My Article Wizard

For the past decade or so, sales of bottled water have been steadily increasing by 7 – 8% per annum. The level of global consumption is estimated to have more than doubled between 1997 and 2005.

Around 200 billion bottles of water are consumed every year. The biggest market by far is the USA, which makes up about 25% of worldwide sales.

Recently, there has been quite a backlash against bottled water. The main are of concern is the environmental impact of the bottles themselves. These are manufactured from Polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Although this is a material which can be recycled, the actual number of bottles which are recycled is estimated to be less than a quarter of the total.

The manufacturing process, shipping and end of life disposal of the bottles also requires energy, another source of concern for environmentalists. The carbon emissions generated by the production and delivery of one litre of bottled water are 5,000 times higher than those produced for the delivery of a litre of ordinary tap water.

There is no evidence, despite some very clever marketing by bottled water suppliers, that bottled water is any better for your health than common or garden tap water. Some bottled waters have been found to contain estrogenic chemicals and uranium! The majority of bottled mineral waters also contain salt, which can be bad for your blood pressure.

Similarly, when it comes to the taste, there seems to be very little evidence to suggest that bottled water is superior to tap water. In the UK, a blind taste test led to London tap water finishing in third place out of a range of 24 different types of water. In America, an episode of “Penn and Teller”, which was screened in 2007, showed that diners in a restaurant couldn’t distinguish between expensive bottled water and water which had been drawn from a garden hose at the back of the restaurant.

The variation in cost between bottled and tap water will vary from brand to brand. However, as a rule, bottled water will cost several hundred times more per litre than ordinary tap water.

Whatever way you look at it, whether from a health, taste, cost or environmental stance, there really isn’t much to recommend the use of bottled water. If you really find the taste of the water that comes out of your tap at home to be unsatisfactory, then you could always use some type of home filtration system.

When you’re at home, a home filtration system is ideal – but if you want to have something portable to drink when you’re out and about why not use a bottle which you can fill and refill before you leave. Irish designer Orla Kiely partnered with Brita to produce the “Wottle” – the world’s first designer reusable bottle, manufactured from 100% recycled materials. On the other hand, why not save even more money and do a bit of your own recycling by using and old Seven Up or Pepsi bottle?

Save money by using Brita filter jug – and check out Orla Kiely’s Wottle – it looks great and is better for the environment.