New research gives even more reasons to reject bottled water. Biased leaders in our state who love money more than clean water should open their minds to this article as well as think about Florida’s dead fish.
The cost of dirty, polluted water is much higher than our biased leaders thought. And it will be higher than what they think now.
They just need to think.
Read the original article here in The Guardian.
Thanks to Bill Basta for the link.
Comments by OSFR historian Jim Tatum.
jim.tatum@oursantaferiver.org
– A river is like a life: once taken,
it cannot be brought back © Jim Tatum
Environmental Impact of Bottled Water ‘up to 3,500 Times Greater Than Tap Water’
Researchers also find impact of bottled water on ecosystems is 1,400 times higher than that of tap water
Fri 6 Aug 2021
- The impact of bottled water on natural resources is 3,500 times higher than for tap water, scientists have found.
The research is the first of its kind and examined the impact of bottled water in Barcelona, where it is becoming increasingly popular despite improvements to the quality of tap water in recent years.
Research led by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) found that if the city’s population were all to drink bottled water, this would result in a 3,500 times higher cost of resource extraction than if they all drank tap water, at $83.9m (£60.3m)a year.
Researchers also found the impact of bottled water on ecosystems is 1,400 times higher than tap water.
The authors concluded that the reduction in environmental impacts more than offset the small risk of bladder cancer associated with drinking tap water. The process of treating drinking water generates low levels of trihalomethanes (THM), which have been associated with a higher risk of bladder cancer. THM levels in drinking water are regulated in the EU.
The lead author of the study, the ISGlobal researcher Cristina Villanueva, said: “Health reasons don’t justify the wide use of bottled water. Yes, strictly speaking, drinking tap water is worse for local health, but when you weigh both, what you gain from drinking bottled water is minimal. It’s quite obvious that the environmental impacts of bottled water are higher compared to tap water.”
