The Problems With Bottled Water
I Use Bottled Water So I’m Okay – Aren’t I?
Well that depends.
In most cases, the water inside the bottle has been nowhere near the pristine mountain spring shown on the label – but the label looks good and encourages you to buy the water. Usually, it is filtered tap water. On the rare occasions where it is sourced from a spring, the water is filtered and sometimes disinfected before being bottled.
So, at best you are getting water that may contain some beneficial elements; at worst, you are getting plain old tap water.
The first problem is the cost of buying bottled water and paying anywhere from $0.50c to $5.00 a litre. That is expensive but it is cheap compared with what you can pay. There are some restaurants that have a Water List (similar to a wine list) that lists the different bottled waters they have available. And the prices are similar to bottled wine prices.
The other problem is the inconvenience of buying bottled water. If you buy it with your weekly shopping you have a lot of weight to cart around. And you have to plan for how much water you think you will drink over the coming week. You can have it delivered, of course, but again you have to find room to store the full bottles and the empties if they are being collected.
The third problem is the huge amount of landfill that results from the disposal of plastic bottles and the waste of resources that are used to produce and transport those bottles. Combine this with the plastics that are wrapped around just about every itme you buy these days, and the amount of plastic ending up in landfill is phenomonal.
But perhaps the most important problem is the issue of BPA (Bisphenol-A).
Plastic Bottles and BPA
In recent years there have been lots of comments regarding the safety vs dangers of BPA. This is an industrial chemical used as the starting material for the production of polycarbonate plastics and synthetic resins. It is known as an endocrine disruptor (or environmental estrogen) since it can mimic the effects of sex hormones on the body.
The consensus of the research at the moment is that heat causes the BPA to leach from the plastic into the food or water in the container. While there is still some disagreement over the amount of BPA which is harmful, the fact remains that it is a substance it would be better to avoid. Endocrine disruptors do not require high concentrations to cause serious ill-effects in the human body.
Since bottled water is stored in plastic bottles and you do not know what temperature the bottles have been subjected to during transport or storage, you cannot know how much BPA may be present in the water. So it is best to avoid drinking it unless you are travelling and do not have access to filtered or purified tap water – or a portable water purifier.
By the way, most baby bottles are made from plastic these days and babies are given warm fluids in them. Given the potential for leaching of BPA and given that the baby’s body mass is so small, the amount of BPA per kilogram is much higher for a baby than for an adult. So the effects of BPA are much more potent in the baby. Further, as the baby is still growing, being exposed to chemicals such as BPA can seriously interfere with the baby’s development.You are better off using glass baby bottles if you can get them.
Of course, you can eliminate these concerns by ensuring that your water is purified and not stored in plastic bottles.
