Times Herald-Record

Sustainable Living: Bottled water’s environmental ills

by Shawn Dell Joyce 

 

October 14, 2007

 

“Many of us choose bottled water because we think it is the healthier choice.

 

Americans are the world’s leading consumers of bottled water, downing about 4 billion gallons per year in little plastic bottles. This is roughly equal to one 8-ounce bottle per person per day. While it certainly is healthier to drink water than soda, bottled water is actually very bad for the planet’s health.

 

There is much more to the ubiquitous water bottle than meets the lips. It actually takes three to five times more water to make and fill one plastic water bottle than the bottle contains. (Water is used in the production of the plastic in water bottles, then also to rinse those bottles.) If you add to that the average energy cost of making the plastic, filling the bottle, transporting it to market and then processing the empty bottle, you begin to see the hidden environmental costs.

 

“It would be like filling up a quarter of every (water) bottle with oil,” says Peter Gleik, a water policy expert and director at the Oakland, Calif.-based Pacific Institute, which studies “real life solutions to water crises.”

 

WATER BOTTLES, like other plastic containers, are made from natural gas and petroleum, which are both nonrenewable resources. More than 1.5 million tons of plastic are used to produce PET, the plastic in water bottles. The manufacturing processes that produce PET cause serious emissions, affecting both the environment and human health. The Pacific Institute calculates that the process of making the plastic bottles consumed in the U.S. uses approximately 17 million barrels of oil per year.

 

Instead of being made into bottles, that oil could fuel more than 100,000 cars. Once the plastic bottle is manufactured and filled with water, it has to be transported, using diesel trucks, ships or airfreight to reach our thirsty lips…”

 

More next time-Let’s all stop using up natural resources. Make delicious, eco-friendly, daily water at home; www.be-alkaline.com for more information-Request your free e-book and newsletter to learn more.

 

Take care-Live Green, Donna

 

Shawn Dell Joyce is a sustainable artist and activist from Montgomery. She is the founder of the Wallkill River School, combining plein-air painting with environmental activism. Visit www.recordonline.com/earth to read more of Shawn’s columns.

Wow! Last year, San Francisco, Mayor Gavin Newsom banned city departments from buying bottled water for their water coolers. Other mayors, one in Utah and one in Michigan, followed in Mayor Newsom’s footsteps.

Imagine: 45,000,000 plastic water bottles are dumped into landfills every day in the US alone. Some say the statistics are much, much higher. Just one couple over 15 years, drinking their 8-8 oz. of water a day in bottled water will contribute to the problem of plastic in the environment to the tune of over 40,000 bottles!! If you don’t think you can make a difference, YOU CAN!

Following is a quote by Sylvia Carter from Newsday.com: “Even if the water is not killing us, we’ve been had, money-wise. Both Aquafina by Pepsi and Dasani by Coca-Cola depend on supplies of municipal water; we are paying for water that came from the tap – which can end up costing more per gallon than gasoline. In many cases, bottled water in this country has been found to be no safer than tap water; the National Resources Defense Council tested bottled water and found a third of it contaminated with bacteria, synthetic chemicals and arsenic. The EPA’s regulations on tap water are stronger than the FDA’s regulations on bottled water.”

She continued, “The environment is at risk because of our ridiculous water consumption out of plastic bottles. Last month, the Houston Chronicle, in a strong editorial, spoke of “a beast-like mass two times the size of Texas” that slowly “roams and grows.” She was referring to the gyre known as the Eastern Garbage Patch in the northern Pacific Ocean just north of Hawaii, likely the world’s largest trash dump, according to The Los Angeles Times. 90 percent of this trash is plastic, much of it water bottles.

And, Americans annually consume more than 9 billion gallons of water in plastic bottles, most of them made of polyethylene terephthalate. It takes the equivalent of 18 million barrels of crude oil to create the plastic used in a year’s worth of bottles, according to the Chronicle editorial.” http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/ny-fdsyl5296059jul18,0,494428.column?coll=ny-entertainment-columnists

Unimagineable statistics, aren’t they? An incredible amount of plastic is used in the production and sales of drinks-both water and soda-and mass amounts of crude oil are consumed in the process. The by-products and CO2’s are unleashed into our atmosphere and environment contributing to Global Warming. And, on top of all that, all those bottles do not bio-degrade for 1000 years. What a horrible legacy we are leaving to the children of the world!

I personally don’t agree with drinking tap water in many areas, however. There are some statistics on that which I will get to you in the future. There are other alternatives; safe alternatives with amazing added health benefits, and it won’t endanger our environment. Get information at www.be-alkaline.com . Go ahead and request the free book and the newsletter. Both are “need to know” information and pertinent to the times. The only ones to get your info is us & we will never share or sell it-very private.

Till next time…Have a great day.

Donna & Stephen

www.be-alkaline.com

Write us at kangenwater4u@gmail.com

The truth is out! Some brands of commonly used bottled water that consumers buy in stores all over the USA and in some other countries, comes from the local tap source! Because of publishing rights, I can’t post the whole article, but read the article for yourself: “Aquafina labels to tell water’s source” — Click on this link and it will take you there: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19985269/ .

Have you seen the Penn & Teller Show about bottled water? It is an eye-opener. We drink bottled water and yet the sources for it are not what people think. More on this in the future.

And,  it may be filtered; however, it is then put into Number 1 bottles, and shipped and stored in a warehouse. How can you tell what the number is of the bottle you’re drinking your water from? Get a bottle of water, have it handy, and I’ll explain how in my next post and why knowing this is really important information for your health.

Have a great, healthy, safe day,

Donna

Email me at: kangenwater4u@gmail.com Please don’t spam me

Go to www.be-alkaline.com to find out how you can make your own, great, safe, healthy, alkaline water at home and be eco-friendly at the same time. Let’s Live Green, save the environment from plastic bottles, and help heal this beautiful planet and our only home. God bless—

Everyone drinks water. Everyone needs water to live. You are 70% water! What kind of water are you drinking?

This is the question that we will be discussing in our next blog. It’s an important one since most people are trying to get the best water possible for themselves and their family. Let us know what kind of water you drink; bottled, tap,  purified in-house, etc.

Till next time, have a great day,

Stephen & Donna

www.be-alkaline.com

Write us at kangenwater4u@gmail.com or post a message. We’d love to hear from you.