Bottled Water Obsession

How thirsty is America for bottled water? Pretty darned thirsty.

Every week of the year we now move a billion bottles of water from ground to gullet in ships and trains and trucks. That's the equivalent of almost 38,000 eighteen-wheelers full of water every week. Sixteen billion dollars a year are spent on bottled water shipped from Maine, Italy and Fiji.

Only a few years ago, we drank almost no bottled water. And tap water is still free.

Critics say it’s obsessive and a green nightmare –diesel fuel needlessly chugging simple water around the world, plastic bottles piling up in landfills. But for the public, it sure seems to hit the spot – and avoid the now-perceived taint of the tap.

Listen to an On Point discussion on our bottled water obsession and its fallout.

Is bottled water all about hydration and health? Is it a symbol of blind indulgence? How much bottled water do you drink? And why?

Comments: 12

James B. Jul 3, 2007, 11:20am EDT

What you forgot to mention is out of the 50billion bottles used each year only 12 billion are recycled.

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Theaetetus S. Jul 3, 2007, 11:43am EDT

Scooter Libby's sentence was commuted yesterday in a perversion of justice. The White House has refused to respond to congressional subpoenas and say that the offices of the President and Vice President are not part of the executive branch for the purposes of archiving.

And On Point is doing an hour long program on bottled water.

You people disgust me.

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Theaetetus S. Jul 3, 2007, 11:47am EDT

"It's a green questions though theaetetus, despite you being upset about the scooter libby thing..."

The first hour wasn't about it either, and they're on tape tomorrow. What, we'll hear about it three days after the fact? What ever happened to "news"? Particularly when the bottled water discussion could happily wait until Thursday.

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Kris M. Jul 3, 2007, 11:56am EDT

As Melinda said, I drink a bottle of Deer Park/Dasani/Aquawhatever and then refill it from a filter in the kitchen sink. The past three places I've lived have had terrible water -- yellow, in one apartment -- and a Pur filter's a small investment to make in order to get something drinkable.

I'm unfamiliar with On Point.

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Jeff W. Jul 3, 2007, 1:39pm EDT

I can understand buyng bottled water in parts of the country with bad tastng water, but
people in boston buy it when we have some of the best water anywhere. As the marketing people know, there's a sucker born every minute.

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Marian L Jul 3, 2007, 6:09pm EDT

I don't drink bottled water. I think it's silly.

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Steven D. Jul 3, 2007, 11:11pm EDT

Water cleanses the body. Forget where it comes from. Just make sure you get the recommended amount in you. See your doctor if you don't know how much you should drink.

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Dorine H. Jul 4, 2007, 5:23pm EDT

In many communities, tap water tastes so unpleasantly of chlorine that we have to douse it with lemon juice or drink bottled. In many parts of the world, including developed countries in Europe and Asia, people have never drunk tap water; bottled water is a tradition since forever. Likewise in the most developed parts of South America, major first world cities such as Sao Paulo.

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Joe T. Jul 4, 2007, 5:29pm EDT

I think that this water thing is a big advertising boondoggle. We need water to be sure but only when we are thirsty. Bottled water is probably safer. I was cured of the issue when I tasted water made in Pennsylvania in Illinois and then the same day after flying to Philadelphia drank a bottle of water made in Indiana. I realized then that the entire bottled water craze is just plain nuts. Someone in the industry decided that we needed 80 ounces of water a day. That is not necessarily so. We probably need less.

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Library M. Jul 5, 2007, 10:48am EDT

Isn't it interesting -- we can be marketed to buy Aquafina (which is basically tap water from the city you live in), but we can't find a decent president.

Wait, maybe it is the same marketing. Nevermind

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Mike LaBonte Jul 5, 2007, 10:01pm EDT

It bothered me when the dentist spewed out the lies on OnPoint about fluoride and Tom didn't challenge him. Fluoride prevents tooth decay when applied topically, ie. on toothpaste. No one should drink it. The dentist even said that fluoridated water should be given to babies, ignoring the ADA's own recommendation otherwise.

Fluoride is a waste product of the aluminum industry, and convincing us to buy it to put in our water was quite a coup for them. There is tons of information, but here is one well-documented source:

http://www.fluorideresearch.org/394/files/FJ2006_v39_n4_p252-254.pdf

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Bottled Water Obsession

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