The Cost of Drinking Bottled Water
Why do people drink bottled water over tap water? I agree that some bottled waters taste different–even better–than the water out of various taps or fountains. Plus there’s the convenience of having a disposable bottle to carry around. But at what cost? Personally, though, I can’t justify paying money for someone else’s tap water and for creating additional waste through demand for plastic bottles. But there’s even more cost involved:
David Suzuki, quoted in Treehugger, complains:
“I think in Canada it’s absolutely disgusting that people are so uncertain about their water that we buy it, paying more for bottled water than we do for gasoline.”….”It’s nuts to be shipping water all the way across the planet, and us — because we’re so bloody wealthy — we’re willing to pay for that water because it comes from France.”
The cost of a kilogram of Fiji brand (IMO the best tasting water out there) bottled water? According to Pablo Paster:
In summary, the manufacture and transport of that one kilogram bottle of Fiji water consumed 26.88 kilograms of water (7.1 gallons) .849 Kilograms of fossil fuel (one litre or .26 gal) and emitted 562 grams of Greenhouse Gases (1.2 pounds).
Twenty-six times as much water used to make it than you actually drink. As much fuel to make it as there is water in the bottle.
But all this research is not completely unbiased. For example, if you choose to carry around a mug rather than use disposable bottles, that’s OK as long as you stop buying new mugs: the manufacture of ceramic is more environmentally damaging that the manufacture of a number of styrofoam cups. (And styrofoam is better than paper or plastic these days.) See also Ask Pablo’s The Coffee Mug Debacle.
So what’s the best way of getting hydrated? Simple enough. Just tilt your head back when it rains and drink up. Just don’t expect much in places like Australia or Africa where they’ve been going through non-cyclical droughts potentially attributable to global warming.
Blogs, Environment, Sustainability | paul | 
February 6, 2007 2:39 pm | 
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