Anne La, Grade 12
Ms. Bateman, Teacher / Boston Latin School
"The Environmental Irony of Bottled Water"
The multi-billion dollar bottled water industry has successfully convinced the public that bottled water is purer and safer than tap water. The marketing ploys used by the industry include labeling bottles with scenes of secluded, untouched springs and snow-capped mountains. The irony lies in the fact that bottled water is actually contributing to the destruction of the natural scenes that are depicted on its labels.
The production of bottled water takes a huge toll on the environment. The making of the bottle alone requires the consumption of 17 million barrels of oil - enough to keep 100,000 cars on the road for a year. In addition, the transportation of the bottle to the source releases 2.5 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The amount of waste generated by the whole process is incredible. Consider the fact that it takes 3 liters of water to produce 1 liter of bottled water, and the fact that more than 80% of the plastic bottles made are never recycled and end up sitting in landfills or floating in our
oceans.
Publicizing these statistics alone may be enough to convince some environmentally-conscious people to switch over to tap, but it will be more difficult to shake the attachment to bottled water of the majority of Americans. The bottled water industry has led the public to believe that bottled water is the healthiest choice, and in doing so, has caused the public to view tap water as a health hazard. There needs to be a highly visible campaign to debunk the unfounded fear of the tap.
The water that comes through our taps is some of the cleanest in the world. According to the MWRA, the water is run through 1,500 tests every month. Unfortunately, the public often does not hear about these water quality tests until some contaminant is found.
While serious contaminations of the water supply are few and far between, the public can only believe that it is a regular occurrence when these reports are the only ones that are coming out of the news. It is important for residents to understand how extensively their water is monitored if they are to trust the water supply.
While there is already an excellent water quality report published annually by the MWRA, there needs to be more of an emphasis on how safe drinking tap water is. In the 2006 report, the heading for the section that details the safety of tap water is "Contaminants in bottled water and tap water." An average customer just scanning the report, would see that and believe that the water is unsafe to drink, without reading the smaller print to discover the exact opposite.
Even if people do know that the tap water is safe to drink, many will still choose to drink the bottled version because they are led to believe that tap just does not taste as good. Conducting blind taste tests is a practice that has already been put to use and has exhibited positive results: most people cannot distinguish tap water from bottled water or even believe that tap water tastes better than bottled water.
Blind taste tests would be most effective if they were held at places like schools, businesses, and fitness centers, where many bottled-water consumers may be found. At these taste test sites, information about the safety of tap water should also be distributed should taste alone not be enough to change the minds of the bottled water drinker.
It would be safe to say that most bottled water consumers don't really take the time to consider just why they purchase bottled water. The bottled water industry has made purchasing a bottle of water seem like just another part of the average lifestyle. If the public really stopped to think about it, purchasing bottled water just doesn't make sense. People would be surprised to discover just how much they spend every year on water, as bottled water can cost 1,000 times more than tap water even though there is no evidence that bottled water is better in any way.
Moreover, while the public believes that tap is potentially harmful to their health, they are still not afraid to brush their teeth, bathe, and wash their food and dishes with this water. A few well-placed posters with these surprising facts might allow the public to pause and really consider why they choose to purchase bottled water, and may very well come to discover that there really isn't any reason why they should continue to do so.
In order to overturn the mistrust of tap water, there must be more of an effort to emphasize the positive in drinking tap water. This campaign must be rooted in overturning myths about the superiority of bottled water and educating the public about the safety of their water supply.
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