Bottled water's leaky logic

THE GLOBAL consumption of bottled water has reached more than 154,000,000,000 liters annually, up 57% from six years ago, report researchers Janet Larsen and Emily Arnold of Earth Policy Institute, Washington, D.C. Even in areas where tap water is safe to drink, demand for bottled water is increasing--producing unnecessary garbage and consuming vast quantities of energy. In the industrial world, although bottled water often is no healthier than tap, it can cost up to 10,000 times more. At as much as $2.50 per liter, bottled water costs more than gasoline.

The U.S. is the world's leading consumer of bottled water, with Americans drinking more than 26,000,000,000 liters a year, or approximately one eight-ounce glass per person every day. Mexico has the second highest consumption at 18,000,000,000 liters. China and Brazil follow at close to 12,000,000,000 liters each. Ranking fifth and sixth in consumption are Italy and Ger many, each using just over 10,000,000,000 liters of bottled water.

Italians drink the most bottled water per person, at nearly 184 liters a year--more than two glasses a day. Mexico and the United Arab Emirates, respectively, consume 169 and 164 liters per person. Belgium and France follow close behind, with per capita consumption at almost 145 liters annually. Spain ranks sixth, at 137 liters each year.

Some of the largest increases in bottled water consumption have occurred in developing countries, indicates Earth Policy Institute. Of the top 15 per capita consumers of bottled water, Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates, and Mexico have the fastest growth rates, with consumption per person increasing by 44%-50% over the last half-decade. While per capita rates in India and China are not as high, total consumption in these populous countries has risen swiftly--tripling in India and more than doubling in China during the last five years, and there is great potential for further growth. If everyone in China drank 100 eight-ounce glasses of bottled water a year (slightly more than one-fourth the amount consumed by the average American), China would go through 31,000,000,000 liters of bottled water, quickly becoming the world's leading consumer.

In contrast to tap water, which is distributed through an energy-efficient infrastructure, transporting bottled water long distances involves burning massive quantities of fossil fuels. Nearly one-quarter of all bottled water crosses national borders to reach consumers, transported by boat, train, and truck. In 2004, for example, Nord Water of Finland bottled and shipped 1,400,000 bottles of water 4,300 kilometers from its bottling plant in Helsinki to Saudi Arabia.

Larsen and Arnold point out that Saudi Arabia can afford to import the water it needs, but bottled water is not just sold to water-scarce countries. While 94% of the bottled water purchased in the U.S. is produced domestically, Americans also import water shipped some 9,000 kilometers from Fiji and other faraway places to satisfy the demand for chic and exotic drinking products.

Fossil fuels also are used in the packaging of water. The most commonly employed plastic for making water bottles is polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which is derived from crude oil. Producing bottles to meet Americans' demand for water requires more than 1,500,000 barrels of oil annually, enough to fuel 100,000 cars for a year. Worldwide, 2,700,000 tons of plastic are used to bottle water each year.

After the water has been consumed, its bottle must be discarded. According to the Container Recycling Institute, 86% of plastic water bottles used in the U.S. become garbage or litter. Incinerating used bottles produces toxic by-products such as chlorine gas and ash containing heavy metals. Buried water bottles can take up to 1,000 years to biodegrade. Almost 40% of PET bottles deposited for recycling actually are exported, sometimes to as far away as China--adding to the valuable resources swallowed up by this product.

In addition to the strains put on the ecosystem through production and transport, the rapid growth in this industry means that water extraction is concentrated in communities where bottling plants are located. For example, water shortages near beverage bottling plants have been reported in Texas and in the Great Lakes region of North America. Farmers, fishers, and others who depend on water for their livelihoods suffer as water tables drop.

Studies show that consumers associate bottled water with healthy living. Yet, bottled water is not guaranteed to be any healthier than tap water. In fact, roughly 40% of bottled water begins as tap water; often the only difference is added minerals that have no marked health benefit. The French Senate even advises people who drink bottled mineral water to change brands frequently because the added minerals are helpful in small amounts, but may be dangerous in higher doses. Moreover, there are more regulations governing the quality of tap water than bottled water. In the U.S., water-quality standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency for tap water, for instance, are more stringent than the Food and Drug Administration's standards for bottled water.