Nowadays, most people probably agree that we need to drink plenty of water in order to stay healthy, avoid dehydration and to function efficiently. The exact quantity of water that you need will vary according to your body mass and size, climatic conditions you find yourself in and the level of physical activity in which you are engaged. However, most medical authorities currently suggest that you should typically be drinking between six and eight large glasses of water on a daily basis.
This perfectly sound medical advice has been one factor used in the advertising campaigns of bottled water suppliers to very effectively market their product. The market for bottled water is relatively new – but it is huge. Consumer demand for bottled water more than doubled between 1997 and 2005, and over 200 billion bottles of water are sold worldwide per annum.
That’s a lot of empty bottles being thrown away. Some – a little less than a quarter of the total according to current statistics – are recycled. The rest end up as landfill. The environmental implications are truly awful. If all of those empty bottles were aligned end to end, they would span a distance covered long enough to get to the moon and back – 56 times!
The amount of carbon emissions involved, both in the production of the bottles and the transportation of the finished product, is also worthy of consideration. It’s an astonishing fact that the production of the bottles uses three times more water than the bottles contain when they are shipped.
Bottled water is, simply put, an environmental disaster. Of course, it’s not out of the question that you may be more worried about your own health than that of the planet – which may well be understandable in many cases. The problem with this line of reasoning is that there is no evidence that bottled water is any better for your health than plain old tap water.
Tap water in North America and Europe is perfectly safe to drink and is subject to stringent checks. Some bottled water has been found to contain traces of uranium and estrogen chemicals. Some chemicals found in bottled water are due to “leeching” from the plastic (PET) bottles. It has also been found that many bottled waters contain, in addition to other minerals, salt – which is bad for your blood pressure.
The only reason you might conceivably be tempted to use bottled water would be the taste. However, in blind taste tests the majority of people are unable to distinguish between tap water and bottled water. Of course, if you live in a hard water area, or if you really don’t like the taste of your tap water (possibly due to chlorine added by the water authority to kill bacteria) you may wish to review your alternatives.
You could consider using a home filtration system – which will be better for the environment, better for your health and a lot cheaper than bottled water. You can install whole house filtration systems, under sink filters or even just use something as simple as a Brita filter jug. All of these solutions will treat any contaminants, improve taste and reduce water hardness in an environmentally friendly manner.
