Bottled water is 3,500 times more harmful than tap water – Water is essential to live and to stay alive. A person’s fluid balance is important, since if no attention is paid to proper fluid intake to counterbalance natural fluid loss, this will adversely and even critically affect the functioning of the body, how one feels and the general health condition as well. Therefore, it matters when and what we drink. But this not only matters in relation to our fluid balance; if you take care of the Earth’s future and the environment, other aspects should also be considered.
What and how much should we drink?
While we can endure up to 4–6 weeks without food, without water we would be much worse off, as the water stored in our body lasts for only a few days. Though a number of factors affect the actual amount of water we need (movement, work, external temperature, humidity, individual body functioning) and by eating we also take some fluid in the body, the recommended daily amount of water is 2-3 litres for males and 1-2 for females.
The easiest way to achieve this – which is also in line with the recommendation of professionals – if you drink quality tap water as this is the most efficient and also a cheap way to quench your thirst. But this is not true in all cases, only for tap water, because drinking bottled water comes at a high price, and not only for our wallet but bottled water heavily burdens the environment, too. Moreover, according to an international study, bottled water contains twenty times as many microplastics, which, if consumed, can cause inflammation in the digestive system.
What is the problem with bottled water?
The domestic drinking water network gives the chance to drink filtered, purified and tasty tap water, anywhere and anytime. In contrast, a large number of bottled mineral water is still sold, by which we heavily burden the environment and spend completely unnecessarily.
According to recent research by the Global Health Institute Barcelona, a bottle of water means a 3,500 times larger burden on the environment compared to the same amount of pure tap water.
1.35 million people live in Barcelona, of whom approx. 60% regularly drink bottled water. In the research, the so-called ‘life cycle assessment’ method was used, which estimates the environmental impact of a product over its full life cycle. The extraction of raw materials, production, transport, distribution, use and disposal were all monitored. According to the researchers’ findings, if all residents of Barcelona drank PET bottled water, it would cost EUR 70 million and lead to the extinction of 1.43 animal species a year. This would cost the environment 3,500 times more resources than all the residents of the city drinking tap water.
Therefore, not only are we, the consumers better off drinking tap water, but the whole world and the Earth’s future also benefits without PET bottles that continuously damage the quality of our waters.
In addition, PET bottles are already causing damage to the water reserves even before they are disposed of, as their production requires three times more water than the amount you can fill into them. Furthermore, 1.5 million barrels of oil are used in the production of bottles – in the United States alone.
Then why do we drink it?
Knowing how much the environmental damage is caused by PET bottled mineral water, drinking it seems to be completely pointless. However, due to its marketing and the lack of trust in tap water, bottled water continues to be popular.
It is important to realise that in order to protect the environment and stop the destruction of our waters, we need stop the harmful and costly habits. Switch to filtered tap water, and you have already done a lot for the Earth’s future. Get your own flask which you can take with you everywhere and fill it up with fresh tap water.
If you were worried about the chlorine used for purification or you prefer to drink filtered water, it is also possible. The Floewater water filtration system available in HoReCa units, offices and gyms provides filtered, clean drinking water without generating any disposable plastic waste. By filling your flask, you not only consume clean drinking water instead of bottled water but also protect the environment and save it from the unnecessary burden of PET bottle production.