SCAM ALERT : Bottled water is a health hazard

There are those who will argue that bottled water is healthy for you and that their impact on the environment is minimal when compared to other water users such as irrigation or industry. But it takes the equivalent of 3 bottles of water to make the bottle you buy in the store!

Transporting the bottles and keeping them cold also burns fossil fuels adding to our greenhouse gas emissions and it is estimated that supermarket fridges use 1% of all UK electricity!

Many plastic bottles now have “recycle me” emblazoned across – but the truth is that 1 in 6 bottles make it to a recycling plant and with more than 500 billion bottles being consumed annually that leaves a devastating estimated 170 billion that will end up either in landfill or the ocean. The impact of our “consumerism” is destroying our very own fishbowl.

From Albatrosses to Whales, numerous animal carcasses are being found washed up on the beaches, with their stomachs full of plastic. Between 4.8 and 12.7 million tonnes of plastic enter the ocean each year, according to figures published in the journal Science in 2015.

We are still unsure of the long-term effects on humans, researchers at the Medical University in Vienna have found that people are ingesting 50,000 bits of plastic, (known as microplastics) each year! And that bottled water is the largest contributor.

Peter Jarvis, Professor of Water Science and Technology at the Cranfield Water Science Institute reported that tap water contained between zero to ten (0-10) micro plastic pieces per litre, while bottled water could contain hundreds. "Where there is opportunity for water to interact with plastic material there is opportunity for plastic to go into the water source," he said. “There are higher risks of exposure to plastic from bottled water, he added “and evidence points to the cap itself as the main contributor.”

Dr. Maria Neira, WHO Director for the Department of Public Health, Environmental and Social Determinants of Health believes that Climate Change is a health emergency - “We need to know more about the health impact of microplastics because they are everywhere, including our drinking water.” Studies have even found microplastics in seafood and the arctic ice.

Bottled water is a corporate scam: taking something we can get for almost next to nothing* and then selling it back to us for up to ....2000x the price?

More than $100 Billion is wasted on bottled water globally.

It takes around 17 million barrels of oil annually to serve our thirst for water and the cumulative effect, according to the London based Natural Hydration Council is that 350 000 tonnes of CO2 is released into the atmosphere every year by the UK bottled water industry alone.

While the business of bottled water is still clearly on the rise, some policymakers and activists have taken steps to reduce it, encouraging people to drink tap water instead. In September 2009, the Australian city of Bundanoon became the first city in the world to completely ban bottled water, installing water fountains around the city instead.

With an ever-increasing population and industrial pollution, clean drinking water is fast becoming a scarce commodity. One that can potentially lead us to war! While more than 750 million human inhabitants of this planet don’t even have access to water, an estimated 2 billion, use water contaminated with faeces – and we support corrupt multinationals and buy their bottled water. Denying others their basic human right?

Reduce your pollution! Avoid the corruption and drink tap water wherever possible.

Make sure you have a re-usable water bottle