WASHINGTON, D.C., Feb 4 (OneWorld) - Water, water everywhere and we are duped into buying it bottled.

Consumers spend a collective $100 billion every year on bottled water in the belief--often mistaken, as it happens--that this is better for us than what flows from our taps, according to environmental think tank the Earth Policy Institute (EPI).

For a fraction of that sum, everyone on the planet could have safe drinking water and proper sanitation, the Washington, D.C.-based organization said this week.

Members of the
United Nations have agreed to halve the proportion of people who lack reliable and lasting access to safe drinking water by the year 2015. To meet this goal, they would have to double the $15 billion spent every year on water supply and sanitation.

''While this amount may seem large, it pales in comparison to the estimated $100 billion spent each year on bottled water,'' said EPI researcher Emily Arnold.

''There is no question that clean, affordable drinking water is essential to the health of our global community,'' Arnold said. ''But bottled water is not the answer in the developed world, nor does it solve problems for the 1.1 billion people who lack a secure water supply. Improving and expanding existing water treatment and sanitation systems is more likely to provide safe and sustainable sources of water over the long term.''

Worldwide, bottled water consumption surged to 154 billion liters (41 billion gallons) in 2004, up 57 percent from 98 billion liters in 1999, EPI said in a written analysis citing industry data.

By one view, the consequences for the planet and for consumers' purses are horrifying.

''Even in areas where tap water is safe to drink, demand for bottled water is increasing--producing unnecessary garbage and consuming vast quantities of energy,'' said Arnold. ''Although in the industrial world bottled water is often no healthier than tap water, it can cost up to 10,000 times more.''

At up to $2.50 per liter ($10 per gallon), bottled water costs more than gasoline in the United States.

A close look at the multibillion-dollar bottled water industry renewed Arnold's affection for the faucet.

Tap water comes to us through an energy-efficient infrastructure whereas bottled water must be transported long distances--and nearly one-fourth of it across national borders--by boat, train, airplane, and truck. This ''involves burning massive quantities of fossil fuels,'' Arnold said.

By way of example, in 2004 alone, a Helsinki company shipped 1.4 million bottles of Finnish tap water 4,300 kilometers (2,700 miles) to Saudi Arabia. And although 94 percent of the bottled water sold in the United States is produced domestically, some Americans import water shipped some 9,000 kilometers from Fiji and other faraway places to satisfy demand for what Arnold termed ''chic and exotic bottled water.''

More fossil fuels are used in packaging the water. Most water bottles are made with polyethylene terephthalate, a plastic derived from crude oil. ''Making bottles to meet Americans' demand for bottled water requires more than 1.5 million barrels of oil annually, enough to fuel some 100,000 U.S. cars for a year,'' Arnold said.

Worldwide, some 2.7 million tons of plastic are used to bottle water each year.

Once it has been emptied, the bottle must be dumped. According to the Container Recycling Institute, 86 percent of plastic water bottles used in the United States become garbage or litter. Incinerating used bottles produces toxic byproducts such as chlorine gas and ash containing heavy metals tied to a host of human and animal health problems. Buried water bottles can take up to 1,000 years to biodegrade.

Of the bottles deposited for recycling in 2004, the United States exported roughly 40 percent to destinations as far away as China--meaning that even more fossil fuels were burned in the process.

Meanwhile, communities from near which the water came in the first place risk running dry.

More than 50 Indian villages have complained of water shortages after bottlers began extracting water for sale under Coca-Cola Co.'s Dasani label, EPI said.

''Similar problems have been reported in Texas and in the Great Lakes region of North America, where farmers, fishers, and others who depend on water for their livelihoods are suffering from concentrated water extraction as water tables drop quickly,'' ''Arnold said.

All this, because many consumers associate bottled water with healthy living.

More fool us.

''Bottled water is not guaranteed to be any healthier than tap water. In fact, roughly 40 percent of bottled water begins as tap water; often the only difference is added minerals that have no marked health benefit,'' EPI said.

France's Senate, it added, ''even advises people who drink bottled mineral water to change brands frequently because the added minerals are helpful in small amounts but may be dangerous in higher doses.''

To be sure, many municipal water systems have run afoul of government water quality standards--driving up demand for bottled water as a result. But according to the study, ''in a number of places, including Europe and the United States, there are more regulations governing the quality of tap water than bottled water.''

The U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency sets more stringent quality standards for tap water than does the
Food and Drug Administration for the bottled stuff, it added.

Americans drank 26 billion liters of bottled water in 2004, or roughly one eight-ounce glass per person every day. Mexico had the second highest consumption, at 18 billion liters. China and Brazil followed, at close to 12 billion liters each. Italy and Germany ranked fifth and sixth in consumption, downing just over 10 billion liters of bottled water each.

