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By 2010, the sales of noncarbonated drinks are expected to surpass soda sales. We’ve definitely become more health-conscious as a nation and even as a world, and drinking more water is part of that. The problem is where we get that water.

There is some evidence that drinking tap water is just as healthy and tasty as drinking water from plastic bottles. There are those who insist that most people can’t tell the difference between tap water and bottled water. It certainly is cheaper: bottled water costs between a quarter and two dollars per bottle, while tap water costs less than a penny. In 1999, US consumers paid between 240 and 10,000 times more per gallon for bottled water than for tap water. 90% of the cost of bottled water is from making the bottle, label, and cap.

The evil bottled water.

As a result, many organizations have begun anti-bottled water campaigns, urging consumers to consider the environmental side-effects of bottled water and consume less bottled water. Some religious organizations have raised questions about whether it is ethical to purchase and repackage water at a much higher resale price.

Perhaps a solution to this dilemma is a bottled water service, which many businesses are utilizing. Instead of selling drinking water in small individual-use bottles, the water is supplied in dispensers that the customer fills with his or her own containers. Vending machines are also used, so that the customer can purchase purified water dispensed into containers that they supply. That way, the costs and environmental issues involved in the manufacturing, transporting, and disposing of plastic bottles are eliminated.

So instead of purchasing a plastic bottle every time you want to carry water around with you, spending too much money and polluting the environment, it makes sense to buy an attractive, sturdy plastic bottle that will keep the liquid in it cool once, and only once. Maybe you’ll have a couple laying around—one to keep at work, one for each room of the house, one in your gym bag for use while you work out. Some people keep water on their end table in their bedroom at night, so it’s sensible to keep it in a container that won’t spill if you bump it while half-asleep or engaging in other activities, if you know what I mean.

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Did you know that Leonardo DaVinci was probably the first person to invent plastic? His plastic was made from animal and vegetable glues, which he combined with organic fibers. The man-made plastic we know today was developed in 1862 by Alexander Parkes, but it became obsolete due to the high production costs of raw materials and because the finished product was highly combustible.

Plastic bottles were first sold commercially in 1947, but remained too expensive to market successfully until the 1960s, when high-density Polyethylene (HDPE) was introduced. Plastic bottles, because of their low weight and production costs, have now almost completely replaced glass bottles and have become the consumer and manufacturer choice of liquid containment. The development of HDPE was the key to the popularity of plastic bottles. HDPE, the most commonly used resin for plastic bottles, is economical, impact resistant, and provides a good moisture barrier. In addition, it is flexible and translucent enough so that when color is added, it becomes opaque and is easily decorated with silk screen decorations.

There is no doubt that the bottled water industry is booming. Sales more than doubled between 1997 and 2005 all over the world. The US is the largest consumer market for bottled water in the world. 8.6 billion gallons were sold here in 2008, which accounts for over 28% of the liquid refreshment market. Did you know that about 25% of bottled water sold in the US is purified municipal water? Most bottled water, however, comes from rivers, lakes, and artesian wells. The US has strict regulations regarding the labeling of bottled water.

8.6 billion gallons of water requires a lot of plastic bottles. Most water bottles are made from Polyethylene terephthalate (PET). PET bottles are recyclable, but they make up for one-third of one percent of the waste stream in the US. It has been estimated that 50 billion bottles of water are consumed per year in the US and approximately 200 billion bottles globally. If all these bottles were lined up, they would stretch to the moon and back 56 times.

I’m certain the reason for the increased popularity and use of bottled water is because people are more health-conscious than ever before. It’s true that drinking water is a much better alternative than drinking sodas. They say that it’s healthy to drink 8 glasses of water a day. We all should be a little better hydrated, especially during the hot summer months. Drinking lots of water is part of any exercise regiment and diet plan, but there has to be a better way than depending upon plastic bottles that fill our landfills and hard our environment.

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