Back to the tap? How the environmental impact of bottled water is getting people to give up their plastic.

• Author: Cotroneo, Nicole
• Position: ENVIRONMENT

Americans have gotten the message that water is a lot healthier than soda and many other beverages, and the evidence is everywhere: plastic water bottles stuffed into backpacks, gym bags, and all too often, tossed empty on the side of the road.

In fact, the United States is now the world's largest consumer of bottled water. In 2008, Americans spent $11 billion to guzzle more than 8 billion gallons.

But while the water is good for us, the plastic bottles it comes in may not be so good for the planet: They consume massive amounts of fossil fuel to produce and transport, then pile up in landfills. This has led to efforts across the U.S. to urge people to turn on their faucets instead of buying bottled water.

[GRAPHIC OMITTED]

Given the tough economic times, the cost of bottled water, as well as its environmental impact, has prompted city officials in San Francisco and Los Angeles to ban the use of city funds to buy it.

And on many high school and college campuses, the reusable plastic or steel water bottle has become something of a badge of environmental awareness. Berkeley High School in California has removed bottled water from its cafeteria, and colleges like Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, and Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, have banned its sale on campus.

Although it's true that other beverages also come in plastic bottles, environmentalists point out that buying water in bottles is unnecessary and wasteful because the tap water in most American cities is perfectly acceptable.

"First of all, water is water is water," says Marion Nestle, a professor of nutrition at New York University. "Second, tap water in the developed world is not only cleaner than bottled water, but it has fluoride, which most bottled water does not. Mostly, you are paying for the convenience of the bottle."

That convenience comes at a steep price. In New York City, for example, an eight-ounce glass of tap water costs $0.0005. Eight glasses a day comes to $1.46 per year. But the same amount of bottled water can cost more than $1,400 a year.

Several U.S. cities, including San Francisco, New York, and Houston, are promoting their municipal water supplies. The town of Babylon, N.Y., has pulled single-serve water bottles from its vending machines, upgraded public drinking fountains, and offered free reusable bottles to residents as part of a local campaign to help people kick the habit of buying bottled water.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Steve Bellone...