Goodbye to Bottled Water

I’m through drinking bottled water.

There are many reasons for this. One is that I just finished Blue Covenant by Maude Barlow. This book thoroughly outlines how our world is rapidly approaching a water crisis. This includes the United States (so don’t fool yourselves that we’re safe from shrinking freshwater resources). A true activist, Barlow calls for a global blue covenant that declares water to be a human right rather than a commodity. Why? Because water is becoming privatized, and those who desperately need it often cannot afford it. This is because greedy corporations are turning water into a HUGE money-maker. Don’t think so? Take a look at how many bottles of Aquafina, Dasani, Nestle’s Pure Life—it goes on and on—are prominently displayed in the hands of friends, on the desks of co-workers, and in the growing mountains of landfills.

Also, there is evidence that bottled water is no better than tap water. If you visit the Food & Water Watch website (http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/), you’ll find a lot of valuable information regarding bottled water. There are so many reasons to chuck it for tap water. Food & Water Watch, a non-profit organization, lists the following on their website:

“Bottled water likes to sell itself as being pure in its little clear bottles, but the fact is nearly 40 percent of bottled water is tap water with added minerals or filtration and there’s no guaranteed safety just because it’s wrapped in plastic – and in fact there’s some risk. Municipal water has an advantage in that it is constantly moving, keeping fresh and avoiding stagnancy. Water bottles, though cleaned, are not sterilized. Relatively low amounts of bacteria at bottling can multiply to a much larger problem by the time bottles hit store shelves. Bottled water frequently is not chlorinated, allowing bacterial and fungal growth within the bottle.”

Plus, as Maude Barlow demonstrates in her book, the greedy corporations that comprise the water cartel take resources from water-starved areas of the world, leaving those people without fresh drinking water. All of this is so that already heavily-lined pockets can be lined some more.

So I am happy to say that I am a recovered bottled-water drinker. Yes, I was guilty of purchasing cases of it at the grocery store, believing that it was better for me than tap water. Yes, I appreciated the convenience of a bottle, as well. However, is it really that hard to fill up a reusable bottle and take it with me? No. By doing this, I no longer contribute to the water-for-profit industry...and I am no longer dumping plastic bottles into the landfills. I say landfills because Bayfield does not yet have recycling, but that’s a whole other entry. Isn’t it?