Previously, I posted about many of the problems with our obsession with Bottled Water. These include the millions of plastic bottles that do not get recycled and will last for many years in landfills, the environmental cost of transportation, and the negative effect on our aquifers for the millions of gallons of water pumped from our ground waters, streams and lakes. Apparently, I am not alone in seeing a negative side to this phenomenon. Many people and organizations have tried or succeeded in banning the sales of bottled water.

Washington University in St. Louis, MO has banned the sale of bottled water on campus.  Other campuses banning the sale of bottled water include Seattle University and the University of Wisconsin – Stephen Point, Belmont University, Oberlin College, University of Ottawa and University of Portland. Some campuses have not banned the sale of bottled water, but no longer serve it in the dinning halls. These include Gonzaga University, New York University, Stanford University, Stony Brook University and the University of Maryland.

Universities are not the only groups trying to stem the rising tide of bottled water sales and the problem associated therewith. The Dave Mathews Band has partnered with Brita FilterForGood to reduce the amount of bottled water sold at their concerts. Brita’s FilterForGood will provide fans and performers access to free Brita® filtered water. Festival-goers can ditch their bottled water and instead fill up using reusable bottles so that everyone has an opportunity to help reduce the festival’s environmental footprint.

Faced with increasing vocal green opposition to their product, the bottled water industry has decided to fight back. The International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) on Wednesday took on what it described as a “a myth repeated by some anti-bottled water activists that bottled water which comes from municipal water sources is just tap water in a bottle.” They posted a video on YouTube that purports to show how they filter and purify their water prior to being bottled.

Once again, the bottled water industry has missed the point. While one of my problems is that most of the US has access to good drinking water, making their product an unnecessary expense, the bigger issue is the bottles themselves and the energy it takes to get the product to the consumer. Add to that the fact that only about 27% of water bottles actually get recycled.  The rest end up in landfills. Even when they are recycled, they have to be transported to the recycling facility, ground up and then transported to be melted into pellets for reuse. That is not a small carbon footprint.

In addition, there are some who believe that the chemicals in PET bottles are harmful to humans. There is evidence that PET bottles may leach harmful endocrine disrupting phthalates.

The IBWA should be ashamed of themselves. They are producing a slickly made video promoting their billion dollar business focusing only on the supposed purity of their product and not the numerous harmful environmental effects of their product. There are numerous reasons why bottled water is bad for the environment. Here are a few:

• We pay three to four times the cost of gasoline for a product that comes free out of the tap.

• We move almost 40,000 18-wheelers worth of water around the country every week–a tremendous waste of energy resources.

• It takes three times the water in a bottle to produce the bottle and fill it.

Clearly, bottled water is not the answer to our need for good clean hydration. Use a refillable water bottle and fill it from your tap. You will be saving money, saving resources, protecting your health and reducing your carbon footprint.

Below is an infographic detailing the top importer and exporters of bottled water in the world.

Some art students started a neat “boxed” water company in response to the major issues of the bottled water industry. Please take a minute to check out Boxed Water, started in Grand Rapids, MI. They have good sustainable ideas behind their company. If isn’t a solution at least it’s a start.