Americans consume about 4 billion gallons of bottled water per year, equal to one 8-ounce bottle per person daily. However, bottled water has significant environmental costs to produce and transport the plastic bottles. It takes three to five times more water to produce a plastic water bottle than it contains, and the manufacturing process uses oil equivalent to fueling over 100,000 cars annually. Most bottled water is simply filtered local tap water, but plastic bottles may leach chemicals into the water when heated. Less than a quarter of plastic bottles are recycled, and the rest pile up as trash that takes over 1000 years to degrade.

1. Times Herald-Record
Sustainable Living: Bottled water's environmental ills
October 14, 2007
Many of us choose bottled water because we think it is the healthier choice.
Americans are the world's leading consumers of bottled water, downing about 4 billion gallons per year in little plastic
bottles. This is roughly equal to one 8-ounce bottle per person per day. While it certainly is healthier to drink water
than soda, bottled water is actually very bad for the planet's health.
There is much more to the ubiquitous water bottle than meets the lips. It actually takes three to five times more water
to make and fill one plastic water bottle than the bottle contains. (Water is used in the production of the plastic in
water bottles, then also to rinse those bottles.) If you add to that the average energy cost of making the plastic, filling
the bottle, transporting it to market and then processing the empty bottle, you begin to see the hidden environmental
costs.
quot;It would be like filling up a quarter of every (water) bottle with oil,quot; says Peter Gleik, a water policy expert and director
at the Oakland, Calif.-based Pacific Institute, which studies quot;real life solutions to water crises.quot;
WATER BOTTLES, like other plastic containers, are made from natural gas and petroleum, which are both
nonrenewable resources. More than 1.5 million tons of plastic are used to produce PET, the plastic in water bottles.
The manufacturing processes that produce PET cause serious emissions, affecting both the environment and human
health. The Pacific Institute calculates that the process of making the plastic bottles consumed in the U.S. uses
approximately 17 million barrels of oil per year.
Instead of being made into bottles, that oil could fuel more than 100,000 cars. Once the plastic bottle is manufactured
and filled with water, it has to be transported, using diesel trucks, ships or airfreight to reach our thirsty lips.
The Pacific Institute estimates that nearly a quarter of all bottled water sold around the world crosses national borders
to reach consumers. In 2004, Nord Water of Finland bottled and shipped 1.4 million bottles of Finnish tap water 2,700
miles from its bottling plant in Helsinki to Saudi Arabia.
ALMOST 94 PERCENT of the bottled water sold in the U.S. is bottled domestically. In fact, about 25 percent of
bottled water sold is simply reprocessed municipal or tap water, according to a 1999 study by the National Resources
Defense Council. Aquafina, which is sold by the Pepsi-Cola Co., and Dasani, bottled by the Coca-Cola Co., are
reprocessed from municipal water systems. The Food and Drug Administration, which regulates bottled water, reports
that about 75 percent of bottled water sold in the U.S. comes from natural underground sources, which include
quot;rivers, lakes, springs and artesian wells,quot; while the remaining 25 percent comes from municipal sources.
These quot;municipal sourcesquot; are often the same tap water that flows through your kitchen pipes, notes Jay Beaumont,
former executive director of the Orange County Water Authority, who now works for a private company that designs
water piping/filtration systems for municipalities, including New York City.
quot;We rigorously test our water on an almost daily basis,quot; Beaumont said. quot;Our region boasts some of the best drinking
water in the country.quot;
There are more regulations governing the quality of our tap water than those concerning the quality of bottled water in
the U.S.
Even if the water itself is pure, a plastic container can leach chemicals such as phthalates or Bisphenol A into the
bottled water. A recent study linked breast cancer to these chemicals from plastic water bottles that heated up in the
sun or a hot car.
DISPOSING OF ALL THOSE PLASTIC BOTTLES is also an environmental nightmare. Fewer than 23 percent of
those bottles are recycled, in part because water bottles are often not included in local redemption plans. Also,
bottled water is often consumed on the go and disposed of in mixed-trash containers, or just tossed by the side of the
road as litter. A 2002 study by Scenic Hudson reported that 18 percent by volume of recovered litter from the Hudson
River (and 14 percent by weight) was composed of beverage containers.
The other 77 percent of plastic bottles are piling up as trash. They'll remain trash for the 1,000 years it takes PET to
biodegrade. Incinerating used bottles produces toxic byproducts such as chlorine gas and ash containing heavy

2. metals. According to a report by the California Department of Conservation, more than 1 billion water bottles are
ending up in the state's trash each year, representing enough plastic to make 74 million square feet of carpet or 16
million sweaters.
Shawn Dell Joyce is a sustainable artist and activist from Montgomery. She is the founder of the Wallkill River
School, combining plein-air painting with environmental activism. Visit www.recordonline.com/earth to read more of
Shawn's columns, and contact her with comments or ask questions about the environment and your role in helping to
curb climate change.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
• Glass doesn't leach chemicals; sturdy plastic bottles can be repeatedly washed, so reuse a glass or sturdy plastic
water bottle.
• Remove plastic caps from water bottles before recycling them. The cap is made from a different kind of plastic.
• Protect your watershed. Don't use harmful chemicals that will seep into ground water; join community initiatives to
preserve watersheds.
• Purchase a tight-fitting lid for the beverage tumblers you use at home and fill them with your own beverages.•
Refill bottles from your kitchen tap. This is the cheapest solution, since drinking the recommended eight glasses a
day from the tap will cost about 49 cents compared with $1,400 annually in bottled water.
• Resist legislation that would privatize water. Water is a basic human need and a quot;commonsquot; that we all share. Don't
allow government to sell your water supply to private interests like water bottlers.