Shock study casts new light on bottled water
(Extracts from: LIFEetc – Weekend Argus February 25, 2006 page 39)

The industry is seriously damaging the environment, writes Jon Neale and Jonathan Thompson

BOTTLED water, the designer drink that has become a near-universal accessory of modern life, may be refreshing but it certainly isn’t clean.  A major new study has concluded that its production is seriously damaging the environment.

It costs 10,000 times MORE to create the bottled version than it does to produce tap water, say scientists.  Huge resources are needed to draw it from the ground, add largely irrelevant minerals, and package and distribute it – sometimes half-way around the world.

The plastic bottles it comes in take 1,000 years to biodegrade, and in industrialized countries, bottled water is no more pure and health that what comes out of the tap.  The new study comes from the Earth Policy Institute (EPI), a Washington-based environmental group which has previously alerted the world to melting ice caps, expanding deserts and the environmental threats of a rapidly industrializing China.

It points out that the world consumed a staggering 154 billion litres of bottled water in 2004 – an increase of 57% in just half a decade.  Emily Arnold, the reporter’s author, said: “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”.

Michael Warhurst, Friends of the Earth’s senior waste campaigner, said: “It is another product we do not need.  Bottled water companies are wasting resources and exacerbating climate change.”

My Comment
We don’t need to pollute this earth any further, certainly not with plastic which takes 1000 years to biodegrade.  Nor do we want to use up energy which we are already having problems with producing enough of – and to top it all – we don’t want to drink water which is clearly no good for us.  Drink tap water – the experts are telling us it’s better than bottled water which may harbour viruses, bacteria, heavy metals and fecal waste – or drink steam distilled water (see articles on this site) without polluting the earth, and get the purest water there is on the planet.

Steam distillation is really the only safe way to “take your water”.  Click here for more articles on the benefits of distilled water.