To Drink or not to Drink - Bottled Water - the FACTS

Most Canadians have access to unlimited clean drinking water - a fact we take for granted. We are wasteful with our water (washing cars, washing driveways, running taps). Why do we buy our water in bottles, when it comes out of our tap? Here are some things to think about before you purchase your next bottle of ‘pure spring water’. Media Hype: Is your bottled water cleaner than what comes out of your tap? Tap water: scrutinized, cleaned, filtered, tested and regulated for contaminants and harmful substances; infused with to prevent tooth decay. Bottled water, falls under the Candian Food and Drug Act requires bottled water to meet micro-biological standards, which are meant to ensure they’re safe to consume. Bottled water: if the label doesn’t specify the product to be ‘spring’ or ‘mineral’ water, chances are you are drinking tap water in a bottle. 'De-mineralized’, ‘distilled’ and ‘carbonated’ don’t indicate anything about the water’s source. Oxygenated waters are the latest rage especially with sports players. Humans absorb oxygen through the air by taking it into our lungs - it isn’t absorbed by swallowing. According to the science guys, these waters have no effect on athletic performance beyond that of a placebo. Bottled water is 10,000 times more expensive than simply turning on the kitchen tap. At $2.50 per litre, bottled water costs more than gasoline! Environmental costs: The world spends an estimated $100 billion on extracting, altering, packaging, shipping and consuming bottled water. That money could be building wells and sanitation systems to alleviate water shortages in countries where people lack access to clean drinking water. In a country that’s blessed with an abundance of fresh, clean water, why pay to have it shipped across the ocean? The PLASTIC to package bottled water ends up in landfills, where it can take up to 1000 years to biodegrade. BOTTLES, even if they are recyclable, requires huge amounts of energy to make, recycle or dispose of. HOW MANY FOSSIL FUELS (Greenhouse Gas emitting nasties) ARE used to transport bottled water? Nearly a quarter of the stuff crosses national borders to reach consumers (coming to you by way of train, plane, boat and automobile, straight from the French Alps). The most commonly used PLASTIC for making water bottles is polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which is derived from crude oil. Americans drank 26 billion litres of bottled water in 2004. To meet that demand, bottled water requires 1.5 million barrels of oil annually, enough to fuel 100,000 cars for a whole year.