/24-7PressRelease/ - SURREY, BC, CANADA, May 20, 2008 - Water, water everywhere and we are duped into buying it bottled.
Consumers spend a collective $100 billion every year on bottled water in the belief-often mistaken, as it happens-that this is better for us than what flows from our taps, according to environmental think tank the Earth Policy Institute (EPI).
For a fraction of that sum, everyone on the planet could have safe drinking water and proper sanitation, the Washington, D.C.-based organization said this week.
Members of the United Nations have agreed to halve the proportion of people who lack reliable and lasting access to safe drinking water by the year 2015. To meet this goal, they would have to double the $15 billion spent every year on water supply and sanitation.
"While this amount may seem large, it pales in comparison to the estimated $100 billion spent each year on bottled water," said EPI researcher Emily Arnold.
"There is no question that clean, affordable drinking water is essential to the health of our global community," Arnold said. "But bottled water is not the answer in the developed world, nor does it solve problems for the 1.1 billion people who lack a secure water supply. Improving and expanding existing water treatment and sanitation systems is more likely to provide safe and sustainable sources of water over the long term."
Worldwide, bottled water consumption surged to 154 billion liters (41 billion gallons) in 2004, up 57 percent from 98 billion liters in 1999, EPI said in a written analysis citing industry data.
By one view, the consequences for the planet and for consumers' purses are horrifying.
"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," said Arnold. "Although in the industrial world bottled water is often no healthier than tap water, it can cost up to 10,000 times more."
At up to $2.50 per liter ($10 per gallon), bottled water costs more than gasoline in the United States.
A close look at the multibillion-dollar bottled water industry renewed Arnold's affection for the faucet.
Tap water comes to us through an energy-efficient infrastructure whereas bottled water must be transported long distances-and nearly one-fourth of it across national borders-by boat, train, airplane, and truck. This "involves burning massive quantities of fossil fuels," Arnold said.
By way of example, in 2004 alone, a Helsinki company shipped 1.4 million bottles of Finnish tap water 4,300 kilometers (2,700 miles) to Saudi Arabia. And although 94 percent of the bottled water sold in the United States is produced domestically, some Americans import water shipped some 9,000 kilometers from Fiji and other faraway places to satisfy demand for what Arnold termed "chic and exotic bottled water."
More fossil fuels are used in packaging the water. Most water bottles are made with polyethylene terephthalate, a plastic derived from crude oil. "Making bottles to meet Americans' demand for bottled water requires more than 1.5 million barrels of oil annually, enough to fuel some 100,000 U.S. cars for a year," Arnold said.
Worldwide, some 2.7 million tons of plastic are used to bottle water each year.
Once it has been emptied, the bottle must be dumped. According to the Container Recycling Institute, 86 percent of plastic water bottles used in the United States become garbage or litter. Incinerating used bottles produces toxic byproducts such as chlorine gas and ash containing heavy metals tied to a host of human and animal health problems. Buried water bottles can take up to 1,000 years to biodegrade.
Of the bottles deposited for recycling in 2004, the United States exported roughly 40 percent to destinations as far away as China-meaning that even more fossil fuels were burned in the process.
I believe you will agree this situation is not very satifactory, in fact it is a real disaster. It is time these big companies looked after the world instead of doing their best to destroy it
There is an alternative you know.
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