Envirmental Costs

Oil and Water

World Water Crisis|North Pacific Garbage Patch

Researchers have calculated that the energy required to produce bottled water is up to 2,000 times more than the energy required to produce tap water. In 2007, US consumers purchased more than 33 billion liters of bottled water, or 110 liters (30 gallons) per person. The total energy required to produce 33 billion liters is equivalent to 32-54 million barrels of oil. That is a lot of oil to use just to have our water bottled.

How is oil used to produce water? Besides the extravagant amount of oil used to make the bottles and large volumes of water used in the bottling process, there are of course, several other considerations. Firstly, there are the transport costs - by the time you transport every bottle by rail or truck and keep it cool, you may as well have filled it one-fourth of the way with oil. Let's also not forget the operating costs of the factories themselves and the profit the bottled water companies have to make for their shareholders.