Italians drank the most bottled water per person, at nearly 184 liters in 2004--more than two glasses per day. Mexico and the United Arab Emirates consumed 169 and 164 liters per person. Belgium and France followed, knocking back almost 145 liters annually. Spain ranked sixth, with 137 liters swallowed each year.

Some of the fastest growth in bottled water consumption is taking place in poor countries, however.

With consumption per person increasing by 44-50 percent between 1999 and 2004, Lebanon and Mexico had among the fastest growth rates of the top 15 per-capita guzzlers, EPI said.

Indian and Chinese people drank far less individually but collectively, the world's two most populous countries appear to have been on a bender. India swigged three times as much bottled water in 2004 as it did in 1999 and China, more than twice as much.

If individual Chinese consumers drank one-fourth the bottled water downed by the average American, EPI said, China would springboard over the United States and become the world's largest consumer.

what? I like water.

hey...we should carry them in those lamb skin sac thingys like Moses did.....U KNOW WHAT IM TALKING ABOUT RIGHT?!!? like it looks like those ugly hobo purses coming out now.....and u fill up it up with water...that will help the environment.

If you need water on the go its easy enough to fill up a bottle you already used with tap water or just buy a sports bottle or something.

it's also helping destroy the environment!

i'll buy a bottle of water for the gym and then just keep using it, filling it up every time before i go with water from my brita pitcher.

i love how the bottles all say "DO NOT REUSE", as if some kinda great misfortune will come my way if i put more water in a damn empty plastic bottle.

The Penn & Teller Tasting Test
In 2003, Penn & Teller: Bullshit!, a Showtime television network program, conducted an informal taste test of bottled water. They found about 75 percent of New Yorkers preferred tap water to bottled waters. They also hired a "water sommelier" to sell $7 bottled water to the patrons in a fancy Californian restaurant. The water sommelier filled each bottle with a garden hose directly from the tap, however, people claimed to know the difference between a bottle of eau du robinet (French for "faucet water") and Agua de Culo (Spanish for "ass water") before they were informed of its source. In the end, the hosts Penn and Teller jokingly offered to sell their brand of water for $150 per bottle.

i grew up in shelbyville, indiana with well water and PHENOLS which you could actually SEE swimming around in the glass, and which would also start to build up a film after you washed clear glasses enough times. it was some nasty stuff, made even worse when they started pumping chlorine into the stuff. believe me, i can tell the difference between filtered and tap water. i'll cook with tap water, especially if i'm boiling the water, but i've earned some well-deserved tapwater snobbery points. i gotta be really parched to drink from the faucet.

Posthumous said:

i grew up in shelbyville, indiana with well water and PHENOLS which you could actually SEE swimming around in the glass, and which would also start to build up a film after you washed clear glasses enough times. it was some nasty stuff, made even worse when they started pumping chlorine into the stuff. believe me, i can tell the difference between filtered and tap water. i'll cook with tap water, especially if i'm boiling the water, but i've earned some well-deserved tapwater snobbery points. i gotta be really parched to drink from the faucet.

I tend to like to recycle my bottles but then i leave them behind at work n they get chucked out!! Also what about recycle bins- i chuck my plastics in those!!

what's ironic, the same thing can be said about recycling. all of the energy we use recycling resources almost cancel out the benefits of recycling.

sinisterpentatonic said:

that's something I've often wondered about, actually it would be interesting to research it and see exactly what energy is expelled recycling and what it's doing to the environment for good or bad

lilmissmissy said:

i like a women that recycles.

though, it's not all about recycling the bottle after using it, it's all of the energy expended manufacturing and transporting the stuff that's causing the real damage.

what's ironic, the same thing can be said about recycling. all of the energy we use recycling resources almost cancel out the benefits of recycling.

lilmissmissy said:

i like a women that recycles.

though, it's not all about recycling the bottle after using it, it's all of the energy expended manufacturing and transporting the stuff that's causing the real damage.

what's ironic, the same thing can be said about recycling. all of the energy we use recycling resources almost cancel out the benefits of recycling.

sinisterpentatonic said:

it does but there are emerging technologies in which solar pwoer is being used to compost various material wastes. geothermal composting is possible too, but the technologies are still 'emerging'

one thing freaks me out, off topic but, there's a trned in japan where the japanese pay a small fortune to drink bottled water consisting of recently thawed, but ancient, glacial ice. what are the chances some ancient bacteria/virus/organism was preserved cryogenically and lurks in some glacial shelf somewhere? i don't think i'd wanna go out there just gulping THAT down