Bottled Water versus Tap Water
In today’s society drinking water from
a plastic bottle has become the norm, but just a few decades ago this action
was not the case.
During the late 70’s a French company
named Perrier introduced bottled water to America and convinced people of the
fact that drinking water from a bottle would make people look cool, so they
advertised a new fashion of consuming this precious liquid.
Companies like Coca-Cola and Pepsico
saw the opportunity to start a division of bottled water as an alternative to
soda drinks, so this high revenue business started.
Bottled water sales skyrocketed during
the 80’s and 90’s thanks to heavy advertising on TV, radio, and billboards
which made people to believe that bottled water exceeded the quality of tap
water.
Tom Lauria, vice
president of communications for the International Water Association, stated, “Once reserved for Perrier-sipping elitists,
bottled water has become a drink of the masses.
Sales have quadrupled in the last 20
years, and rose almost 8% last year [2007-2008] alone”.
According to Tom Lauria, in 1990, 2.2
billion total gallons of bottled water were sold worldwide.
In 2007, it was 8.8 billion. In just
the last year, wholesale dollar sales for bottled water grew 7.8%, to $11.7
billion in 2007, according to the bottled water trade group.
Bottled water became very popular for
different reasons; convenient to carry around, no need to wash the containers,
and available almost anywhere.
But, people must stop to think for a
minute about the consequences and the impact caused to earth’s environment
because of the choice made by so many people to drink water from a fancy
plastic bottle instead of tap water, in most cases safer and less expensive.
Improper recycling of plastic bottles
has caused devastating damage to the earth’s environment and fragile ecosystem.
Only about 20 percent of all plastic
bottles get recycled, the other 80 percent end up in landfills, river streams,
and finally washing off in the oceans.
For those bottles that finish in the
landfills the process of biodegrading may take hundreds of years.
“Plastic is a material that earth cannot digest. Every bit of plastic
ever produced still exists and will be here with us for hundreds of years.
Once in the environment, plastic breaks
down into smaller and smaller particles that attract toxic chemicals, are
ingested by wildlife on land and in the ocean, and contaminate our food chain.”
Most people that drink bottled water
ignore or do not care about the impact plastics cause to the ecosystem of
earth.
In fast pace cities around the world
and especially in America, people have become a fast food mind-oriented type of
consumers, always looking for convenience.
floating garbage of plastic bottles |
One can see why people tend to drink
bottled water instead of tap water; convenience, portability, and taste.
But nations all over the world can
experience the cause and effect resulting from the irresponsibility of their
citizens to take action in the recycling of plastic bottles.
Some people may argue that recycling
plastic bottles will not resolve the pollution problem around the planet, but
it will reduce the damage to the environment considerably by drinking less
bottled water and more tap water.
People must stop and consider the
effects caused to mother earth when drinking bottled water.
Parents, teachers, and government urge
others to learn to recycle; but the problem also lies on the companies that
produce so much bottled water without strict government supervision on quality
and environmental issues.
The cost of drinking bottled water
exceeds tremendously the price of tap water. Unfortunately most people do not
know that tap water may surpass the quality of bottled water.
A person that drinks tap water can save
more than $800 in a year and will help to reduce the amount of more than 200
plastic bottles in a lifetime period.
In addition, this action in return will
contribute to save oil used to make most plastic water bottles.
Marine life has changed drastically due
to the ocean pollution called ocean garbage patches.
Plastic bottles became the most common
marine litter in many parts of the globe, which equals about 80 percent of all
litter found in several seas and oceans.
The oceans natural ecosystem will
continue to degrade by the tremendous quantities of plastic debris dumped in
them; which will endanger the health of sea animals and plants.
People must a different approach when
opting to drink bottled water; although bottled water has some advantages over
tap water, the damage caused to earth will forever have an impact on
future generations.
Other issue arising from drinking
bottled water may reflect on people’s health. Plastic bottles are made with
polyethylene terephthalate (PET or PETE) known to cause cancer.
“Since BPA has been linked to low sperm counts and an increased risk of
breast and prostate cancer, scientists like vomSaal and Hunt suggest avoiding
reusable bottles made from plastic. They also raise serious concerns about the
potential for other plastic chemicals to leach out of typical PET water bottles
especially if they sit in the hot sun.”
Many scientists concerned with the
impact on people’s health when drinking bottled water have researched and found
pollutants in bottled water due to the leaching from the chemicals used in the
manufacturing of plastic bottles.
Customers purchase bottled water
completely unaware of the facts how plastic can affect their health, because
people do not take the time to research how bottled water is produced.
Finally, the mining of water supplies
in rural areas in the United States have conservationists working with
communities for support in stopping bottling companies from using their natural
resources.
Companies like Nestle, Coca-Cola, and
Pepsico have purchased the rights to extract water in many states where water
is abundant; in defiant opposition of the people against the over mining of
people’s water resources.
Overall, drinking bottled water comes
at a high price, affecting the environment, economy, and people’s health.
The inhabitants of this world must
become sociably responsible for protecting this fragile ecosystem and become
more environmentally conscious.
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