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Is Bottled Better?
Emily Clinch
 After
a long, hot day, nothing seems more appealing than a nice cold glass
of water. So clear, so pure, fresh from the bottle — wait, where
did that come from?
Bottled water's appeal has grown rapidly in recent years, as people
worry more and more about the safety of their tap water. But some
studies suggest that those fears aren't so justified — and where
they are, that bottled water may not be any better — at least
in the United States.
In 2000, consumers slurped their way through 22.3 billion gallons
of water, with worldwide sales of around $22 billion. With advertisements
focused on "purity" and "health," bottled water
can seem like a wiser choice than tap water. According to a March
1999 study from the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC), however,
over-dependence on bottled water can be downright dangerous. Not only
is water bottling one of the most rapidly growing industries in the
world, it's also one of the most poorly regulated.
In a study testing more than 1,000 bottles of 103 types of water,
the NRDC found that 33 percent of the brands were contaminated to
levels violating state standards or guidelines for biological or chemical
contamination. The FDA, which helps create standards for tap water,
does not monitor bottled water — that's the responsibility of
the EPA, whose guidelines are far less stringent. In addition, city
water supplies are required to test for coliform bacteria (which can
indicate the presence of fecal material) one hundred times per month,
while bottled water facilities must test only once per week. Cities
must also test for bacteria and parasites, while water-bottling facilities
do not need to.
Additionally, bottled water is shipped in, well, bottles. Even though
the bottles are usually made of recyclable plastic or glass-it can't
compare with the no packaging materials at all used by tap water.
An estimated 1.5 million tons of plastic go to bottle making every
year. On top of that, consider all the shipping inefficiencies involved
with moving crates of bottled water from Canada and Maine to stores
in California, Europe and Asia. Add to that the potential cost of
draining deep aquifers (as opposed to more-easily-replenished surface
sources, like reservoirs and rivers, that city water usually comes
from), and the environmental impact of bottled water can be remarkably
high.
Bottled water isn't entirely bad, of course. In situations where local
water has been contaminated, many individuals can rely on bottled
water until water quality improves. But the environmental and actual
dollar costs are too great to make bottled water a wise choice for
everyday use.
To read the NRDC study, visit: http://www.nrdc.org/water/drinking/bw/chap1.asp#table1
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