The Bottled Water Deception

The bottled water industry spends billions each year to make you think you need their “pure” water. To make matters worse, the water their selling you for a premium price is often tap water! Buying bottled water is like buying oxygen. Everyone has a right to clean water just as everyone has a right to clean, fresh air. Americans buy more bottled water than any other nation in the world, adding 29 billion water bottles a year to waste.

Bottled water regulation operates on a different level than tap water. It is treated as a food in the United States, and is therefore subject to the rules and regulations of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Tap water regulation, on the other hand, is performed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and does not undergo the same rules of regulation. Additionally, the EPA’s set of rules for tap water is much more strict than those of the FDA’s for bottled water.

Bottled water doesn’t need to meet the high standards that city tap water must meet in terms of water treatment, contamination, and other testing. On the federal level, it is not mandated that bottled water be any safer than tap water – chemical pollution standards are nearly identical 9 out of 10 of the best selling bottled water brands either don’t disclose information about the source of the water, contamination testing, or if and how it is purified. After the bottled water industry spent billions on marketing and advertising, consumers are paying almost 2000 times more than they normally would to drink water. A typical cost per gallon of bottled water is $3.79 while a typical cost of tap water is $0.002/gallon. It is obvious that most people are unaware of this, or bottled water sales would face a MASSIVE decline immediately.

In the U.S., public water is regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which requires multiple daily tests for bacteria and makes results available to the public. The Food and Drug Administration, which regulates bottled water, only requires weekly testing at best in some states (some may only require monthly, semi-annually) and does not share its findings with the EPA or the public. (Courtesy of http://naturalsociety.com/the-bottled-water-deception)

And don’t let advertising fool you; BPA-free plastic still contains toxic compounds and synthetic hormones. Your corporations didn’t spend the money testing for it nor do they have to! Under US Law, chemicals are proven safe until proven otherwise.

Some people drink bottled water because they think it is better for them than water out of the tap, but that’s not true. In the United States, local governments make sure water from the faucet is safe. There is also growing concern that chemicals in the bottles themselves may leach into the water. Unfortunately, for every six water bottles we use, only one makes it to the recycling bin. The rest are sent to landfills. Or, even worse, they end up as trash on the land and in rivers, lakes, and the ocean. Plastic bottles take many hundreds of years to disintegrate. (Courtesy of http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/stories/spacescience/water-bottle-pollution/)

Humans thrive on the quality of the world we live in. Plastic and bottled water has become a main culprit in lessening the quality of the world we live in. Nature is suffering at the expense of what can’t even be considered to be anything more than a small amount of convenience. (Courtesy of http://naturalsociety.com/the-bottled-water-deception)

What is the earthly cost of using bottled water?

Bottled water provides a source of water for traveling purposes at best.

1.5 million tons of plastic are used to bottle water annually
The U.S. uses 1.5 million barrels of oil for plastic water bottle manufacturing
People in the U.S. spend about half a billion dollars ($500,000,000) every week on bottled water
1,500 bottles are thrown away every second
4 billion pounds of PET plastic bottles end up in landfills or as roadside litter. Much of the rest are incinerated while releasing chemicals into the air. And others end up in the ocean where they slowly disintegrate into our water.
Bottled water takes approximately 2000 time more energy to produce than an equivalent amount of tap water
Making bottles to meet America’s demand for bottled water uses more than 17 million barrels of oil annually, enough to fuel 1.3 million cars for a year¹. And that’s not even including the oil used for transportation.
The energy we waste using bottled water would be enough to power 190,000 homes².
Last year, the average American used 167 disposable water bottles, but only recycled 38.³
Americans used about 50 billion plastic water bottles last year. However, the U.S.’s recycling rate for plastic is only 23 percent, which means 38 billion water bottles – more than $1 billion worth of plastic – are wasted each year³.
The recommended eight glasses of water a day, at U.S. tap rates equals about $.49 per year; that same amount of bottled water is about $1,400.
Antimony, which is found in PET plastic bottles, in small doses can cause dizziness and depression; in larger doses it can cause nausea, vomiting and death. (Courtesy of http://naturalsociety.com/the-bottled-water-deception)

And yes, you can make a difference. Remember this: Recycling one plastic bottle can save enough energy to power a 60-watt light bulb for six hours.

