Bottled water
I remember when bottled water first started to become readily available. It was so amazing, all these little bottles of pure spring water harvested from nature itself and brought home to you. The best, cleanest and superbly mineral rich water soon became THE beverage to partake of. And for good reason – it tasted a million times better than the chemically laden and treated water that came from our taps.
When you took a sip, you could almost momentarily transport yourself to some lone lush green valley where sunlight glistens through the forrest canopy to streak lightly over the bubbling of a natural spring of the purest water; and while the birds flutter from treetop to treetop, you bend down and scoop up some of this refreshing liquid, the droplets falling from your fingers like tiny diamonds…
It was sold as a healthier water and it was a hit. Safe and convenient water. How wonderful!
But …
There is also the darker side to bottled water > pollution and the stripping of natural resources, carbon footprint. I don’t have the numbers, but I’m sure if you go look it up on GOOGLE, you’ll find the latest figures, but as far as I know, a while back it was quoted that plastic drinking bottles, in particular water bottles, were one of the biggest contributing masses of pollution and littering. Then, when ecologists started looking into it, they found, surprise! surprise!, that the carting away of tons of water from natural wellsprings have a detrimental effect on the ecosystems of those and surrounding areas which have for hundred’s of years depended on the water tables’ rythms. Then we get to the fact that this water is carted from far far away from the major cities, because really – who’d trust a water source close to a concrete jungle?, which of course brings up the question of how carbon expensive such a bottle of water is. And then, again I don’t have actual numbers, but I’m sure someone out there has done this study – I’m sure it actually costs more water to produce the bottle of water than it actually contains (there was an e-mail going around where it was shown how much water a cup of starbucks coffee contains – not how much water is added to the coffee, but how much water is needed in the manufacturing of the cup etc.)
Allright, so you may not be a greenie, and the word ecology might just be as close to a swearword as it comes to you, but if there ever was a reason not to buy bottled water on a regular basis, it would be this: cost. I was totally shocked today when I saw that a 500ml bottle of spring water cost R9.90. Seriously. R9.90. Ridiculous!! Municipal water costs Ro.10/l (for 20 units of residential water) and reverse osmosis water costs R0.99 per liter. Bottled water costs R19.80 per liter.
That is that besides the fact that it is incredibly costly to our environment, it is roughly 2000% more expensive than reverse osmosis water and… wait for it…. almost 20 000% more expensive than tap water.
All I’m saying is … think before you drink.