"Enough With the Bottled Water"

I find my co-worker's bottled water in our work refrigerator and freezer; partially filled bottles are abandoned in the copy room and lunch room. Many of the members at my gym arrive toting their bottled water. I'm sure many prefer the taste, enjoy the convenience and feel it’s safer, but I never understood why anyone would buy bottled water if they had perfectly good tap water. I assume most are somewhat aware purchasing bottled water is not good for their budget or the environment. To further deter them, I recommend they read "The Blue Death", by Dr. Robert Morris where he points out the following:

Bottled water is immensely popular with Americans ~
Americans toss nearly 50 million empty water bottles into trash cans every day. More than 7 billion gallons of bottled water are consumed every year.

The bottles have a huge impact on the environment ~
The production of the bottles themselves requires more than two billion pounds of plastic per year, which translates into millions of barrels of oil consumed and a steady release of toxic waste into the environment. The manufacturer of a single bottle requires more water than the bottle will ultimately hold. The transport of these bottles over hundreds or even thousands of miles by ship, train & truck further adds to the disportionate ecological impact of bottled water.

Bottled water is not necessarily safer ~
Despite the fact that it costs almost a thousand times more than tap water, there is no guarantee that bottled water is safer. Bottled water is less closely regulated than tap water and is not required to meet stricter standards for purity. In fact, a major portion of bottled water in the US is nothing more than tap water in an expensive bottle.

To be sure, many brands of bottled water are superior to tap water and can offer a valuable alternative, particularly when traveling or after a local disaster threatens the water supply.

He closes with ~
But environmentally, economically, and in many cases even with respect to disease prevention, they fall short as a replacement for piped water.

Need I say more?