Bottled Water

I considered even writing this post as almost anyone can tell you plastic bottles are bad for the environment, but this has been one of the first environmental issues brought to light and it has not been resolved. How many times have we heard about plastic bottles and how they destroy our oceans and only grow in abundance? But it is still one of the largest problems affecting our planet today! So I felt it was necessary to remind people of the horrendous impact bottles have on our planet and why we need to make a change.

1 | BOTTLED WATER AND OUR HEALTH

Many of us started consuming bottled water when the media told us that it is ‘pure’ and safer than tap water. But let's take a look into the truth behind this statement. In reality, the United States has one of the world’s safest tap water, which was a result of the Safe Water Drinking Act in 1974. However, despite this act there have been violations due to poor regulation. The chemicals that can be found as a result of these violations are; lead, nitrates, pharmaceuticals, chlorine, and perchlorate. With that being said, there are not as many violations as the media and large corporations would like you to believe.

I won't lie, tap water isn't always pure and perfectly clean, but that doesn't mean that bottled water is any better. In fact, most bottled water has not only the same chemicals that tap water has but more. These chemicals include; carcinogens (cancer causing chemicals), metals, radioactive isotopes, pollutants, bacteria, fertilizer, and other hazardous chemicals. Bottled water companies are also not held to the same standard that tap water production is, they rarely release the results of their chemical testings, they make false claims about their products 'purity', and they sell their products at over 1,000 times the price of tap water.

With their outrageous prices and claims, most people are fooled into believing that bottled water is safer than tap water. But with enough testing and research, this has been proven not to be the case.

2 | BOTTLES AND THE PLANET

It should come as no surprise that the overflowing amount of plastic being dumped into our oceans, harms the environment. But what may surprise you is that on average 1500 plastic water bottles are being used EVERY second in the United States alone. I’ll let that sit for a bit.

Let’s start from the beginning. Plastic bottles are far greater of a problem than just plastic pollution. Plastic industries are consuming resources at an alarming rate and polluting the planet with no regard. Every year, plastic bottle companies are using over 10 million barrels of oil to produce plastic bottles and each bottle requires three times the amount of water for production as it does to fill the actual bottle. In this process, loads of greenhouse gases are emitted; polluting our air and harming our ozone. The United States also consumes the majority of the world’s resources, meaning that most of these resources are shipped overseas. This shipment also has a great environmental impact on our planet and the rest of the world. 

After being produced and sold to consumers at ridiculously high prices, these bottles are then used, thrown away, and dumped into landfills and our oceans. There the plastic bottles slowly begin their 1,000 year process of breaking down. During this process chemicals, carcinogens, and toxins are released poisoning the animals that live there and slowly making their way back to our plates. 

Now recycling may seem like the easy breezy one step solution to this hazardous cycle. However, it's not that simple… Only about 12% of plastic bottles thrown away actually make it through the recycling process! So even if you're making the right choice of throwing it in the recycling bin, odds are that bottle will still be dumped into our precious oceans. 

3 | WHAT YOU CAN DO

So now that we have covered the environmental and health impacts of bottled water, let's talk about how you can make a difference. The first thing would be to refrain from using plastic bottles as much as you can. I understand there are times when you're thirsty and the only option is a cold bottle of water from the convenience store, but there are other times when they are not the only option. I also highly recommend investing in a cute reusable water bottle and even a filter for your home to make this step easier. The next thing you could do was research the bottle companies that you buy from and look into the reality behind their claims; see where they are sourced, the chemical tests run on the water, and how much it really costs the environment. Lastly, you can educate others on the true impact of bottled water and how much waste the industry is causing. 

All in all, I hoped you learned something new and motivarted yourself to make a change for the better!

Photograph by Max Rivera Patton