemical that seeps into food from manufactured products, and breast cancer. The chemical, which is found in water bottles, causes healthy human breast cells to show genealogical characteristics of cancerous cells." (UK Sales of Bottled Water Face Environmental Backlash)

[natureguy]

By my link I didn't mean to promote bottled water by any means. I strictly feel / think that water should be not be commercialised. Citizens should pay for purification but than that's it.

Actually I have drank water from lots of areas in India as being a businessman, I have to travel lenght and breadth of the country. Never ever I have caught any disease. What do I do? Simple, I used boiled & filtered tap water and according to me, its okay.

[Karl]

Originally Posted by natureguy

By my link I didn't mean to promote bottled water by any means. I strictly feel / think that water should be not be commercialised. Citizens should pay for purification but than that's it.

Actually I have drank water from lots of areas in India as being a businessman, I have to travel lenght and breadth of the country. Never ever I have caught any disease. What do I do? Simple, I used boiled & filtered tap water and according to me, its okay.

This is essentially in agreement with a post from an earlier thread: Bottled v Filtered Tap Water

Originally Posted by emissionstatement

I'm currently looking at the differing carbon emissions between filtered tap water and that which comes in plastic bottles.

Obviously water scarcity is an issue, but given human consumption for drinking is a small part of water usage in this country, filtration of tap water is a far more sustainable and environmentally friendly water source.

Just wondering if anybody had any thoughts on this, know of any relevant studies etc.

There are many grounds for justification for using tap water (further treated where applicable). Apart from the significantly higher environmental footprint (at several stages of the product life-cycle) and the general wastefulness of bottled water, there are cited estimates that it costs (the consumer) 840 times the price of tap water.

Another major aspect is the plastic wastes. Based on my own observations of material washed up and deposited on the high-tide mark of tropical beaches - in recent years the plastic component of that appears to become almost exclusively dominated by discarded water bottles.

This does not mean that the availability of bottled water does not have a role; it is particularly useful for environmental researchers or professionals who may have to spend time in a remote area where other water is not readily available. But a major part of the problem is the extent to which it is used unnecessarily in many peoples' day-to-day activities.