[LINK] The true cost of bottled water

rchirgwin at ozemail.com.au rchirgwin at ozemail.com.au
Wed Feb 7 19:39:24 AEDT 2007


Stagger me!

We do buy bottled water, but mostly for the bottles ... we refill them 
endlessly for bushwalking, generally half-filled in the freezer and 
topped up from the tap on the morning.

I have *never* understood the bottled water thing ... even a finding 
that bottled waters often contain *more* foreign substances (except 
chlorine) than the obsessively-filtered Warragamba variety (Choice a 
couple of years ago?) didn't shake the idea that taps are "dirty" 
somehow. I think it's an infantile thing ... everybody can get water 
from that tap, but *this* water is *mine*.

And somehow "this is mine" seems always to be associated with stupid 
waste...

RC

Kim Holburn wrote:

> http://www.triplepundit.com/pages/askpablo-exotic-bottled- 
> water-002401.php
>
> http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/02/pablo_calculate.php
>
>> Over at Triple Pundit, Sustainability Engineer and MBA Pablo Päster  
>> has done a thorough and exhaustive study of the cost of bring a  
>> litre of Fiji Water to America. He starts with the production of  the 
>> bottle in China, taking the bottle blanks to Fiji, and  confirming 
>> that it takes more water to make the bottle than it  actually holds. 
>> He then transports the bottle to the States by  ship. Not even 
>> including the distribution in the States, the  numbers are absolutely 
>> staggering.
>>
>> In summary, the manufacture and transport of that one kilogram  
>> bottle of Fiji water consumed 26.88 kilograms of water (7.1  gallons) 
>> .849 Kilograms of fossil fuel (one litre or .26 gal) and  emitted 562 
>> grams of Greenhouse Gases (1.2 pounds).
>>
>> Twenty-six times as much water used to make it than you actually  
>> drink. As much fuel to make it as there is water in the bottle.  
>> Staggering is an understatement.
>
>
>
> -- 
> Kim Holburn
> IT Network & Security Consultant
> Ph: +39 06 855 4294  M: +39 3342707610
> mailto:kim at holburn.net  aim://kimholburn
> skype://kholburn - PGP Public Key on request
>
> Democracy imposed from without is the severest form of tyranny.
>                           -- Lloyd Biggle, Jr. Analog, Apr 1961
>
>
>
>
>
> -- 
> Kim Holburn
> IT Network & Security Consultant
> Ph: +39 06 855 4294  M: +39 3342707610
> mailto:kim at holburn.net  aim://kimholburn
> skype://kholburn - PGP Public Key on request
>
> Democracy imposed from without is the severest form of tyranny.
>                           -- Lloyd Biggle, Jr. Analog, Apr 1961
>
>
>
>
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