In the 1970s, ironically the same decade which marks the environmental
movement, bottled water made its debut. Since this time, bottled water sales
have exponentially grown, and are continuing to do so. In a matter of three
decades, Americans have managed to inflate their consumption from zero to 50
billion plastic water bottles (as of 2006). With any product consumed at such a
large rate, it is important to ask yourself whether the product is doing more
harm or more good. I found an article by Charles Fishman that does a great job
of weighing out the costs and benefits of bottled water. All of my facts were
derived from this article (see link at the bottom).
First off, let’s consider the cost of bottled water. Before
the bottled water boom, water was always considered a free resource, and in
some countries, a luxury. So why do so many people pay a dollar for this free
resource? As Americans have become increasingly busier with work, school and
extracurricular activities, bottled water has gained popularity due to the
convenience factor. But what are we really paying for? Half of the price of a
water bottle goes to the retailer, a third to distribute and transport, and
only 12-15 cents for the actual water. In the article, Fishman put the price we
pay into perspective, referring to a $1.35 bottle of Evian.
“In San Francisco, the municipal water comes from inside
Yosemite
National Park. It's so good the EPA doesn't require San
Francisco to
filter it. If you bought and drank a bottle of Evian, you
could refill that
bottle once a day for 10 years, 5 months, and 21 days
with San Francisco
tap water before that water would cost $1.35. Put another
way, if the
water we use at home cost what even cheap bottled water
costs, our
monthly water bills would run $9,000.”
It is clear that we are significantly overpaying for
water, but how is the quality of this water? I think this is one of the biggest
myths of bottled water which has made many people almost scared to use water
from tap. The two largest companies selling bottled water, Pepsi and Coke,
together account for 24% of the bottled water sold. These two companies both
implement similar practices; with bottling stations throughout the United
States, Pepsi and Coke fill their bottles with tap water, purified by reverse
osmosis. Coke and Pepsi are putting perfectly drinkable tap water through a
process which consumes great amounts of energy just to be able to put on their
label that the water has been purified. Even though our tap water is of
exceptional quality, other companies import water from outside of the country.
Fiji, for example, uses its out-of-country origin to market as luxurious
bottled water to its consumers. Ironically, more than half of the citizens in
Fiji do not have access to safe drinking water.
The example of Fiji brings up another problem with
bottled water. Not only is bottled water pricey and not necessarily any better
for you than tap, it also travels great distances to reach you. First, the
plastic for the water must first be sent to where it is bottled, in this case
Fiji. The bottles are then filled and sent back to their destination in the
United States. As the Fiji factory
produces over one million bottles a day, transporting the heavy bottles imposes
a significant impact.
Not only transportation affects the environment. The material
that the water is delivered in also poses a major threat to the environment.
Though the plastic used is made of a material that can be recycled, this is not
always the case. As of 2006, only 23% of the plastic used was recycled, leaving
38 billion bottles in landfills for the year. Fishman states that in 2006 the
amount of plastic bottles used in the United States came out to 167/person.
Considering all the information in this article, it is
extremely important to start cutting our dependence on plastic water bottles.
The Cesar Chavez Student Center has water bottle refill stations on the top
floor and on the main level adjacent to the seating area. Start bringing your
own reusable water bottles to school! It is a great way to reduce your environmental
footprint and help our campus reach zero waste.