Why bottle water is a concern:

Making bottles to meet America’s demand for bottled water uses more then 17 million of barrels of oil annually, enough to fuel 1.3 cars for a year. And that’s not even including the oil used for transportation.
The energy we waste using bottled water would be enough to power 190,000 homes.
Last year, the average American used 167 disposable water bottles, but only recycled 38.
Americans used about 50 billion plastic water bottles last year. However, the U.S.’s recycling rate for plastic is only 23 percent, which means 38 billion water bottles – more than $1 billion worth of plastic – are wasted each year.
The recommended eight glasses of water a day, at U.S. tap rates equals about $.49 per year; that same amount of bottled water is about $1,400.
Antimony, which is found in PET plastic bottles, in small doses can cause dizziness and depression; in larger doses it can cause nausea, vomiting and death. (Courtesy of https://www.banthebottle.net/bottled-water-facts)

Keep mother earth and your wallet green:

One water pitcher filter can effectively replace as much as 300 standard 16.9-ounce bottles. So you can get great-tasting water without so much waste. Talk about refreshing.
The average water pitcher filters 240 gallons of water a year for about 19 cents a day. Put in perspective, to get the same amount of water from bottled water would require 1,818 16.9-ounce water bottles a year5 – at an average cost of a dollar a bottle, that’s $4.98 a day.
For about $10 each, you can purchase a 16-ounce or 32-ounce glass or stainless steel bottle, saving you hundreds of dollars a year on bottled water.
Hydration at its best – carry the water you need and reduce your impact on the environment – 1 glass or stainless stell can last for decades, making it easy to stop buying single-serve bottled water to fulfill your everyday hydration needs. (Courtesy of www.banthebottle.net/bottled-water-facts)

You are paying 2000 times more then you normally would for water!

Yes, after the bottled water industry spent billions on marketing and advertising, consumers are paying almost 2000 times more than they normally would to drink water. A typical cost per gallon of bottled water is $3.79 while a typical cost of tap water is $0.002/gallon.

With the U.S. consuming over 9 billion gallons of bottled water in 2008, that comes out to be …a lot of overspent money. In fact, the bottled water industry raked in more than $11 billion that same year. Can you imagine paying 2000x more for ANYTHING? I’m sure it would make anyone very angry to know that they’ve been conned into paying a 2000% markup.

The worst part? Close to HALF of all bottled water is municipal tap water!

It is obvious that most people are unaware of this, or bottled water sales would face a MASSIVE decline immediately. Companies spend billions to tell the public that their bottled water is pure, and that you and I need it now. This is false advertising. If that same amount of money was spent right now to inform the public that such claims are almost never true, then the bottled water industry would suffer a huge sales decline for good. This leaves consumer’s to educate themselves by researching the topic firsthand. As if it isn’t bad enough that consumers need to worry about poor water treatment due to poor water regulation, but the same water is being pushed as pure and fresh. (Courtesy of http://naturalsociety.com/the-bottled-water-deception/)

Keep Your Planet & Wallet Green

Take a stand against bottled water and let Blue Dolphin care for your family one sip and dip at a time!

We would like to thank all the sources of the article such as NaturalSociety.com; BantheBottle.net; Mercola, Joseph “‘Tapped’ – A Movie About Water You Need to See”; Leiba, Nneka, Sean Gray, and Jane Houlihan. 2011 Bottled Water Scorecard. Environmental Working Group; Olson, Erik. “NRDC: Bottled Water – Chapter 4.” Natural Resources Defense Council The Earth’s Best Defense; Mercola, Joseph. “Best and Worst Bottled Water Brands.” Mercola.com Take Control of Your Health”