As far as our pocketbook goes, it's obvious that we pay dollars for what we can run out of the tap for pennies. Various estimates say that bottled water costs us anywhere from 240 to over 10,000 times more per gallon than tap water. What we are paying for in the price of bottled water is packaging, marketing, and transport. So why do we spend such an outrageous mark up on this item?

The primary rationale is because marketing has sent the message that bottled water is the safe and pure choice for our families.
The facts, however, do not indicate this to be true. According to a four-year scientific study by the Natural Resources Defense Council, bottled water sold in the United States is not necessarily cleaner or safer than most tap water.

Our environment pays the biggest price of all. There are so many ways these seemingly harmless bottles of water are negatively impacting us by hurting the planet. A huge impact relates to atmospheric pollution and climate change because of fuel combustion. Transporting bottled water all over the world utilizes a tremendous amount of fossil fuels. Add to this the fossil fuels that are used in the packaging of water. As indicated by the Earth Policy Institute, the most commonly used plastic for making water bottles is polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which 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.
And then there is the issue of what we do with all of these bottles we've made? According to the Container Recycling Institute, 86 percent of plastic water bottles used in the United States become garbage or litter. When they are incinerated with the regular trash, toxic fumes are emitted that are unhealthy, including greenhouse gasses that are harmful to the environment. This certainly doesn't paint a picture of the healthy lifestyle we often associate with bottled water.

Quench your thirst in an eco-friendly way. Trust your tap water or test it. Home water filtration is an affordable option. Use a drinking glass at home and at the office. When you need the portability of bottled water, select a non-toxic reusable bottle.