http://smh.com.au/news/world/bottled-water-damned-as-drain-on-world-resources/2006/02/10/1139542403062.html
Bottled water damned as drain on world resources
February 11, 2006
Bottled water consumption, which has more than doubled globally in the past six
years, is heavily taxing the world's ecosystem, a new study has found.
"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 Emily Arnold, author of the study published by the Earth Policy
Institute, a Washington-based environmental group.
Ms Arnold said that while bottled water was often no healthier than tap water
in the industrial world, it could end up costing 10,000 times more.
"At as much as $US2.50 [$3.40] per litre, bottled water costs more than
petrol," the study says.
It found that the US was the largest consumer of bottled water, with Americans
drinking 26 billion litres in 2004.
Mexico was the second-largest consumer at 18 billion litres, followed by China
and Brazil at 12 billion litres each.
The study said that demand for bottled water soared in developing countries
between 1999 and 2004, with consumption tripling in India and more than
doubling in China during that period.
That had translated into massive costs in packaging the water, usually in
plastic bottles made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) which is derived from
crude oil, and then transporting it.
Once the water is consumed, disposal of the plastic bottles poses an
environmental risk.
The study, citing the Container Recycling Institute, said that 86 per cent of
plastic water bottles in the US ended up as rubbish and about 40 per cent of
the PET bottles deposited for recycling in 2004 ended up being shipped to China.
Agence France-Presse
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