Handeln

Avoid bottled water

Image: colourbox.com

Everyone drinks water every day - it´s the worlds number one drink. But water is not just water, we´re tought. The marketers would have us believe that bottled water is healthier water. If you have a closer look at the labels or ads they promise you water from deep, pristine pools of spring water or majestic alpine peaks and tell you about the benefits you´ll have when drinking this water.

In reality, bottled water is just water - mostly tap-water! Sometimes it is of even worse quality than that out of your tap. However, that fact isn’t stopping people from buying plenty of bottled water - with a big bad impact on environment.

In India, the per capita bottled water consumption is still quite low – around five litres a year as compared to the global average of 24 litres. Yet it is one of the country’s fastest-growing industries and is worth Rs. 1,000 crores, and growing at approximately 40-50 per cent a year. With growing bottled water consumption there will be incresing problems.

Some reasons to avoid the bottled water habit

* In many cases bottled water isn´t as healthy as suggested. In India, Dr. V.H. Potty advises that unregulated impurities inside the bottled water may not be the only reason for worry, explaining that the dangers of chemicals such as metal may be leached from the plastic container over a period of time or in particular temperatures.

* Still there are people without access to clean drinking water: The global bottled water industry's revenue in 2010 is estimated at over $100 billion world-wide. That is $100 billion a year going into private infrastructure to create single serve plastic bottles while an estimated 3 billion people do not have tap water in their homes. The United Nations estimates that if given just 1/6th of that money for one year, $15 billion, they could cut in half the number of people without access to clean water.

* To buy bottled water means higher personal costs: A single bottle of water generally runs about one to two dollars. Filtered tap water is essentially the same product and costs a fraction of the price.

* The massive consumption of bottled water has a bad impact on environment: Bottles used to package water take over 1,000 years to bio-degrade and if incinerated, they produce toxic fumes. Alone in the U.S. landfills are overflowing with 2 million tons of discarded water bottles.
Just producing the plastic bottles for bottled-water consumption worldwide uses 50 million barrels of oil every year - which does not include fossil fuel and emissions costs of green house gases needed to transport the final product to market.
It is estimated that actually 3 liters of water is used to package 1 liter of bottled water. This contributes significantly to depleting groundwater levels and decreasing the downstream water supply.

An example:

The manufacture and transport of one kilogram bottle of Fiji [brand] water consumed:

26.88 kilograms of water (7.1 gallons)
849 Kilograms of fossil fuel and emitted
562 grams of Greenhouse Gases (1.2 pounds).

(Source: treehugger.com)

* Water extraction for bottled water can cause groundwater shortages: Many water bottlers are given carte blanche rights to mine local groundwater supplies at the expense of local populations and ecosystem leading to groundwater shortages in areas where the water is being extracted. In India, for example, water extraction by Coca-Cola for its Dasani brand of bottled water and other drinks, has caused water shortages in over 50 Indian villages.

Think Before You Drink

Imagine: Every bottle of water you drink is about three-quarters water and one-quarter oil. This is the energy it takes to put that bottle of water in your hand.

In a country like India in many places bottled water is the only source of bacteria-free water. Still, there are possibilities to reduce your bottled-water consumption:

* If possible, drink water from the tap: In Indian cities most of the piped water supply coming from water utilities is safe. For example in Bangalore it is absolutely safe to drink the water supplied by the BWSSB directly without any treatment. Find more information at your local water supplier.

* Install solar water heaters: Households with solar water heaters usually have the safest water to drink. Suppliers you can find here.

* Strengthen your water quality: Use a water filter. Of the water filters the safest and cheapest is TATA SWACH which has recently been released in the market.

* Take your own water with you: Buy a stainless steel or BPA free plastic reusable water bottle to refill it at your tap. Or get a Design SOLAR BOTTLE, a water-purifying drinking container to have clean drinking-water wherever you are.