Drinking pure water is easily one of the best things you can do for your health, particularly when you drink it instead of sugary drinks like soda or juice. But relying on bottled water to do this is not the answer, as this excellent commentary points out.
People pay premium prices for exotic bottled water brands like Fiji and Evian in the hopes that it is more pure than water from nearby sources. However, this puts a giant strain on both the environment and your pocketbook. Consider the calculations from the article linked below:
A bottle that holds 1 liter of water requires 5 liters of water in its manufacturing process
Assuming Fiji must import plastic bottles for their water from China, this uses 2.3g of fossil fuels and 20g of water, and outputs 4.3g of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), per bottle delivered to Fiji from China.
The total amount of water used to produce and deliver one bottle of imported water from Fiji to the United States is 6.74kg, and the amount of GHGs released amount to 250g.
Aside from the huge environmental strain, these imported waters are expensive. It’s estimated that a $1.50 bottle of water costs just $0.22 to produce and deliver, leaving $1.28 per bottle in profits. Meanwhile, bottled water is not an assurance of purity. In fact, up to 40 percent of bottled water is bottled tap water that may or may not have received additional treatment. On top of that, it may also be contaminated with the metal antimony.
So where can you find clean, affordable, environmentally friendly water supplies? Your best bet is to filter your own water at home using a reverse osmosis filter.
TriplePundit.com February 5, 2007