We have visited 8 countries in Latin America during the past year, in some of these countries we “drank the water” and in other countries we did not.  As I was lugging a 5 gallon bottle from the street to our apartment I got to wondering how large the bottled water industry was and what impact this was having on our environment.

I reflected back to our consumption of bottled water living in the U.S., and we always had a case of bottled water in the garage that we purchased from Costco…the more I thought about it I realized that we were big consumers of bottled water.  This got me wondering how much money we were spending on water.

We are making many changes in our lives, and one of these is to change our consumption habits and to reflect on the impact our purchasing decisions are having on our environment.  From a personal finance perspective this is usually a good thing, there is often money to be saved by making these changes…there IS A COST TO CONVENIENCE!

Bottled Water Consumption

Bottled water is not only a U.S phenomenon but is consumed throughout the world.  According to Beverage Marketing Corporation (BMC), a New York-based research, consulting, and financial services firm dedicated to the global beverage industry, 52.6 million gallons of water was purchased globally in 2008.  In fact, the bottled water segment has been the darling of the beverage industry since the beginning of the decade.

While the U.S. is the largest consumer of bottled water ahead of Mexico and China, they actually lag in per capita consumption with only 28.5 gallons of water per person compared with the leader Mexico at 59.1 gallons and Italy at 54.0 gallons per person.

Is There Any Money In Bottled Water?

Bottled water is a an $11.1 Billion dollar industry worldwide, there is definitely money in bottled water.  Unfortunately for our pocket books and the environment most of this cost is not for the water but for the production and marketing of the products.  The production, packaging, transportation, advertising, retailing, marketing, and profits account for the majority of the price and World Watch Institute says that bottled water costs between 240 to 10,000 times more expensive than tap water.

We use cash for all of our expenses these days…Peso’s, Boliviano’s, Dollar’s, or Sole’s and don’t have access to our records back home so any attempt to calculate what we have spent on bottled water is nothing more than a guess. (If anyone wants to tackle this analysis and send me an email or leave a comment I would appreciate it)  So, I will guess that we spend several hundred dollars on bottled water each year and then I need to transport it, store it, and dispose of the waste.

There is also the long term cost that does not usually get included into the price we pay for a product, but that will catch up with us somewhere down the road…

Where Do the Bottles Go?

On average 1 person uses 166 plastic water bottles each year in the U.S., of these, 86% end up in landfills or as litter.  It is estimated that a buried water bottle takes 1000 years to biodegrade.  While there is talk of recycling to control what enters our landfills, most of the water is consumed away from home based recycling programs, and according to World Watch Institute “without proper recycling, massive amounts of PET bottles in the waste stream pose serious challenges to land uses as well as to water and air quality around landfills.”  That is a lot of bottles filling up our dumps and streets, and there is a cost to all of this as well.

The Pacific Institute cites some incredible facts about the impact of bottled water:

• Required the equivalent of more than 17 million barrels of oil – enough to fuel more than one million vehicles for a year.
• Bottling water produced more than 2.5 million tons of carbon dioxide
• It took 3 liters of water to produce 1 liter of bottled water

Social Impact of Bottled Water

Maybe we could justify some of this excessive consumption, cost, and negative impact on the environment because of the positive social impact bottled water has for people living in countries needing clean drinking water.  But what are the examples of these positive social marks?

Unfortunately those that need clean water that would benefit from bottled water do not usually receive the benefits, in fact, a social injustice is more likely the case where those that can afford it have it…and those that cant don’t.  According to the Pacific Institute

“More than a billion people in the developing world lack safe drinking water –

an amenity those in the developed world take for granted.”

World Watch Institute says “in India, upper-class to lower-middleclass families are the main consumers, while tourists dominate bottled water consumption in rural areas. [and that] the U.N. Development Programme’s Human Development Report 2006 notes that bottled water consumption generates nontangible health benefits but expands the gap between industrial and developing countries.”

At Least It is Healthier!

The health benefits of drinking bottled water are often cited as the reason so many prefer bottled water over tap water, yet it appears as if the exact opposite might be the case.  In the U.S. bottled water is regulated by the FDA while the EPA regulates a municipalities tap water.  Ironically these 2 federal agencies apply different standards to there oversight, while the EPA does not allow any E. Coli or Fecal Coliform bacteria the FDA allows a certain amount of these elements in bottled water.

Numerous tests are conducted on tap water that are not required of manufactures of bottled water.  Common pathogent tests for Cryptosporidium and Giardia are required by the EPA but don’t expect the bottled water companies to operate within the same guidelines, in fact, because bottle water manufactures do not have to release the results of their tests we don’t know what standards they are applying to their products.

It is also ironic that in a country with the highest quality and comparably lowest cost for water (the United States) we consume more water than any other country in the world.  Why this is the case is speculation, but the patterns of aggressive marketing and excessive consumerism are likely at the heart of the matter.  Unconscious consumption is an epidemic in many Western societies and its impact on water is not different than tennis shoes or T.V.’s.

What Does All of This Mean?

We are all free to make our own choices, to conduct our own research to determine what is right and what makes intellectual sense to us…for our family we will look to significantly decrease our bottled water consumption.

As I write this article from our home in Argentina the small stream outside my window is used as the primary water source for cleaning; showers and dishes, and is ok to use I boiled but contains Giardia and we do not use it as drinking water.  I will continue to lug the 5 gallon bottles from the street to ensure the health and safety of our family, but when opportunity allows we will question further use of bottled water.

If you use bottled water then finding alternatives should positively impact your finances.  The same principles applied to bottled water can be applied to other areas of your life, finding a couple areas where you can reduce expenses, be more environmentally aware, and improve the quality of life will have a significant impact to your health and peace of mind.  Take a moment to think about the things that you use on a daily basis, be aware of both the financial costs as well as the social costs.