Buying Bottled Water Is Wrong

While the benefits of drinking water are undeniable, experts are only now adding up the impact of all those billions of plastic water bottles on the environment, from the energy used in production to the cost of transportation and the handling of plastic waste. Nearly 90 percent of water bottles are not recycled and wind up in landfills where it takes thousands of years for the plastic to decompose. Each year over 1,051,200,000,000 Plastic water bottles are dumped in garbage in the United States. If you’re going to break the plastic habit more slowly, please know that one-time use water bottles are not intended for refilling. Water bottles are not safe for water consumption, more and more studies reveal. Plastic bottles are easy to carry, refill and to throw away. Plastics frequently wind up polluting our oceans and waterways, and are very harmful to the sea birds and other marine life that get entangled in plastic bags, fish net remnants etc. From there they are finding their way to the shores of island communities and coastal countries that are themselves only just beginning to experience the problems associated with plastic beverage bottle waste. Worse yet, plastic bottles leach chemicals into water. If you taste plastic, you are drinking it, so get yourself another bottle. Are plastic water bottles a health hazard. Buying bottled water is not a long term sustainable solution to securing access to healthy water. Bottled water may be no safer, or healthier, than tap water in many countries while selling for up to 1,000 times the price. Health advocates also recommend not reusing bottles made from plastic #1 (polyethylene terephthalate, also known as PET or PETE), including most disposable water, soda and juice bottles. Health risks are posed from all plastic bottles except those made from #2 (HDPE), #4 (LDPE) and #5 (PP). And, as a rule, bottled water is no safer or healthier than the H2O that flows from municipal water systems. The energy we waste using bottled water would be enough to power 190,000 homes. Not only do they contribute to excessive waste, but it costs us a thousand times more than water from our faucet at home, and it is, in fact, no safer or cleaner. In addition to the millions of gallons of water used in the plastic-making process, two gallons of water are wasted in the purification process for every gallon that goes into the bottles. Imagine how much money went just to cover expenses that are not related to water itself: packaging, transport from USA to Europe, waste disposal or recycling. So much waste is caused by bottled water, and most of us have perfectly good taps at home. And if people are so untrusting of tap, why not buy a filtration system that doesn't cause tons of waste in plastic. Most of the bottled water are filtered from municipal water. After the coal has been moved, the water is filtered, bottled and sold to clueless citizens. Filtering at the home for what we drink makes sense. I think the best option for healthy water is to get a whole-house filtration system if you are in a house, or sink and shower filters if you are in a condo or apartment, choosing based on what needs to be filtered out in your area. The arguments made for this include that, unlike tap water, bottled water uses up oil and other fossil fuels to be produced and shipped, fills up landfills, represents wasted money, and does not go through nearly as rigorous filtering and cleansing processes. As more people become conce ed about health, water filters are becoming an essential component of the home. Since the quality of water varies depending upon its source, a variety of home water filters are available to meet your individual requirements. Under the sink water filters are typically used where cabinet space is available under the kitchen sink and a permanent installation is desired. Whole house home water filters or drinking water filters are goldmine.