2.Environmental impact of bottled water
Most bottled water is in plastic bottles
When burned, these bottles release toxic chemicals
When buried (put in landfills) it can take them over 1000 years to decompose
http://blogs.citypages.com/food/bottled-water.jpg
3.There are a lot of bottles…
200 billion liters sold worldwide in 2007
33 billion sold in the USA
86 percent of bottles in the USA become garbage or litter
If the average bottle is estimated to hold .5 liters, that means 56.76 billion bottles become garbage or litter
http://www.vcuinsight.vcu.edu/stories/fall07_archive_.htm
4.Energy used for bottled water
Energy is required for:
Treatment
Bottle manufacturing
Transport
Cooling prior to consumption
A 2009 study by the Pacific Institute concluded bottled water consumes 1000-2000 times as much energy as tap water
The bottled water industry consumes the equivalent of about 50 million barrels of oil per year,
This could instead be used to fuel 3 million cars
http://www.treehugger.com/coal-plants-waste.jpg
5.Why drink bottled water?
Bottled water can cost up to 1000-1900 times the cost of tap water
What are the benefits that offset this cost?
The International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) claims that “Bottled water is a great beverage choice for hydration and refreshment because of its consistent safety, quality, good taste and convenience.”
In a survey conducted by the University of Birmingham most people believed that bottled water was healthier than tap water
6.Why drink bottled water?
http://maryt.wordpress.com/2007/07/27/tap-waters-best/
http://www.sodabuzz.com/osc/10valve-fountain-soda-dispenser-icebeverage-postmix-p-559.html
vs.
7.Differences in water treatment
Bottled water is regulated by the FDA
Tap water is regulated by the EPA
Bottled water is required to meet the same standards that the EPA sets for tap water
8.EPA water testing
The Safe Drinking Water act provides standards for over 90 contaminants
Every state except Wyoming has been given enforcement authority
In Maryland, water standards are enforced by the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE)
Every community water system is required to send letters annually to its users detailing “information on the source water, the levels of any detected contaminants, and compliance with drinking water regulations”
9.Water report for the DC Area
http://www.wssc.dst.md.us/info/wssc_Final2008.pdf
10.FDA Water Testing
The FDA is responsible for testing bottled water plants
According to the FDA’s website, “bottled water plants generally are assigned low priority for inspection”.
Bottled water companies are not required to disclose information about their water such as:
The source of the water
How the water was treated
Quality reports detailing levels of pollutants
11.Independent bottled water testing
The Environmental Working Group surveyed 155 brands and 38 states.
Only 18% disclosed contaminant testing results.
33% did not provide treatment information on labels or their website
30% of did not provide any information on the source of the water
12.Independent bottled water testing
The Environmental Working Group (EWG) had 10 brands tested
Sam’s Choice water and Giant’s Acadia water had levels of trihalomethanes (carcinogenic chemicals) higher than the legal limit in the strictest state (California)
The National Resources Defense council tested 103 bottled water brands
23 of these brands had contaminant levels that violated California law (where they were purchased)
13.It’s a thermos!
Provides the convenience of bottled water
Also insulates your beverage and prevents it from temperature change
Reusable indefinitely
http://www.thermos.com/product_catalog.aspx?CatCode=BEVG
14.Summary
The bottled water industry has a negative environmental impact
Bottled water is not safer than tap water
The convenience of having water in a bottle can be achieved through buying reusable bottles
Bottled water is much more expensive than tap water
There is no valid reason whatsoever to justify the consumption of bottled water
15.Eliminating bottled water
Ultimately a supply/demand issue; demand must be reduced
Increase public awareness about the illogicality of spending money on bottled water
Local governments can not spend money on bottled water
Businesses and other organizations can refuse to spend money on or sell bottled water
San Francisco, St. Louis, Salt Lake City, and Los Angeles have banned using government funds for bottled water
16.Action Plan for UMD
Don’t sell any bottled water
Vending machines
Athletic events
Dining service operated convenience stores
Do not allow use of UMD funds to buy bottled water
Raise awareness about the issues with bottled water
Provide clean filtered tap water to replace bottled water
Promote the use of reusable water containers
17.Anti-bottled water marketing to use at UMD
http://duke.raycomsports.com/blog/2009/12/16/a-look-at-duke/
http://elizabethcarroll.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/bottled-water.jpg
18.Literature Cited
1. Cooley, H, and Gleick, P. “Energy implications of bottled water”. 2009. IOP science. Accessed 26 February 2010.
http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326/4/1/014009/fulltext?ejredirect=.iopscience
2. Arnold, Emily. “Bottled water: Pourinng resourses down the drain.” 2006. Earth policy institute. Accessed 26 February 2010.
http://www.bvsde.paho.org/bvsacd/cd47/bottled.pdf
3. Wilk, Richard. “Bottled water: The pure commodity in the age of branding.” 2006. Journal of Consumer Culture. Accessed 26 February 2010.
http://joc.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/6/3/303
4. Ward, L, Cain, O, Mullally, R, Holliday, K, Wernham, A, Baillie, P, and Greenfield, S. “Health beliefs about bottled water: a qualitative study. 2009. University of Birmingham. Accessed 26 February 2010.
http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/9/196/
5. Posnick, L and Kim, H. “Bottled water regulation and the FDA”. 2002. Food and Drug administration. Accessed 26 February 2010.
http://www.fda.gov/Food/FoodSafety/Product-SpecificInformation/BottledWaterCarbonatedSoftDrinks/ucm077079.htm#authors
6. Environmental Working Group. “Is your bottled water worth it?” Accessed 26 February 2010. Accessed 26 February 2010.
http://www.ewg.org/health/report/bottledwater-scorecard
7. Office of water. “Drinking water monitoring, compliance, and enforcement.” 2004. Environmental Protection Agency. Accessed 26 February 2010.
http://www.epa.gov/safewater/sdwa/pdfs/fs_30ann_monitoring_web.pdf
8. Naidenko, O, Leiba, N, Sharp, R, and Houlihan, J. “Bottled water contains disinfection byproducts, fertilizer residue, and pain medication.” 2008. Environmental working group. Accessed 26 February 2010.
http://www.ewg.org/reports/bottledwater
9. Maryland Department of the Environment. “Safe drinking act annual compliance report for calander year 2008.” 2009. MDE. Accessed 26 February 2010.
http://www.mde.state.md.us/assets/document/WSP-ACR2009for2008.pdf
10. Olsen, Erik. “Bottled water: Pure drink or pure hype?” 1999. National Resources Defense Council. Accessed 26 February 2010.
http://www.nrdc.org/water/drinking/bw/bwinx.asp
11. Gleick, Peter.”The myth and reality of bottled water”. 2004. The Pacific institute. Accessed 26 February 2010.
http://www.pacinst.org/topics/water_and_sustainability/bottled_water/myth_and_reality.pdf
12. Brown, Lester. “Plan B 4.0: Mobilizing to save civilization.” 2009. Earth policy institute. Accessed 26 February 2010.
http://www.earth-policy.org/index.php?/books/pb4/pb4_table_of_contents
13. International bottled water association. “What is bottled water?” Accessed 26 February 2010.
http://www.bottledwater.org/content/what-bottled-water