The average person drinks about 30 gallons of bottled water per year, making it the second most consumed beverage in the USA.
People drink bottled water for a variety of reasons, it is convenient, it can be carried in a pocket or a cooler, it tastes better, it is healthy for you.
Here is an article that disputes the “healthy” portion of our reasoning for drinking bottled water.
Recent studies show that people who rated tap water as the best taste over the top six bottled mineral waters. Most people are looking for water that is tasteless and cool.
Bottled water labeled pure may or may not be pure according to your interpretation of pure. In a 2011 test, six brands of bottled water were tested in California and all contained contaminants above the California public health goals for arsenic. Tap water is subject to stricter guidelines than those of bottled water, making it more pure, more safe is some cases.
A surprising 25% of all bottled water comes from municipal water sources – making it bottled tap water. Two examples are, Dasani & Aquafina.
Lastly, the enormous amount of empty plastic water bottles are hurting Earth. Too many people don’t recycle and dispose of the plastic in their trash which ends up in landfills, ditches and waterways. The PET (polyethylene terepthalate) plastic bottles take from 400 to 1000 years to decompose.
Some campus and organizations have banned the sale of bottle water on site, such as University of Vermont. Those who attend are encouraged to drink tap water.
Read the entire article for more information: .4 Surprising Secrets About Bottled Water | Eat This, Not That.
I don’t happen to like tasteless water. I prefer to use a squeeze of lime in my glass of water. But the pollution that is mounting in the ocean is and should be a major concern because our marine life, the fish we rely on as a mainstay in our diets, are becoming endangered and we must do something about this major problem.