Tap Has 1/100 Impact of Bottled Water

We have forgotten about our closest source of water at home -- the tap. Yet one of the simplest ways to reduce our environmental impact, to save money (not a ton...yet!) and to free ourselves from shopping and storage hassle, is by saying goodbye to bottled water. A life cycle assessment commissioned by the Swiss Gas and Water Association traced the entire life cycle from water extraction to serving it up in a glass.

Their findings showed that tap water has less than one percent of the impacts of un-refrigerated bottled water. Even when the tap water is refrigerated its impact is only one quarter of that of bottled water. These astonishing figures show that tap water is hands-down the greenest and most responsible choice.

The biggest impacts for bottled water come from the refrigeration, packaging and transport. Refrigeration also substantially increased the impacts of the tap water scenarios thanks to the energy consumed to power the fridge. Returnable bottles and jugs had lesser overall impacts when the distances for their transport were short. But as the distances increase, the higher weight glass bottles resulted in an "on the whole" higher environmental impact as compared to the PET bottles.

This reminds us that transportation plays a big role in the impacts of bottled water, more so than even packaging in this case. The origin of the water causes the biggest impact and so the distance between the bottling site and you must be as short as possible to reduce impacts -- this is a pretty hard factor to control as a consumer. Hear that Fiji? When that distance is short, then returnable bottles become a viable alternative. As the distance gets bigger, the returnables cause more impact because of their higher weight.

Packaging (something tap water has none of) is also a problem when you look at the environmental impacts of bottled water. The Earth Policy Institute tells us that 17 million barrels of oil are used annually to meet American demand for bottled water. That's enough to fuel more than 1 million U.S. cars per year. Almost 2.7 million tons of plastic are used worldwide to bottle water each year while 90% of those end up in landfills. And to think that for the most part, we don't even need bottled water at all.

That's an enormous amount of waste for water that has no real added health benefits. If you do choose to hydrate yourself via the bottled stuff you will be causing almost 100 times more impact than if you fill your cup from the tap. Not all tap water tastes the same, but the truth is that tap water is actually more strictly controlled by the Environmental Protection Agency than bottled water is by the Food and Drug Administration. If you really can't stand the tap try a filtered jug at home or a filter for your faucet.

Convinced yet?

More on Bottled Water and its Impacts:
Tap Water or Bottled Water: Which is Better?
Bottled Water Drinkers are the New Smokers
A World of Reasons to Ditch Bottled Water
Bottled Water: Pouring Resources Down the Drain

Comments

[RightWingMarine]

Bottled water is convient. If I've been out all day and I want something cool to drink I'll typically get a bottled water from the gas station. It's cool and refreshing. Why must convience be sacrificed for a negligible impact?

[ThinkForYourself2]

The primary reason people have turned to bottled water is that we don't trust what comes out of our faucets. City water is typically contaminated with everything from fluoride and anti-depressants to toxic cleaning agents and mercury. If you want to criticize anyone, go after the EPA or those who control water filtration plants and demand change. The problem of bottled water won't be fixed until the public can trust that they aren't drinking poison.

http://www.naturalnews.com/022809.html

[noneIn2008]

Good you have touched on what should be our #1 practical environmental problem, clean water. Lack of clean drinking water is the #1 cause of death for children around the world. See WHO and UNESCO figures.

Also, many incorrect environmental policies lead to damaging our very limited water supplies. For example the production of 1 gallon of ethanol consumes over 4,000 gallons of water. It takes 3 gallons of good drinking water in the final processing steps alone.

[krm1255]

There's a growing body of evidence that the chlorine in tap water is not healthy. So your article really should promote the use of a filtration system if you're going to use tap water.

As in all things, it varies by city and town.

[noneIn2008]

There is a growing body of practical experience that NOT chlorinating water leads to cholera outbreaks. WHO reversed their position on chlorine after killing many people.

[westcoastsc]

Everybody should have a water filter. In Europe, they use oxygenation to keep their pools clean, not chlorine. They would not swim in our water during the olympics in 1984. It was a cheaper system. For some reason USC changed the system back. The corporations have too much power and, their propaganda is if Europe is doing it, it must be unAmerican.

[krm1255]

What? Filtering out the chlorine to drink my American tap water is going to give me cholera? Is that what you're saying?

If that's the case maybe we should stick with bottled.

[sheila]

i have the highest level pur filter on my sink and it works great. mossy, metallic, chlorine tastes are gone, as are like 99.99% of contaminants. i recommend it!

my more serious point is this - it is obvious that bottle water creates enormous stresses on our planet, most of them avoidable - so why on earth did Barbara Boxer, a self-appointed "environmental leader," send out a mass email last year encouraging us to, when we get a chance, sometimes try and recycle some of our bottles?

not a word about using a filtration system for home and office. not a word about re-usable bottles. not a word about instituting recycling programs in the states that don't have them, and especially in the developing nations that burn the bottles! just, hey, don't change your behavior in any meaningful way. teensy baby steps, if any, are all that are needed, so just relax and feel like an eco-hero if you recycle one of the 10 bottles you use this week.

if our "leaders" can't get more serious about this planet, we are doomed.

[Guitarsandmore]

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No way Jose!

This is a bogus article!

In my town many people get bottled water in order to stay healthy. You say there are no health benefits to bottled water but you are wrong. The tap water in my town will instantly make you sick, and you stay sick for quite a while.

When my dogs got sick we spent thousands trying to make them well and the vet kept shaking his head and asking for more money and more tests and more medicine. Finally mostly out of frustration and not knowing what else to do we just started giving them the same bottled water we all drink and they got better. From near death to pretty healthy just by switching the water. No health benefits? I think your wrong about that.

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[kanaschwiiz]

This is absolutely true.

Coke and Pepsi (Dasani/Bonaqua & Aquafina) dominate the North American market with over 50%, yet they bottle in regional bottling plants - basically the same water that comes out of local plants. They package, transport and sell the product that most North Americans are getting in their pipes!

Worse, San Pellegrino (the world's most popular bottled water), Evian and Perrier are shipped around the world from Italy and France, polluting as they go.

Giving hope: some Canadian school boards are banning bottled water.

[oldGunny]

The water in my community tastes like crap! I'll refill my 5 gallon container until i can afford an under the sink reverse osmosis filter.