2008 Woodie Awards
Just call it bottled money
Elizabeth Rinaldi
Issue date: 9/20/07 Section: Opinion
- Page 1 of 2 next >
Lately, there have been many stories debating the benefits and the environmental impact of bottled water in the U.S. Mayors in many large cities are leading a campaign against the use of bottled water. They point out that perfectly good water is delivered to homes, costing a fraction of its bottled counterpart.
Is bottled water all it is cracked up to be? In the U.S., the average person uses roughly 4,000 gallons of water per month. This includes, among other things, bathing, drinking, cooking, watering the lawn and flushing the toilet. My home in northwest Houston used 11,000 gallons last month at a cost of $14.50. That means the total cost, per person, for all water needs comes to only $5.27 a month. If a person only consumed the full recommended eight 8-ounce glasses per day, it would cost $0.02 per month.
In comparison, if you go to one of the many vending machines on campus, one 20-ounce bottle of water costs $1. A case of Ozarka bottled water at Kroger runs about $4.99. For the cost of one 24-bottle case of water, you could pay for all of the water usage you needed in a month!
One of the arguments against bottled water is that it is healthier for you than tap water. However, unless your bottle states "spring water," it is simply filtered water that has extra minerals added for taste. Also, studies have not recorded long-term health benefits to drinking bottled water. Another argument many people use is that they prefer the taste of bottled to tap. A few ideas to conserve resources and still get a better taste include adding some flavor with fresh lemon or single-serving powdered drink packets, using a filter like Brita, or switching to drinking only Coke or beer.
OK, so that last one was more of a joke than anything. I doubt your stomach, doctor or your dentist would be too happy if you went around drinking only Coke all the time.
Since bottled water has become popular, scientists have discovered some pretty scary facts. According to http://www.refillnotlandfill.org, eight out of 10 plastic bottles end up in landfills each year, rather than being recycled. Also, the energy we waste using bottled water each year would be enough to power 190,000 homes. Making all of the plastic bottles used in the U.S. requires more than 1.5 million gallons of petroleum each year. You can run 100,000 cars each year on that!
Is bottled water all it is cracked up to be? In the U.S., the average person uses roughly 4,000 gallons of water per month. This includes, among other things, bathing, drinking, cooking, watering the lawn and flushing the toilet. My home in northwest Houston used 11,000 gallons last month at a cost of $14.50. That means the total cost, per person, for all water needs comes to only $5.27 a month. If a person only consumed the full recommended eight 8-ounce glasses per day, it would cost $0.02 per month.
In comparison, if you go to one of the many vending machines on campus, one 20-ounce bottle of water costs $1. A case of Ozarka bottled water at Kroger runs about $4.99. For the cost of one 24-bottle case of water, you could pay for all of the water usage you needed in a month!
One of the arguments against bottled water is that it is healthier for you than tap water. However, unless your bottle states "spring water," it is simply filtered water that has extra minerals added for taste. Also, studies have not recorded long-term health benefits to drinking bottled water. Another argument many people use is that they prefer the taste of bottled to tap. A few ideas to conserve resources and still get a better taste include adding some flavor with fresh lemon or single-serving powdered drink packets, using a filter like Brita, or switching to drinking only Coke or beer.
OK, so that last one was more of a joke than anything. I doubt your stomach, doctor or your dentist would be too happy if you went around drinking only Coke all the time.
Since bottled water has become popular, scientists have discovered some pretty scary facts. According to http://www.refillnotlandfill.org, eight out of 10 plastic bottles end up in landfills each year, rather than being recycled. Also, the energy we waste using bottled water each year would be enough to power 190,000 homes. Making all of the plastic bottles used in the U.S. requires more than 1.5 million gallons of petroleum each year. You can run 100,000 cars each year on that!