Bottled water consumption , which more than doubled globally between 1999 and 2004 is heavily taxing the world’s eco system , says a recent study.
Ø Global consumption reached 154 billion liters in 2004 – up by 57% from the 98 billion liters in 1999.
Ø US was the leading consumer of bottled water , drinking 26 billion liters in 2004.
Ø Demand for bottled water soared in developing countries between 1999 and 2004 with consumption tripling in India and doubling in China.
Ø Making plastic bottles to meet just the US demand alone for bottles requires more than 1.5 million barrels of oil annually, enough to fuel 100,000 cars for a year.Worldwide some 2.7 million tons of plastic are used to bottle each year.
Ø Once the water is consumed – disposing the plastic bottles poses an environmental hazard & risk.86% of plastic water bottles in the US end up as garbage and take upto 1000 years to biodegrade.
Ø Incinerating used bottles produces toxic by products like Chlorine gas and ash containing heavy metals.
Ø While consumers link bottled water with healthy living, tap water can be just as healthy as it is subject to more stringent regulations than bottled water in many regions.Roughly 40% of bottled water begins as tap water , often the only difference is added minerals that have no marked health benefits.
Courtesy : Down To Earth: Received Email from one of my friend. I thought I should share this with mymysore.com
I have an american pilot friend here in singapore who never buys bottled water. he says that is the World's biggest scam and does not believe even brands like Coke and Pepsi are doing the right thing and does not believe that the quality of water is better than tap water. He drinks tap water wherever he goes, even in Bngladesh! I told him to be careful about Bangla but he says the five star hotel there has a filteration system that works fine and he's never been sick by drinking tap water. Funny though, a week after this conversation, both of us travelled to the US and he fell sick with a runny tummy two days after reaching the US! Just to inform other readers, tap water is indeed safe in many countries. here in Singapore, even hotel room taps have a little sticker that says that the water from the tap is safe for drinking. Don't try this in India, though.
Anyways, best if water is boiled to the right temperature for the right amount of time, cooled and filtered. We re-use the water bottles for very long period of time. Plastic just accumulates and clogs the planet. Indians love the plastic and don't even bother taking a cloth bacg with them when they go shopping except for a few we know (I think Dinakar blogged about this one some time back on his blog?). In the US, when they bag your groceries at the store, they ask you whether you want paper or plastic. The paper they use is re-cycled and helps cutting down on pastic waste.
People are going to drink water anyway. So, sir, what you suggest- ask people to stop drinking water altogether and drink wine as the Europeans do? Not a bad idea. I love it, but make it beer for me. I agree with the plastics story. But need to invent another convenient, hygenic packaging material. Or we can get rid of the plastics and go back to the olden days - who knows we can as well get rid of the cars and other gas guzzling gadgets as well. I love the Jadkas and bullock carts with their rhythmic rattling on the pavements- that is when we get rid of the asphalt, another oil product, as well.
