Bottled Water: It’s all in the shape
Tuesday, October 30th, 2007
by Greg Hardwick
During the recent floods in England, bottled water was the first item to disappear from the supermarket shelves. Such is the importance of clean drinking water, the lack of access to it, is a major cause of death and illness worldwide. However, in developed nations bottled water has become fashionable and is seen as a better alternative to taking a drink from the tap. Water, whether it comes from an exotic spring, or even the local water supply, has now become a highly packaged, relabelled and marketed commodity.
When oxygen can be sold in specially designed ‘oxygen bars’ it comes as no surprise when water can be packaged to not look out of place next to the most expensive sparkling wines. Is bottled water environmentally irresponsible? Capitalism gone mad? Or, a healthy alternative to the plethora of sugar-based drinks?
According to the Earth Policy Institute: “The global consumption of bottled water reached 154 billion liters (41 billion gallons) in 2004, up 57 percent from the 98 billion liters consumed five years earlier.” (more…)