How Harmful Can Bottled Water Be?

Seventy percent of the human body is comprised of water. This makes drinking water quality vital. The EPA estimates the average adult consumes 1.2 liters daily or 115 gallons of community (tap) water daily while the average consumption of bottled water per capita in the U.S. is in excess of 30.8 gallons per year and is expected to continue to increase according to the International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) and the Beverage Marketing Association’s 2013 report. Bottled water costs anywhere from 240 to 10,000 times more per gallon than the average cost of tap, but people’s perception that bottled water is purer, safer or healthier is driven, in part, by strong bottled water marketing campaigns that focus on news reports about crises that involve municipal water supplies. (NRDC, “Bottled Water Pure Drink or Pure Hype”) The sources for both tap and bottled waters as well as additives to either enrich or neutralize contents of water determine the mineral and chemical composition of drinking water. Is bottled water really any purer or healthier than local tap water?

In fact 22% of test water bottle brands had chemical contaminants higher than the state limit (ABC, 1). So why do Americans think bottled water is so great? Maybe it’s because of how much companies advertise the product, advertising expenses for bottled water totaled $61 million in 2012 ("International Bottled Water Association" 1). Whatever the reason may be, bottled water is the second most popular beverage in the U.S.A., and more and more bottles of water are being produced and distributed this very second.

One of the biggest harms to the world is pollution caused by people. Most of the plastic materials used by people are left to pollute. Bottled water is one of the biggest plastic materials produced. Some people say that bottled water is safer, convenient, and provide jobs to workers in many ways. The reasons for buying bottled water differ. Some people buy bottled water because they don’t like the taste or smell of tap water, while others on the other hand buy it because of health concerns with water contamination. Pollution is one of the biggest problems hurting the environment today, and water bottles that are thrown out after each one-time use, contribute greatly to its increasing buildup. Bottled water is not only expensive to us, but also to the environment. Bottled water is hurting the economy, harming human lives, and damaging the environment.

The main issue with bottled water is the effect it has on the environment. Plastic bottles are drastically increasing the size of landfills and can take up to five hundred years to decompose. At the rate plastic

Many of people have not realized that the creation of bottled water affects our environment. The production of water bottles requires a large amount of water plus the water that is needed to fill the bottle. Considering there is a shortage of water in several places, water should be better handled and not wasted on plastic bottle making. Of the eighty million single serve bottles of water consumed daily, thirty million ends up in landfills (Soechtig, 2009 qtd. in “Bottled Water: The Risks to Our Health, Our

According to The Water Project, “Bottles used to package water take over 1,000 years to bio-degrade and if incinerated, they produce toxic fumes. It is estimated that over 80% of all single-use water bottles used in the U.S. simply become ‘litter’” (“Bottled Water is Wasteful”). This fact is not the only reason I believe that bottled water does not outweigh its costs. Although statistics show that bottled water is efficient, there are many reasons to believe otherwise.

Besides being costly to the environment and to users, consuming bottled water does not come without health concerns. The plastic in bottled water, PET, breaks down and releases toxic chemicals into the water. “A study of 132 brands of bottled

Priscilla Torres goes on to describe the many downsides bottles of water bring to people as well as the environment in “Bottled Water Vs. Tap Water: Rethink What You Drink”. Torres first claims that the water bottles companies can be “misleading” (Torres) with where they tell the public of the waters source. In some cases, companies turn to flat out lying in their “labels” (Torres) and could be serving you potentially “hazardous” (Torres) products.

First off, tap water is safer than bottled water by any mean. According to "The Truth About Tap" by Andrew Postman. Postman states, "Tap water in big cities must be disinfected, filtered, and removed of pathogens … viruses. Bottle water does not have to be." In other words, there are billions of bottled water companies that are shipping, selling, and letting customers consume their product that may have never been examined by specialist. If the people just want ha glass of water. Just go out and buy a filter; as a result, leading to the perfect glass of water.

They make us believe that bottled water is safer but in reality it is actually inadequate for us. Plastic gets into the water that the bottle is holding, which the chemicals that they are using to make the bottles have been said to cause cancer. Tap water is not the best either because the

Have you ever had any concerns about bottled water? Do you think that bottled water is better than tap water? Bottled water is water packed in plastic containers and sold for human consumption (Health Canada, 2013). Currently, the amount of bottled water consumed has increased considerably since many people feel it is safer drinking bottled water than tap water (Parent and Wrong, 2014). According to The Statistics Portal the global sale of bottled water took a leap from 161, 589 to 181, 608 liters from 2009 to 2011. In the United States, each American citizen consumed around 32 gallons of bottled water in 2013, thus meaning an equivalent growth of 15% over 2009 (Statistics & facts, 2014). In fact, due to good portability, bottled water has been helpful in both simple and complex situations such as daily exercises and natural disasters. Even though having those few considerable advantages, bottled water still have been less benefits; especially due to the negative impact in the socio-economic, health and environmental fields.

In these days, people are concerned about what they drink every day and they always pick the right things to drink. People can find many sources of water in everywhere nowadays and they always prefer bottled water for being purified. They abundant tap water because they think that bottled water is much healthier. Companies such as Pepsi and Coca-Cola makes their bottled water looks healthier in their advertisements to get people attentions when they are watching. People have their reasons to choose bottled water over tap water just because of the advertisements that have being featured in televisions with a temptation. Tap water has been avoided when the bottled water can be found almost everywhere. Bottled water is not what people think it

Bottled water is affecting the environment in a negative way. Most individuals in the Unites States have access to tap water, yet everyone would rather drink water from a bottle. The logic to buying bottled water is usually either because a person does not like the smell or taste of tap water, or

Have you ever had any concerns about bottled water? Do you think that bottled water consumption should be banned? Bottled water is water packed in plastic containers and sold for human consumption (Health Canada, 2013). Currently, the amount of bottled water consumed has increased considerably since many people feel it is safer drinking bottled water than tap water (Parent and Wrong, 2014). According to The Statistics Portal, the global sale of bottled water took a leap from 161, 589 to 181, 608 liters from 2009 to 2011. Only in the United States, each American citizen consumed around 32 gallons of bottled water in 2013, thus meaning an equivalent growth of 15, 94% over 2009 (The Statistics Portal, 2014). In fact, due to good portability, bottled water has been helpful in both simple and complex situations such as daily exercises and natural disasters. Even though having those few considerable advantages, bottled water still have been less beneficial; especially due to the negative impacts in the socio-economic, health and environmental fields.

What are the chemicals that are in the bottle of water that poses a threat to humans if consumed? As consumers we must understand about the different type of chemicals that are in each bottle of water, educating ourselves can help differentiate chemicals that are useful and harmful to the human body. There are different chemicals being put in water when they are being bottled so it can have a long shelf life. There are various types of chemicals that are found in bottled waters. These are just a few of the chemicals found: Barium, chromium, copper, cyanide, nickel, ethylbenzene, monochlorobenzene, styrene, toluene, and xylenes. Not only are there various chemicals in bottled waters, each chemical creates contaminants in the water when stored long past shelf life, or over or under the temperature it is supposed to be stored in stores.