Kick the Water Bottle Habit

It’s a common misconception that drinking bottled water is safer and healthier than water from your kitchen sink.  And, of course, since plastic bottles get recycled, we aren’t doing any harm to the environment, right?  Actually neither could be farther from the truth.  Here are 8 solid reasons to kick your water bottle habit. 

1. At least 40 percent of the bottled water in the United States is just filtered tap water anyway.  Check the label.  If it says “from a municipal water source” or “community water system” its source was the same as tap water.  If you want a little extra filtering, just purchase a counter filter like Brita or Pur, and filter your own tap water.
2. Bottled water costs the consumer anywhere from $.89 to over $8.00 per gallon.  Tap water, on the other hand, costs only $.002 per gallon.  If you want to save money, ditch the bottled water.
3. According to the Container Recycling Institute, 30 million plastic water bottles are thrown into landfills and waterways every day.  In fact, only about 12% of plastic bottles are actually recycled.
4. Plastic water bottles often leach dangerous chemicals into the water (such as DEHP, a probable human carcinogen), especially when left in the heat/sun or reused.   
5. The production of the polyethylene used to manufacture plastic bottles takes about 17.6 million barrels of oil each year.  That oil could fuel more than one million US vehicles annually.  Globally, 2.7 million TONS of plastic is used to bottle.  Want to reduce our dependence on foreign oil?  Stop purchasing water packaged in plastic bottles.
6. It can take as much as seven times the amount of water IN the bottle to actually manufacture the bottle itself.  In a world where fresh drinkable water is often in short supply, this is inexcusable.
7. Right now there are about 37,000 tractor trailer trucks cruising the highways across this country delivering water.   Take a minute to think about the amount of gasoline used to fuel those trucks and the greenhouse gases being chugged out into the atmosphere.
8. The Food and Drug Administration sets standards for bottled water.  The Environmental Protection Agency sets the standards for tap water, and their standards are much more stringent.

Have you kicked the water bottle habit?  If you like the convenience that disposable plastic water bottles provide, try a reusable water bottle (just make sure to get one that is BPA free).