Thursday, August 30, 2007
Bottled water is under fire. Environmental groups are pointing out that the industry is contributing substantially to global warming.Making, filling and shipping billions of plastic bottles generates huge amounts of Carbon Dioxide, equivalent to 2.2 million cars in the US alone.
Some major brands have come in for further criticism necause the water they sell is equivalent to what comes out of most taps. Aquafina uses tap water.
In most cases tap water adheres to stricter purity standards than bottled water, whose source—far from a mountain spring—can be wells underneath industrial facilities. Indeed, 40 percent of bottled water began life as, well, tap water.A 2001 World Wildlife Fund (WWF) study confirmed the widespread belief that consumers associate bottled water with social status and healthy living. Their perceptions trump their objectivity, because even some people who claim to have switched to bottled water “for the taste” can’t tell the difference: When Good Morning America conducted a taste test of its studio audience, New York City tap water was chosen as the heavy favorite over the oxygenated water 02, Poland Spring and Evian.
