Bottled water first became popular around the year 1850. After some time, the fad wore off, but it came roaring back in the late 70s and early 80s. However, there are probably a good amount of people (elder millennials and older) who remember a time when bottled water wasn’t so ubiquitous.
At sports games, you drank out of the big orange cooler. At home, you had your own drinking container that you filled up and took out with you. But not long after that water bottles became mainstream. Today, the trend is changing. As information emerges about the dangers of BPA (Bisphenol-A), more people are switching to other methods to stay hydrated.
So, if you’ve ever thought, “Should I stop drinking bottled water?” then this is the article for you.
The Cost of Bottled Water
There are plenty of things that can be considered the “cost” of drinking bottled water, and we’ll get to those. But for now, let’s focus on the actual cost in dollars of drinking bottled water.
It’s expensive. It is so much more expensive than your tap water will ever be. The average monthly water bill in the United States is roughly $70. That breaks down to $2.30 a day, or the cost of one bottle of water. That $70 gets you so much more than a bottle of water, though. On average, Americans use 300 gallons of water per day for things like laundry, showers, dishes, etc. So, if you are stuck with tap water, you could, for the cost of one bottle of water, fill that same bottle 2,400 times per day. If water conservation is something that interests you, read more about that here!
Environmental Impact
Bottled water is more than just costly for you; it is costly for the environment. The carbon footprint that bottled water leaves is huge and one of the biggest negatives of bottled water. It is estimated that it takes around 17 million barrels of oil each year to produce the amount of bottled water sold and consumed. You’re also using more water when drinking bottled water, as it requires water to make the plastic used for the bottles.
There are more negative effects of plastic water bottles on the environment. The amount of plastic waste generated by bottled water is alarmingly high. We’d like to think that every time we throw a bottle into one of those recycling bins that it comes back to us as another water bottle, but that simply isn’t the case. Roughly 80% of plastic bottles never make it to a recycling facility, and instead, wind up in landfills or worse.
The worse being the effect of water bottle waste on animals and the environment. Some of the failure to reach a recycling plant is an issue with infrastructure, while some of it, sadly, is littering. It’s unlikely that you’ve made it this far without seeing one of those videos of a turtle stuck in a six-pack or something similar, but that is a very real problem, and it happens a lot.
Your Health
Bottled water is safe to drink, but there are still some negative health effects of bottled water. The most notable among them is the lack of fluoride. Fluoride is added to water to aid in the strengthening of teeth for children. A study in Australia showed that children who drank bottled water as opposed to tap water were more likely to get cavities.
While bottled water is cleaner than tap water, that doesn’t mean that it is 100% contaminant free. You also have to consider BPA. BPA can seep into the water from exposure to heat or just after sitting around for a while. If stored improperly, bottled water can also grow algae or other dangerous molds which can be a detriment to your health.
Instead of drinking bottled water, why not consider a one-time investment for a water filter for your house. This way, you can better protect the environment while also prioritizing your health.
If you are in the Jacksonville, Florida area and are curious about a water filter for your home, please contact Rain Soft today!
