By: Alex Larsen
In the past 20 years bottled water has nearly tripled in popularity. According to Statista in 2020 the average person will drink 45.2 gallons of bottled water in a year. In the past some would laugh at the Idea of buying bottled water when you have clean water readily available to you. Some do not have water so readily available to them. In those cases bottled water may be necessary. Bottled water should be bought less because it's harmful toward the environment and to the buyer.
The first reason is that bottled water costs significantly more than tap water. In most cases the bottled water is just rebottled tap water. According to HydrateLife, most tap water costs $0.0015 per gallon where bottled water can cost $0.86 to $8.26 per gallon. Some people live in areas where tap water is not cheaper. In the long term it would be cheaper to purchase a water filter that allows you to drink out of the tap.
Bottled water is also bad for the environment. A Lot of the plastic does not get disposed of properly. This leads to land pollution and water pollution. Even when it is recycled properly the production uses a lot of oil. According to HydrateLife, In a year 17 million barrels of oil are used in water bottle production in the US only. This oil damages the atmosphere and could be used for a much better purpose.
In conclusion, you should refrain from buying bottled water when it is necessary. It costs more and can be harmful to the environment. Many of the benefits of bottled water are marketing to boost more sales. Those that can avoid it should do what is in their power to avoid bottled water.