
Bottled Water: The Healthy, Environmentally Friendly Drink
Whether you drink it to quench your thirst or use it to wash your laundry, water is an indispensable part of our lives and our world.
Whether you drink it to quench your thirst or use it to wash your laundry, water is an indispensable part of our lives and our world.
New data from the the International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) and Beverage Marketing Corporation (BMC) show that in 2015 Americans’ consumption of bottled water increased by 7.9 percent and bottled water sales are up 8.9 percent since the previous year. In fact, BMC now indicates that bottled water is poised to overtake carbonated soft drinks as America’s largest beverage category by volume by 2017, if not by the end of 2016.
Consumers are Choosing Bottled Water
Since 1998, approximately 73% of the growth in bottled water consumption has come from people switching from carbonated soft drinks, juices, and milk to bottled water. Consumers are choosing bottled water instead of less healthy packaged beverages.
A recent study conducted in China by Nanjing University and the University of Florida (Effects of storage temperature and duration on release of antimony and bisphenol A from polyethylene terephthalate drinking water bottles of China) misrepresents bottled water and incorrectly infers it to be potentially unsafe.
I’m sitting in class trying to ignore the pangs of thirst creeping through my throat. All I want is a long gulp of cool water. My mouth feels like the Sahara Desert. In the middle of class I can’t stand it any longer and leave to find a water fountain.
On March 22, World Water Day 2008 will call attention to the critical need to protect and sustain water resources. The day “highlights the significance of cooperation and importance of an integrated approach to water resource management of water at both international and local levels,” according to the World Water Day website.
Last year, Chicago imposed a 5-cents per-bottle tax to help ease a nearly $200 million budget gap.
Not only is this tax discriminatory against bottled water, but the effects of the extra cost can really hurt business in the city, as we see in Eric Zorn’s column in the Chicago Tribune.