Time for Issue 2 of our 2nd year! There have been many changes of late here at Water 411. Over the last several months we have been busily expanding our website. We are currently working to get our back issues online and we have added RSS syndication to the site. For those of you who would like to receive regular updates, be sure to subscribe.
This time out, we are examining bottled water. With all the media attention right now, this issue practically wrote itself. Bottled water is perceived as being better for you than tap water. Unfortunately, this is often not the case. Municipally treated tap water is legislated to much stricter standards than its bottled counterpart. Furthermore, the bottles themselves can be hazardous due to leaching of the chemical components of their plastics.

Reader’s Digest Article: “Rethink What You Drink”

Bottled Waters Contaminated with Antimony from PET

Plastic bottles leach chemicals into water: study

The bottles are also coming under scrutiny for their huge environmental footprint. According to the Pacific Institute, in 2006:

• Producing the bottles for American consumption required the equivalent of more than 17 million barrels of oil, not including the energy for transportation
• Bottling water produced more than 2.5 million tons of carbon dioxide
• It took 3 litres of water to produce 1 litre of bottled water

Water bottles, along with other plastics, are also taking a huge toll on the world’s oceans. Water currents are gathering non-biodegradable, toxic plastics into the earth’s largest garbage dumps. There are two primary areas of concern in the Pacific Ocean. The Eastern and the Western Garbage Patches. The Eastern Garbage Patch, the larger of the two, is currently about twice the size of Texas. For centuries, these natural vortices have gathered debris. With the advent of plastics, however, these regions have become choked with photodegradable polymers that are unleashing toxins into the food chain, changing ocean chemistry and killing wildlife.

Plastic ocean: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Trashed - Across the Pacific Ocean, Plastics, Plastics, Everywhere

The trash vortex

With the exception of the small amount of plastic destroyed through incineration, every bit of plastic created still exists today. This affront to the health of our planet is only exacerbated by the bottled water industry.

There are many more reasons to ban the bottle in your home. Download our current issue of Water 411 and check out these other informative links.
Questions and Answers on Bottled Water, Health Canada

Feature: Turning on Canada’s Tap?, Polaris Institute

Inside the Bottle, Polaris Institute

Watch that water, The Fiji Times

Bottled Water - Pure Drink or Pure Hype?, Natural Resources Defense Council

Ryerson Challenges the Bottled Water Industry (video), the Toronto Star

Bottled water is set to be the latest battleground in the eco war, Polaris Institute

More consumers are shunning expensive bottled varieties for tap water, Daily Mail

BOTTLED WATER: Pouring Resources Down the Drain, Earth Policy Institute

As always, we invite your comments on this blog or send us an email at info@water411.ca

Thanks!

Elena Valentino
Editor, Water 411

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 25th, 2008 at 10:47 am and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.