Bottled Water: Overview

Introduction

Bottled water is drinking water that has been packaged in sealed containers and sold for individual consumption. There are many varieties of bottled water, including mineral water, purified water, spring water, artesian water, and sparkling water.

The market for bottled water rose sharply into the early twenty-first century. According to the Beverage Marketing Corporation (BMC), between 1998 and 2002 and continued to rise over the next two decades. By that point United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health

This growth came despite the availability of clean and inexpensive tap water throughout the United States. There is a prevailing but controversial belief—influenced by the marketing claims of the bottled water industry—that drinking purified bottled water is safer than drinking tap water, which may contain microorganisms, traces of chemicals, and other contaminants. Furthermore, bottled water is seen by many as a convenience that is worth the extra expense. However, the huge amount of energy involved in packaging water (typically in bottles made of polyethylene terephthalate, PET, plastic), transporting it, and disposing of the bottles has been widely criticized for its impact on the environment. Critics also point out that bottled water is actually less strictly regulated than tap water, at least in the US, and that health concerns have been raised over the presence of microplastics in bottled water.

Given the fact that large parts of the world’s population lack access to sufficient clean drinking water, some see the popularity of bottled water in developed countries as a shameful luxury. However, the continued growth of the industry points to the fact that for many people, bottled water has quietly become an indispensable ingredient of daily life.

Understanding the Discussion

Mineral water: Water that naturally contains a certain minimum percentage of dissolved mineral solids, such as salts and sulfur compounds.

PET plastic: Plastic made from polyethylene terephthalate. The production process for PET involves large amounts of fossil fuels (petroleum and natural gas).

Purified water: Water that has been produced through a process of desalination or deionization; it contains no dissolved minerals or contaminants.

Spring/artesian water: Water that comes from natural underground springs and either flows to the surface on its own or is tapped by a well.

Sparkling water: Water that has had carbon dioxide artificially added to it, making it bubbly. Also called carbonated water or seltzer water.

History

Although the bottled water industry is a relatively modern phenomenon, the practice of collecting water from natural spring sources and transporting it to be consumed elsewhere is as ancient as human civilization. The earliest containers for water included animal skins, ostrich eggs, and earthen jugs. Later, Roman troops are believed to have deliberately sought out sources of good drinking water. Legend has it that Hannibal and the Carthaginian army stopped at a spring welling forth with naturally sparkling water. This is supposedly the same spring from which Perrier, a major brand of bottled water, would later be drawn.

In the eighteenth century, the spa movement became a cultural phenomenon. Many well-to-do people flocked to health centers located near natural mineral springs in Europe and the United States. The wealthy were drawn to the supposed benefits of drinking, bathing, and showering in these waters. It was not long before business-minded entrepreneurs realized that even more money could be made bottling water from such springs and selling it to those who could not travel to the spas or wished to bring home the therapeutic waters. By the nineteenth century, spa water bottling operations had appeared all over Europe and North America. Some companies of this era became long-lasting national brand names, such as Saratoga Springs and Poland Springs.

In the mid-nineteenth century, when the industry was in its infancy, bottled water was a relatively expensive indulgence, and the bottling of water took place on a relatively small scale. Water was packaged in glass or ceramic containers with stoppers made of either cork or porcelain. As the market for the product grew, however, and as the development of railway systems made it easier to transport large quantities of bottled water, the industry model slowly transformed into one of mass production. In the mid-twentieth century, bottled water was packaged in plastic containers for the first time by a French company. The invention of PET plastic bottles (which were both stronger and lighter than earlier plastic bottles) followed in the 1980s, helping to make plastic the predominant packaging material for water.

As in other industries, the growth of the bottled water market also brought increased regulatory attention. In the United States, while the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was put in charge of issuing and enforcing regulations governing the safety of tap water, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) became responsible for oversight of bottled water. In the late 1980s, the FDA was criticized for not publishing stricter guidelines for bottled water safety. The situation came to a head in 1990, when bottles of Perrier brand water were found to contain a chemical called benzene, a known carcinogen, and public outcry ensued.

The FDA subsequently set forth more stringent regulations regarding the levels of various contaminants in bottled water. However, critics continued to claim that the department did not devote enough resources to regulating bottled water, was slow to respond to safety issues, and did not oversee bottling plants as closely as the EPA oversees municipal water systems.

Despite such concerns, the United States became the biggest consumer of bottled water in the world by the early twenty-first century as the industry grew rapidly. Intensive beverage company marketing campaigns helped establish a widespread public perception that bottled water was actually safer and purer to drink than unfiltered tap water, which may contain chlorine, lead, traces of pesticides, or various minerals. Although scientists largely dismissed that belief, noting that US tap water continued to be more carefully regulated than bottled water, it nonetheless proved influential. Many consumers of bottled water in the United States were also drawn to the portability and convenience of the product. Some claimed to find its taste more palatable than that of tap water, though blind tests often cast doubt on such claims.

Bottled Water Today

Because of rising concerns over the problem of climate change, the controversy over bottled water is focused largely on the industry’s environmental impact. For example, the Green Guide reported that the fossil fuels required to make PET water bottles for the US market alone accounted for the consumption of over 1.5 billion barrels of oil annually. According to the Worldwatch Institute, nearly 80 percent of these bottles are not recycled, and each year, billions of pounds of PET end up in landfills or as litter in the environment, where the material will not biodegrade for up to 1,000 years but will be ground down into microscopic particles known as microplastics, which can leach into groundwater and soil and build up in the food chain. In addition, bottled water often travels so far from its original source that as much energy is used in transporting it as is needed to produce it.

The bottled water industry counters these criticisms with the argument that all consumer products, not just bottled water, have energy costs associated with bringing them to market. Bottled water production, industry supporters note, is responsible for only a tiny percentage of all public water usage in the United States.

In addition, proponents note when communities are hit by natural catastrophes, such as hurricanes or forest fires, bottled water can provide vital hydration when people are cut off from city water systems. Bottled water has been used for drinking, cooking, and cleaning in places affected by boil-water advisories or contamination events, as in Flint, Michigan, during that city's lengthy water crisis. Industry advocates further suggest that market trends show consumers simply appreciate bottled water as a daily convenience.

In addition to environmental concerns, bottled-water opponents have raised other criticisms, and b. Some critics allege it is financially exploitative. They say that while bottled water may provide a useful service in some contexts, companies do so at a cost thousands of times higher than the cost of tap water, and that much of the water that is bottled and sold is merely reprocessed tap water. Skeptics also question whether bottled water is actually healthy to drink, citing recalls for bacterial and chemical contamination and less frequent testing than tap water. Specific health concerns have also surfaced. Studies have found microplastics in most popular brands of bottled water, though the human health effects of ingesting microplastics remains unclear. Studies in the 2020s also indicated the presence of so-called PFAS chemicals, toxic substances that have been linked to various serious health problems, in some brands of bottled water.

In light of the multiple concerns about bottled water, some US cities have banned or restricted packaged water. Many college and university campuses have taken similar steps, encouraging reusable bottles instead. At times, such policies have proven controversial themselves. I

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