By Emily Arnold
Theglobal consumption of bottled water reached 154 billion liters (41billion gallons) in 2004, up 57 percent from the 98 billion litersconsumed five years earlier. Even in areas where tap water is safe todrink, demand for bottled water is increasing—producing unnecessarygarbage and consuming vast quantities of energy. Although in theindustrial world bottled water is often no healthier than tap water, itcan cost up to 10,000 times more. At as much as $2.50 per liter ($10per gallon), bottled water costs more than gasoline.
TheUnited States is the world’s leading consumer of bottled water, withAmericans drinking 26 billion liters in 2004, or approximately one8-ounce glass per person every day. Mexico has the second highestconsumption, at 18 billion liters. China and Brazil follow, at close to12 billion liters each. Ranking fifth and sixth in consumption areItaly and Germany, using just over 10 billion liters of bottled watereach. (See data.)
Italiansdrink the most bottled water per person, at nearly 184 liters in2004—more than two glasses a day. Mexico and the United Arab Emiratesconsume 169 and 164 liters per person. Belgium and France follow closebehind, with per capita consumption near 145 liters annually. Spainranks sixth, at 137 liters each year.
Some of thelargest increases in bottled water consumption have occurred indeveloping countries. Of the top 15 per capita consumers of bottledwater, Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates, and Mexico have the fastestgrowth rates, with consumption per person increasing by 44–50 percentbetween 1999 and 2004. While per capita rates in India and China arenot as high, total consumption in these populous countries has risenswiftly—tripling in India and more than doubling in China in thatfive-year period. And there is great potential for further growth. Ifeveryone in China drank 100 8-ounce glasses of bottled water a year(slightly more than one fourth the amount consumed by the averageAmerican in 2004), China would go through some 31 billion liters ofbottled water, quickly becoming the world’s leading consumer.
Incontrast to tap water, which is distributed through an energy-efficientinfrastructure, transporting bottled water long distances involvesburning massive quantities of fossil fuels. Nearly a quarter of allbottled water crosses national borders to reach consumers, transportedby boat, train, and truck. In 2004, for example, Nord Water of Finlandbottled and shipped 1.4 million bottles of Finnish tap water 4,300kilometers (2,700 miles) from its bottling plant in Helsinki to SaudiArabia.
Saudi Arabia can afford to import the water itneeds, but bottled water is not just sold to water-scarce countries.While some 94 percent of the bottled water sold in the United States isproduced domestically, Americans also import water shipped some 9,000kilometers from Fiji and other faraway places to satisfy the demand forchic and exotic bottled water.
Fossil fuels are alsoused in the packaging of water. The most commonly used plastic formaking water bottles is polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which isderived from crude oil. Making bottles to meet Americans’ demand forbottled water requires more than 1.5 million barrels of oil annually,enough to fuel some 100,000 U.S. cars for a year. Worldwide, some 2.7million tons of plastic are used to bottle water each year.
Afterthe water has been consumed, the plastic bottle must be disposed of.According to the Container Recycling Institute, 86 percent of plasticwater bottles used in the United States become garbage or litter.Incinerating used bottles produces toxic byproducts such as chlorinegas and ash containing heavy metals. Buried water bottles can take upto 1,000 years to biodegrade. Almost 40 percent of the PET bottles thatwere deposited for recycling in the United States in 2004 were actuallyexported, sometimes to as far away as China—adding to the resourcesused by this product.
In addition to the strains bottledwater puts on our ecosystem through its production and transport, therapid growth in this industry means that water extraction isconcentrated in communities where bottling plants are located. Forexample, water shortages near beverage bottling plants have beenreported in Texas and in the Great Lakes region of North America.Farmers, fishers, and others who depend on water for their livelihoodssuffer from the concentrated water extraction when water tables dropquickly.
Studies show that consumers associate bottledwater with healthy living. But bottled water is not guaranteed to beany healthier than tap water. In fact, roughly 40 percent of bottledwater begins as tap water; often the only difference is added mineralsthat have no marked health benefit. The French Senate even advisespeople who drink bottled mineral water to change brands frequentlybecause the added minerals are helpful in small amounts but may bedangerous in higher doses.
The French Senate also notedthat small, localized problems with tap water can cause a widespreadloss of confidence in municipal supplies. In fact, in a number ofplaces, including Europe and the United States, there are moreregulations governing the quality of tap water than bottled water. U.S.water quality standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency fortap water, for instance, are more stringent than the Food and DrugAdministration’s standards for bottled water.
There isno question that clean, affordable drinking water is essential to thehealth of our global community. But bottled water is not the answer inthe developed world, nor does it solve problems for the 1.1 billionpeople who lack a secure water supply. Improving and expanding existingwater treatment and sanitation systems is more likely to provide safeand sustainable sources of water over the long term. In villages,rainwater harvesting and digging new wells can create more affordablesources of water.
The United Nations Millennium Development Goalfor environmental sustainability calls for halving the proportion ofpeople lacking sustainable access to safe drinking water by 2015.Meeting this goal would require doubling the $15 billion a year thatthe world currently spends on water supply and sanitation. While thisamount may seem large, it pales in comparison to the estimated $100billion spent each year on bottled water.
Copyright © 2006 Earth Policy Institute