The Environmental Cost:

1. Tap water is delivered efficiently without packaging.

2. Shipped bottled water consumes large amounts of fossil fuels

3. 2.7 million tons of plastic are used annually to bottle water.

4. It takes three litres of water to manufacture a one litre plastic water bottle.

5. Bottled water production is as much as 2000 times more energy intensive than tap water.

Health Risks:

In Canada local municipal water supplies are inspected daily vs. bottled water plants that are inspected at three year intervals. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency issued 29 recall notices for bottled water between 2000 and 2008.  Antimony, a chemical used to make PET bottles has been found to leach into the water.

Economic Costs:

1. Bottled water can cost up to 10,000 times more than municipal tap water.

2. Bottled water sales top $100 billion annually, making water the world’s fastest growing beverage industry and one of its largest polluters.

The World Health Organization has said that:

1. Bottled water is not sterile

2. There is no international standard for bottled water

3. Because bottled water is stored for longer periods and at higher temperatures than tap water, some otherwise un-harmful micro-organisms may grow to higher levels in bottled water.