Water Wars: Bottled or Tap?

Enlarge Image Image Gallery Is your bottled water all that it claims to be? Most tap water is just as good or better than bottled brands. ISTOCKPHOTO/ KMITU

Bottled water manufacturers’ marketing campaigns capitalize on isolated instances of contaminated public drinking water supplies by encouraging the perception that their products are purer and safer than tap water.

But the reality is that tap water is actually held to more stringent quality standards than bottled water, and some brands of bottled water are just tap water in disguise. What’s more, our increasing consumption of bottled water — more than 22 gallons per U.S. citizen in 2004 according to the Earth Policy Institute — fuels an unsustainable industry that takes a heavy toll on the environment.

Environmental Impact

Fossil fuel consumption. Approximately 1.5 million gallons of oil — enough to run 100,000 cars for a whole year — are used to make plastic water bottles, while transporting these bottles burns thousands more gallons of oil. In addition, the burning of the oil and other fossil fuels (which also are used to generate the energy that powers the manufacturing process) emits global warming pollution into the atmosphere.

Water consumption. The growth in bottled water production has increased water extraction in areas near bottling plants, in some cases leading to water shortages that affect nearby consumers and farmers. In addition to the millions of gallons of water used in the plastic-making process, 2 gallons of water are wasted in the same purification processes for every gallon that goes into the bottles.

Waste. Only about 10 percent of plastic water bottles are recycled, leaving the rest in landfills where it takes thousands of years for the materials to decompose.

The Simple (and Cheaper) Solution

The next time you feel thirsty, forgo the bottle and turn on the tap. You’ll lower your environmental impact and save money — bottled water can cost up to 10,000 times more per gallon than tap water! And because the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s standards for tap water are slightly more stringent than the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s standards for bottled water, you’ll be drinking water that’s just as safe as, or safer than, bottled.