Despite all the press on water bottles, people still seem to be purchasing in quantities and of course, no surprise here, they are a major littered item. It seems like I pick them up all the time on the streets!
I Just Gotta Eco Ya
- Americans consume 8.6 billion gallons of bottled water generating $61 billion dollars in income.
- 40% of all bottled water is taken from your city’s water sources (tap water)
- 22% of tested bottled water contains chemical contaminates
- 17 Million barrels of oil are used in the production of water bottles yearly
- It takes 3x the amount of water to produce the bottle than to fill it.
What You are Paying For:
- Aquafina (Pepsi) and Dasani (Coke) sell 24% of all US bottled water. Yet, both are merely treated municipal tap water, resold to the public at a premium mark-up.
- The country which consumes the most bottled water also has the most publically accessible and safest water sources- the United States. The next three largest consuming countries of bottled water do not have reliable tap water- China, Brazil, and Mexico.
- San Francisco’s tap water comes from Yosemite National Park and is so pure the EPA does not require it to be filtered. A bottled of Evian water at $1.35 could be refilled with San Francisco tap water once a day for over ten years before the cost would total $1.35.
- If tap water cost the same as the cheapest bottled, monthly water bills would come to $9,000.
- Bottled water can cost as much $10 per gallon, making gasoline cost less than bottle water.
Sources
- Online Education– graphic on bottled water statistics
- Drop The Prop– More statistics available
- The Story of Bottled Water– Video which describes the path of bottled water
- 13 Truths About Bottled Water