ESA 324 - Robert Drew, Zack Fealk & Sruthi Naraharisetti

Bottled and Tap Water

ProductionProcesses

History of Bottled Water

● The Start: Europe during late 1700s

● 1767: Jackson's

spa in Boston ● Reason for early

interest in "mineral water" and "spring water"

Where your water comes from and how it gets to you

Tap Water● Public system:

○ Groundwater and Surface water

● Private system: ○ Wells ○ No Federal

Regulations● Transportation

○ Pressure pumping

Bottled Water● Public system:

○ Estimated 25% (consumed in US) from Municipal Water Supply

● Private system: ○ Wells, Springs,

Artesian wells, etc ○ No Federal

Regulations● Plastic Processing ● Transportation

Regulations

● Tap Water: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)○ Safe Drinking Water Act in 1974

○ Consumer Confidence Reports (CCR)

● Bottled Water: Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ○ Current Good Manufacturing Practices

(CGMPs)○ Quality Standards

○ Standards of Identity (Labeling Regulations)

● All bottled water sold in the US (whether imported or domestic) must meet all of the same regulations.

Manufacturing Plastic Bottles

● “Typically, 90 percent or more of the cost paid by bottled water consumers goes to things other than the water itself-such as bottling, packaging, shipping, marketing, retailing, other expenses” (NRDC).

● Water that goes

into the manufacturing

● PET (polyethylene

terephthalate) Plastic

EnvironmentalImpacts

Impacts From Materials and Production

● Americans drink more bottled water than any other nation, purchasing an impressive 29 billion bottles every year.

● Polyethylene terephthalate (PET), the plastic used in the the bottles, is derived from crude oil.

● Making bottles to meet Americans’ demand for bottled water requires more than 17 million barrels of oil annually, enough to fuel more than 1 million U.S. cars for a year.

Concentrated Water Extraction

● Heavy extraction leads to a lowering of the water table, and in some extreme cases a near complete draining of the water body being harvested.

● Impacts the hydrology of the water system● These effects are often permanent as the water being

extracted is shipped away from the source and are returned as wastewater to an altogether different water system, and as such these aquifers and water bodies being harvested are never replenished as they naturally would.

Transportation of Bottled Water

● Fiji shipped 18 million gallons of bottled water to California, releasing about 2,500 tons of transportation-related pollution.

● Western Europe's shipment of bottled water to New York City that year released 3,800 tons of pollution.

● Interview with Ice Mountain

revealed:○ Their water is commuted by truck

or pipeline from natural springs in the states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Maine, and Tennessee

○ source of their distilled water products to be that of city or well water, which is then shipped or piped to their distributors around the nation.

Disposal of Spent Bottles

● About 75% of water bottles are thrown in the trash, rather than recycled.● only about 13 percent end up in the recycling stream where they are turned

into products like fleece clothing, carpeting, decking, playground equipment and new containers and bottles.

● In 2005, approximately 2 million tons of water bottles ended up in U.S. landfills, according to the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC)

● Buried water bottles can take up to 1,000 years to biodegrade. ● Incinerating these PET plastics releases toxic byproducts, such as ash

containing heavy metals into the atmosphere

SocietalImpacts

Shifting Values

Public Good ● use of water for all

people● unnecessary

boundaries● over regulated● heavy government

influence● Heavily mandated by

EPA● Uniform guidelines of

testing

Private Good● developed, used, traded

and sold for economic productivity and financial gain

● $$ gained from finite resource

● shipped away from watershed

● Manufacturer's responsibility from FFDCA [Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act]

Bottled Water Consumption

Bottled Water Suppliers

Marketing & Packaging

● Consumers are very faithful to a brand● Paying for artistic appeal of logo and shape● Municipalities still struggle to advertise● A better or healthier alternative to tap

○ advertising invisible attributes● High use of plastics

Plastics

PET > PVCPolyethylene Terephthalate

Polyvinyl Chloride

● Lighter / More malleable and transparent

● Re-manufactured in many other products

● If burnt doesn't release chlorine into atmosphere

● Company awareness of social and environmental

● 1.5 million tons of plastic annually

● Still a waste / goes to tap

Time to Educate

● Perceived idea of availability● Infrastructure established / still need upkeep● BW consumption increased 7% each year● Facilities established in econ. deprived areas● Community led campaigns for both halting

the use of BW and educating the public of TW

All about shifting norms... but that takes time