More Information about Bottled Water!

Bottlers have created a $100- billion-a-year industry out of something that is available virtually free from the tap.

The Earth Policy Institute estimates that bottled water can cost up to 10,000 times more than municipal tap water.

And while we rant and rave if gas prices go above the $1-per-litre mark, most of us routinely pay twice that amount for half as much water.

At the same time, the UN reports that 1.1 billion people don't have access to any safe drinking water, causing an estimated 1.6 million deaths annually.

The UN's Millennium Development Goal of halving the number of people without clean water by 2015 has a price tag of $15 billion -- or about one-seventh of what we currently spend on bottled water every year.

Most water bottles are made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET), a plastic made from crude oil. According to Emily Arnold, a researcher with the Earth Policy Institute, this translates into 1.5 million barrels of oil annually in the U.S. alone, or enough to fuel 100,000 cars for a year.

On a global scale, we use 2.7 million tons of plastic just to bottle water, very little of which is ever re-captured through recycling programs.

The remaining bottles are tossed into our landfills, where they can take up to 1,000 years to break down.

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ENVIRONMENTAL COSTS

Tap water is delivered efficiently without packaging.

Shipping bottled water consumes large amounts of fossil fuels.

2.7 million tons of plastic are used annually to bottle water.

It takes three litres of water to manufacture a one-litre plastic water bottle.

Bottled water production is as much as 2000 times more energy intensive than tap water.

The vast majority of plastic water bottles are not recycled.

It can take up to 1,000 years for plastic bottles to breakdown.

HEALTH COSTS

In Canada, local water supplies are inspected every day.

Bottled-water plants are inspected at three-year intervals.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency issued 29 recall notices for bottled water between 2000 and 2008.

The current mandatory labeling of bottled water products does not sufficiently address a number of health concerns related to content, storage and expiry dates

Antimony, a chemical used to make PET bottles has been found to leach into the drinking water.

The death of 1.6 million people could be prevented if they had access to safe drinking water and sanitation.

ECONOMIC COSTS

Bottled water can cost up to 10,000 times more than municipal tap water.

Bottled water sales top $100 billion annually, making water the world's fastest-growing beverage industry.

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What the World Health Organization has to say

Bottled water is not sterile.

There is no scientific information on the benefits or hazards of consuming natural mineral waters.

There is no international standard for bottled water.

Because bottled water is stored for longer periods and at higher temperatures than tap water, some otherwise unharmful micro-organisms may grow to higher levels in bottled water.

Canada's share of the bottled water industry is estimated at $731 million.

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