Twenty years ago, bottled water did not exist. Today, half your office probably refuses to drink from the tap. Elizabeth Royte, author of Bottlemania, is haunted by the thirty to forty billion plastic water bottles discarded each year, and intently shows the impact the bottled water industry has on humans and the environment.
So staunch is Royte’s dedication to hydration and tap water that she devises controlled experiments involving food dye to monitor her daughter’s drinking habits throughout the school day. She also travels throughout the country, narrating the dubious practices of Nestle, Pepsi, and other major corporations behind the bottled water industry.
But when her research brings her to the realization that her beloved tap water can be just as harmful as bottled water, Royte begins to supplement her Nalgene bottle of tap water with a Brita filter, all the while lamenting the fate of those who cannot afford such technology.
Not only is some tap water tainted, she reports, but bottled water is not always to be trusted either: private water sources are not subjected to the same EPA requirements as public water supplies. Through her first-person anecdotes, interviews, and research, Royte provides a compelling rendering of the science, trade and politics of potable water.
And, in constantly prodding her audience, she questions: do you know where your tap water comes from? Should we spend millions bringing tap water up to higher standards if so little is actually consumed? And would you be able to tell the difference between tap and bottled water in a taste test?
There actually is enough fresh water on the planet for everyone; it’s just a matter of placement and dispersion. Royte’s recommended methods of action on water range from plain old conservation to reading your annual water report, or reclaiming polluted water with massive reverse osmosis processes (i.e. toilet to tap).
So even if the countertop Brita you’re using gives more of a psychological than physical benefit, as Royte discovers, it still doesn’t hurt to learn about the water you’re drinking, in whichever form you choose to drink. Some might find her discoveries to be obvious, but this book was written for a particular audience: an entire generation that will grow up thinking that drinking water comes only in plastic bottles, in a world where public water fountains are becoming as obsolete as pay phones.
CATEGORIES: Culture
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- Worldchanging
I liked it when George Carlin noticed every one in town walking around with water bottles, asked, “When did we all get so thirsty?”
There are too many empty water bottles all over the place. Every time I see Pepe, the homeless guy, dig through the trash at the park by my work, he scores with at least 10-15 water bottles. It’s a strain on our environment and some sort of new plan needs to be implemented.
I really don’t need that much water. I think it’s silly how much water people think they need to drink.
Interesting to hear that bottled water is not subject to the same standards as tap. I’ve always found it strange these days how some people refuse to drink tap water, even though that’s what they grew up on…what’s changed? I think the whole bottled water phenomenon just goes to show that if a product is packaged attractively and is accessible, people will buy it without even thinking about it.
I think everyone can acknowledge that paying for bottles of water is absurd. But it infuriates me that people don’t know how much bottled water is actually just tap water in a more convenient package.
Never having bought a bottle of water in my life, I nonetheless have always grasped that tap water is not ideal either. When I was very young, my father strongly opposed the adding of fluoride to our water supply. Why should we be chemically treated by government? Bottled water became so popular because the marketing tapped into these concerns, which are still with us. Judging by my own staff, if you were to take away their bottled water, they would gravitate towards other things like “flavoured waters” and indeed Coca cola etc. Sadly, they would not return to the tap. Royte clearly understands these issues, although I have not read Bottlemania…
As an attorney who works on water issues, I can assure you that the typical activist claim that bottled water is not regulated like tap water is patently false, it just falls into a different section of federal and state laws. Bottled water is regulated by the FDA, rather than EPA, with the same set of health standards. In the US, both are generally of fine quality. Bottled water is (or should be) a substitute for other bottled drinks for portability and convenience. It also allows avoidance of public drinking fountains that can carry disease because of human contact. In the US, bottled water is neither the solution to some public health problem nor an evil conspiracy. Outside the US and developed countries, where drinking water quality is often poor, it has much broader use.