User:Orcasgirl/Bottled Water

Impact of Bottled Water

A large pile of full Poland Spring bottles

Making profits of $11 billion a year, [1] bottled water is a successful product, available throughout the world, the behaviors it enables are the subject of vocal criticism. This criticism primarily falls into environmental, economic, and health categories.

Environmental Impact

The annual global consumption of bottled water in 2004 is 154 billion liters, [2] up 57 percent from the 98 billion liters consumed five years earlier. Though the materials used are generally recyclable, 90% of bottles are not recycled. [3]

For a year of consumption in the U.S., the Earth Policy Institute estimated that the process of making the plastic for the water bottles burns up, something like, 1.5 million barrels of oil, enough to power 100,000 cars for a year. Seattle P.I. A simple way to visualize the average energy cost to make the plastic, fill the bottle, transport it to market and then deal with the waste: "It would be like filling up a quarter of every bottle with oil." Peter Gleick, an expert on water policy and director of a think tank in Oakland, Calif., called the Pacific Institute.Seattle P.I.

It also takes water to make a bottle, if a container holds 1 liter it requires 5 liters of water in its manufacturing process (this includes power plant cooling water). The total amount of water used to produce and deliver one bottle of imported water is has been calculated to be 6.74kg. [4]

Once you have created the bottle and filled it with water, the next environmental impact is the large amount of fossil fuel used to deliver the water from its source to end user by means of ground transportation. Some bottled water is transported long distances by ship in addition to the distances it travels by truck or rail. It takes a fair amount of oil to move a plastic bottle from where it is made, to where it is filled, then to the store, and finally into the consumer's hand. The amount of GHGs released amount to 250g or 0.00025 tons for one imported water bottle. [5]

The local affects of taping the water sources is also of concern. Because of the high demand companies like Perrier's Zephyrhills are requesting to increase their pumping from a spring on a private ranch in central Florida by 600 percent in the next 10 years. The request was denied by a judge ruling that the pumping could dry up Tampa Bay kitchen sinks, some 37 miles down stream. [6], Mother Jones

On a local level, water bottlers may adversely affect aquifers ground water levels, if they bottle more water than is naturally replenished. Rivers are delicate ecosystems. By tapping springs and aquifers even on a small scale can alter the movement of sediment in nearby streams, which can in turn disrupt the food supply for fish and other wildlife. "It's a very complicated system, and we don't have a very good predictive understanding of how the properties of the river channel will be affected [by large-scale pumping]," warns Kurt Cuffey, assistant professor of geology at the University of California at Berkeley.[7]

Saltwater intrusion is another problem with tapping aquifers in coastal areas. Healthy ecosystems along coastal areas there is a natural flow of groundwater in that pushes freshwater out against the saltwater, creating a kind of sea wall. When the groundwater is being over used and the flow falters as a result the saltwater will begin to creep underground, ruining drinking water, wetlands, and crops. Saltwater intrusion is already a problem in parts of coastal California, Florida, and New York as a result of the demands -- including water for bottling -- being made on local water supplies. [8]

Economic Impact

There are a couple issues that arise from the economic standpoint of bottled water. One is that Wall Street, after seeing the incredible demand for bottled water, is considering it the next best thing to oil and gold. [9]

Financially, in 2004, Andrea Petersen wrote in the Wall Street Journal that "... for the first time, Americans are expected to buy more bottled water than beer or coffee. Sales of bottled water reached $7.7 billion in 2002, up 12% from 2001, according to Beverage Marketing Corp., a New York-based consulting company.” [10] Bottle water is a big business and with the current trend, everyone trying to get a piece, the individual states and countries are beginning to voice their objections. Many states have voted the big companies not over pump on their soil. [11] And in Ontario, Canada, a fee has been aimed at having commercial and industrial water users contribute to the cost of managing the water supply. The fee has been dubbed a 'cost recovery regulatory charge'. Those charges are explicitly stated as not a tax but as a fee to create a more sustainable system. Polaris Institute[12]

Another concern is the "privatization" of water. The United Church of Christ, United Church of Canada, National Council of Churches, National Coalition of American Nuns and Presbyterians for Restoring Creation are among some of the religious organizations that have raised questions about weather or not it's ethical. They regard the industrial purchase and repackaging at a much higher resale price of a basic resource as an unethical trend. [13]

Health Impact

About 25% of bottled water sold is simply re-processed/used municipal(city) water. Both Aquafina from Pepsi-Cola Company and Dasani from The Coca-Cola Company are reprocessed from municipal water systems. Some bottled waters, such as Penta Water make unverified health benefit claims. About 22 percent of brands that are tested contain, in at least one sample, chemical contaminants at levels above strict state health limits. If consumed over a long period of time, some of these contaminants could cause cancer or other health problems. In addition, 60 to 70 percent of all bottled water in the U.S. are packaged and sold in a single state that is not regulated by the FDA. In the United States, 1 in 5 states do not regulate bottled water.

Bottled water processed with distillation or reverse osmosis lacks fluoride ions which are sometimes naturally present in groundwater, or added at a water treatment plant and which has an effect on the inhibition of cavity formation; the drinking of distilled water may conceivably increase the risk of tooth decay due to a lack of this element. People who drink mostly bottled water may wish to use supplemental fluoride, such as that is available by prescription from dentists or doctors. However, most people continue to cook with common tap water and this is thought to potentially provide sufficient fluoride to maintain normal prophylaxis in many instances. Any other minerals in tap water such as calcium and magnesium are present in such minuscule amounts that their absence is compensated for many thousands of times over by other dietary sources. On the other hand, some people wish to avoid exposure to fluoride, particularly systemic ingestion of fluoride in drinking water, and may choose such bottled water for this feature. [14]

Bottled water is typically printed with expiration dates. Even if the water itself is pure, a plastic container may leak chemicals such as phthalates or Bisphenol A into the bottled water. Storage in cool and dark places helps reduce reactions. Industry associations claim "bottled water can be used indefinitely if stored properly."

If the original water bottled is not pure, especially if it contained biological contaminants, then the water quality will continue to degrade regardless of the storage container or conditions.