A recent survey conducted by Pure Profile on behalf of the bottledwateralliance.com.au website found that over 89% of respondents believed bottled water was an expensive marketing con, and 97 % believed it was overpriced.
Also, more than 70% of respondents already use, or were considering buying a home filtered water system.
Another Sydney Council has now voted to ban bottled drinking water from their premises with Ashfield following the lead of Manly and Blacktown. The main reason for the ban was, according to an Ashfield council spokesperson, to "help reduce the amount of bottled water consumed in Australia".
"Bottled water presents significant consequences for the environment, including excessive oil consumption and greenhouse gas emissions associated with its production, as well as litter."
Here are some interesting facts you may not know about bottled water - Producing and delivering a litre of bottled water can emit hundreds of times more greenhouse gases than a litre of tap water.
Producing one bottle of water has the same environmental impact as driving a car for a kilometre.
Department of Environment and Climate Change estimates that 200ml of oil is used to produce, package, transport and refrigerate each litre bottle of bottled water, resulting in at least 50 million litres of oil being used in the manufacture and distribution of bottled water in Australia every year.
Australia’s annual use of bottled water generates more than 60,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions - the same amount that 13,000 cars generate over the course of a year.
An interesting debate has emerged regarding the environmental impact of bottled water on delicate underground aquifiers (where a large majority of bottled water companies retrieve their water). The bottled water industry will clain "we use less than 1% of the total ground water allocated for use in Australia" when producing their product.
Consumers should be wary that this claim fails to mention that this extraction of water is highly localised, causing significant environmental impact on the areas surrounding the aquifers.
Also, it is important to know that for every one litre of water actually bottled, up to two litres are wasted in the production process.
By comparison, pouring a litre of filtered tap water directly into a jug or re-usable bottle results in zero waste.
Further to our blog about the draining of underground water aquifers comes the story from the town of Fryeburg, Maine in the US where Nestle, under the guise of their bottled water brand Poland Springs has been pumping water from underground aquifers.
Local residents say that a "green gunk" is now forming in what were once pristine waterways. Not only that a local resident, Howard Dearborne, says that he used to have three brooks on his land, now two of them have dried up as a result of adjacent Poland Springs pumping stations.
Nestle also wanted to open a bottling plant in the nearby town of Denmark and then pipe water to a water-loading station in Fryeburg, which the local planning commission rejected because of the noise and pollution that would be caused by trucks. Nestle have sued and appealed this decision FIVE times, leading to claims of corporate bullying.
Did you know that many bottled water companies add ozone to their water just prior to sealing the top? The ozone is added to help disinfect the water, the bottle and the cap.
But ozone can actually cause some additional problems, most notably the formation of the chemical bromate, a suspected carcinogen.
In fact, according to the alternet.org website, in March 2004 Coca-Cola (the producers of Neverfail here in Australia) was forced to recall nearly 500,000 bottles of Dasani water in the United Kingdom due to bromate contamination that exceeded the U.K. and U.S. limit of 10 parts per billion.
A recent study by Harvard has confirmed that water bottles made with bisphenol A (BPA) significantly raise BPA levels in people who drink out of them.
BPA is a toxic chemical linked with various long-term health problems including heart disease and diabetes. The chemical is found in products such as hard plastic water bottles like those which are use to dispense water from water coolers.
The study showed that after only one week of drinking from bottles containing BPA, study participants' urine contained over two-thirds higher concentration of the chemical than before.
Finally Australia (or at least New South Wales) is getting the message about the harmful affects of bottled water on our environment with the announcement by Premier Nathan Rees that bottled water is now banned from all government departments.
Mr Rees cited not only the negative environmental impact of production, transportation and disposal of the bottles, as well as the outrageous cost as the main reasons for implementing the ban.
Hopefully all other government departments will follow the Premiers lead!
A recent survey conducted by Pure Profile on behalf of the bottledwateralliance.com.au website found that over 89% of respondents believed bottled water was an expensive marketing con, and 97 % believed it was overpriced.
