The true cost of bottled water
Tuesday, February 6th, 2007
Wow, reading this article about the cost of making bottled water makes me glad I’m a Camelbak user! The calculations done by the article’s author show that it takes 25 liters of water to make a plastic bottle that holds one liter of water — what a discrepancy! I suppose it takes quite a bit of water to make a Camelbak, too, but at least I only have one of those!
Beyond the cost (environmental and financial) of making the plastic for the bottle, there are also transportation costs involved in getting the bottles from Fiji (the article deals with Fiji water specifically) to the United States (or wherever it’s being consumed). The transportation process also has environmental costs since it uses up fuel and releases greenhouse gases.
The article concludes that a bottle of water has a monetary cost of about $0.70, meaning that the manufacturer gets $0.80 profit every time you pay $1.50 for a liter of water. Do we really need to prop up an environmentally expensive water industry when drinkable tap water is within easy reach? And for those who complain that tap water doesn’t taste as good, check out this taste test conducted in Britain, which selected tap water from the Thames as a winner over Evian and Volvic. Conduct your own taste test and see if you can tell the difference! If not, consider ending your bottled water habit. (Keep in mind that many bottled waters are actually just bottled tap water!)
If you can tell the difference, try installing a filter on your faucet or use a filter pitcher instead of buying bottles on a regular basis. Given how much water the human body needs (especially when exercising!), it’s incredibly expensive — both financially and environmentally — for anyone to count on getting that much water from bottles. Get a refillable bottle and a filter and take on the tap! If you can’t resist the urge to spend lots of money on water consumption, check out the HydraCoach Intelligent Water Bottle — it tracks how much water (bottled, distilled, or tap) you’ve consumed each day. You’ll never feel dehydrated again — or at least you’ll have a bottle to tell you that you are dehydrated!
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One Comment
subscribe comments feedrubyredshoes
February 9th, 2007
Makes me so happy I have well water! It’s better than any bottled water (I prefer Poland Spring when I do buy water). The only drawback, if we lose the power, we lose the water too! And, of course, if we ever have a serious drought here, we’d be in trouble. Our whole family has their own water bottles!