Most of us buy bottled water on a regular basis.
We buy it from the grocery store or a gas station when we are in a hurry. We buy one bottle at a time or a whole case to keep in the fridge and enjoy when we want it. We assume bottled water is good for us. It has to be better than soda and juice; it’s water after all. Our bodies are made of water, and we need it to survive.
Is bottled water really as good as we think it is? Could it be bad for us?
A recent study found that bottled water may not be all that we think it is. In fact, it could be doing more harm than good for us. Here are some of the shocking things the researchers found.
Bottled Water Is More Expensive Than Tap Water
This may not be too surprising to some people, but a gallon of bottled water is about 2,000 times the cost of tap water. G.E. Miller investigated the cost of bottled versus tap water for himself. He found that he could fill 4,787 20-ounce bottles with tap water for only $2.10.
Bottled Water May Be Lower Quality Than Tap Water
Most people believe that bottled water is the best quality and even healthier than tap water. But the truth is, bottled water isn’t very good quality. According to the study:
“Bottled water manufacturers are not required to disclose as much information as municipal water utilities because of gaps in federal oversight authority. Bottom line: The Food and Drug Administration oversees bottled water, and U.S. EPA is in charge of tap water. FDA lacks the regulatory authority of EPA.”
People In The U.S. Buy Enough Bottled Water Each Week To Circle The Earth Five Times
If you are concerned about your carbon footprint, bottled water may not be for you. All those bottles go into landfills. You may not realize how many bottles we go through in a year. The researchers found:
“A ‘typical’ water bottle is a half-liter, so that’s about 68 billion bottles per year. Divided by 52 weeks would be a little over 1 billion bottles of water sold per week in the U.S. Because that’s based on a smaller ‘typical’ bottle size, it seems reasonable that a half billion bottles a week could be accurate. The Earth is about 131.5 million feet around, so yep, half a billion bottles of varying sizes strung end-to-end could circle the Earth five times.”
We Fall For Gimmicks When We Buy Bottled Water
Most of us think we are getting a better-quality product that justifies the price of the bottled water, but in reality, the water we buy from the store is pretty much the same water we get from our own faucets. We just fall for all those gimmicks in the commercials. The study found:
“Anywhere from a quarter to 45% of all bottled water comes from the exact same place as your tap water.”
Bottled Water Is Dirty
The amount of energy used and gasses released during the production of the plastic bottles makes it a pretty dirty business. The bottles themselves end up in landfills and polluting the waterways in underdeveloped countries and our own. Is it really worth it?
There Are Millions Of People Around The World Who Don’t Have Access To Clean Water
There are 844 million people don’t have clean water. Meanwhile, many of us that do have access to clean water still choose to buy bottled water. If bottled water is used at all, it should be sent to countries that do not have access to clean tap water and used only in emergency situations in the U.S. We shouldn’t be selfish and should be willing to share with those in need. The fact that we take advantage of bottled water and ignore our own clean tap water is one of the biggest reasons bottled water is a bad idea.
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