ReplyDeleteAlso, more than 70% of respondents already use, or were considering buying a home filtered water system.
Another Sydney Council has now voted to ban bottled drinking water from their premises with Ashfield following the lead of Manly and Blacktown. The main reason for the ban was, according to an Ashfield council spokesperson, to "help reduce the amount of bottled water consumed in Australia".
ReplyDelete"Bottled water presents significant consequences for the environment, including excessive oil consumption and greenhouse gas emissions associated with its production, as well as litter."
Here are some interesting facts you may not know about bottled water -
ReplyDeleteProducing and delivering a litre of bottled water can emit hundreds of times more greenhouse gases than a litre of tap water.
Producing one bottle of water has the same environmental impact as driving a car for a kilometre.
Department of Environment and Climate Change estimates that 200ml of oil is used to produce, package, transport and refrigerate each litre bottle of bottled water, resulting in at least 50 million litres of oil being used in the manufacture and distribution of bottled water in Australia every year.
Australia’s annual use of bottled water generates more than 60,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions - the same amount that 13,000 cars generate over the course of a year.
An interesting debate has emerged regarding the environmental impact of bottled water on delicate underground aquifiers (where a large majority of bottled water companies retrieve their water). The bottled water industry will clain "we use less than 1% of the total ground water allocated for use in Australia" when producing their product.
ReplyDeleteConsumers should be wary that this claim fails to mention that this extraction of water is highly localised, causing significant environmental impact on the areas surrounding the aquifers.
Also, it is important to know that for every one litre of water actually bottled, up to two litres are wasted in the production process.
By comparison, pouring a litre of filtered tap water directly into a jug or re-usable bottle results in zero waste.
Further to our blog about the draining of underground water aquifers comes the story from the town of Fryeburg, Maine in the US where Nestle, under the guise of their bottled water brand Poland Springs has been pumping water from underground aquifers.
ReplyDeleteLocal residents say that a "green gunk" is now forming in what were once pristine waterways. Not only that a local resident, Howard Dearborne, says that he used to have three brooks on his land, now two of them have dried up as a result of adjacent Poland Springs pumping stations.
Nestle also wanted to open a bottling plant in the nearby town of Denmark and then pipe water to a water-loading station in Fryeburg, which the local planning commission rejected because of the noise and pollution that would be caused by trucks. Nestle have sued and appealed this decision FIVE times, leading to claims of corporate bullying.
Did you know that many bottled water companies add ozone to their water just prior to sealing the top? The ozone is added to help disinfect the water, the bottle and the cap.
ReplyDeleteBut ozone can actually cause some additional problems, most notably the formation of the chemical bromate, a suspected carcinogen.
In fact, according to the alternet.org website, in March 2004 Coca-Cola (the producers of Neverfail here in Australia) was forced to recall nearly 500,000 bottles of Dasani water in the United Kingdom due to bromate contamination that exceeded the U.K. and U.S. limit of 10 parts per billion.
I'll just filter my tap water!
A recent study by Harvard has confirmed that water bottles made with bisphenol A (BPA) significantly raise BPA levels in people who drink out of them.
ReplyDeleteBPA is a toxic chemical linked with various long-term health problems including heart disease and diabetes. The chemical is found in products such as hard plastic water bottles like those which are use to dispense water from water coolers.
The study showed that after only one week of drinking from bottles containing BPA, study participants' urine contained over two-thirds higher concentration of the chemical than before.
Finally Australia (or at least New South Wales) is getting the message about the harmful affects of bottled water on our environment with the announcement by Premier Nathan Rees that bottled water is now banned from all government departments.
ReplyDeleteMr Rees cited not only the negative environmental impact of production, transportation and disposal of the bottles, as well as the outrageous cost as the main reasons for implementing the ban.
Hopefully all other government departments will follow the Premiers lead!