Bottled Water – What's The True Cost?
It’s probably accepted by most people nowadays that we must drink plenty of water to stay healthy, avoid dehydration and to operate efficiently. The amount of water you need will vary depending upon your body mass and size, the ambient conditions you find yourself in and the amount of physical activity in which you are engaged. However, most medical authorities currently suggest that you should typically be ingesting between six and eight large glasses of water every day.
This perfectly sound dietary advice has been one element used in the advertising campaigns of bottled water manufacturers to very effectively market their product. The market for bottled water is fairly new – but it is gigantic. Demand for bottled water has more than doubled in the period between 1997 and 2005, and over 200 billion bottles of water are sold worldwide per annum.
That’s a lot of empty bottles being thrown away. Some – a little less than 25% according to current statistics – are recycled. The rest wind up as landfill. The environmental impact is huge. It’s estimated that if all those empty bottles were lined up end to end, the distance covered would be enough to get to the moon and back – 56 times!
The amount of carbon emissions generated, both in the production of the bottles and the transportation of the end product, is also noteworthy. It’s an amazing fact that the production of the bottles uses 3 times as much water as the bottles contain when they are shipped.
Bottled water is, simply put, an environmental disaster. Of course, it’s just possible that you may be more concerned with your own health than that of the planet – which might be understandable in many cases. The problem with this line of reasoning is that there is no evidence that bottled water is any better for your health than standard old tap water.
Tap water in North America and Europe is perfectly safe to drink and is subject to detailed checks. Bottled water has been found to contain uranium and estrogen chemicals. Some of the chemicals found in bottled water “leech” from the plastic (PET) bottles. It’s also been established that many bottled waters contain, along with other minerals, salt – which is bad for your blood pressure.
The only reason you might possibly be tempted to drink bottled water is the taste. However, in blind taste tests the majority of people are unable to differentiate between tap water and bottled water. Of course, if you live in a hard water area, or if you really don’t like the taste of your tap water (because of chlorine added by the water authority to treat bacteria) you may wish to review your alternatives.
You could consider using a home filtration system – which will be better for the environment, better for your health and considerably more economical than bottled water. You can install whole house filtration systems, under sink filters or even just use something as simple as a Brita filter jug. All of these solutions will treat any contaminants, enhance taste and reduce water hardness in an eco-friendly manner.
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