Over a billion people in the world have no access to reliably clean drinking water. Dirty water kills 1.8 million people a year, 90% of them children.
On average each person in the developed world uses between 100-175 gallons of water in the home each day, compared to the 5 gallons per day used by an average family in the developing world. Increasing demand means that rivers and underground reserves are running dry, so that by 2025 it is estimated that 3 billion people will be facing chronic water shortages.
In the UK we have high quality clean water supplied on demand at the turn of a tap. We even flush our toilets and water our gardens with water fit to drink, yet we spend about one and a half billion pounds a year on bottled water.
It takes 7 litres of water to make 
a single 1-litre plastic bottle.
Worldwide 27 million tonnes of plastic are used every year to bottle water. Only 10 per cent of plastic water bottles are recycled.
Most of these plastics never biodegrade but instead go through a process called photodegradation where they are broken down by sunlight into smaller and smaller pieces, each of which are still plastic polymers.
This process can take over 400 years for a bottle.
Although there are times when it makes sense to buy bottled water, for the most part you could do yourself and the world a favour and save some money by drinking water from the tap. One quarter of all bottled water is just filtered tap water – when Decanter Magazine conducted a blind tasting test of 24 brands of bottled water Thames tap water came joint third.
If you really can’t face drinking water straight from the tap you could try investing in an simple filter jug which will remove the chlorine from your household supply and improve the taste. Reusablebottle.co.uk stock water filters as well as a wide range of re-usable bottles.
For an original green gift have a look at the Do-It-Yourself Bottled Water Kit containing ten self-adhesive stickers to re-brand empty water bottles for re-use. The labels are produced by Tap who are campaigning to persuade consumers to switch from bottled water to tap water. They are donating 70% of their profits to fund water development projects in the developing world.
If you really must buy bottled water, try Belu which is natural mineral water sourced and bottled in Shropshire and supplied in glass bottles or in bio-bottles which are made from corn and are compostable. Belu is non-profit making and all proceeds go towards funding water projects in drought-afflicted areas. You can buy Belu in the UK at larger branches of Tesco, Waitrose and at Fresh & Wild stores.
The Tap Challenge – Tap are asking you to trust your tastebuds in a line-up against four leading brands of bottled water to see if you can pick out the Eau de Tap. And if you can’t tell the difference then perhaps it really is time to get off the bottle!
- Reusablebottle.co.uk
- Inside the Bottle
- storyofbottledwater.org
- For the industry point of view, see the Bottled Water Information Page.
“The bottled water industry is the triumph of marketing over common sense, it has become a symbol of our disposable culture at its dumbest.” Joshua Blackburn, founder of Tap.
Posted under educational resources, plastic, reduce reuse recycle, waste
