by Anna Wood

Created on: December 17, 2009

Imagine living in a country where you don’t have clean drinking water in your town. Now imagine being in a New York Bar and choosing to drink Fiji water. What do these two scenarios have to do with you? Well if you are a person who drinks imported bottled water, then you are supporting this dichotomy.

In the last 10 years, marketing executives have done a wonderful job of selling a product that used to be consumed for very little. In the process of creating this market, we have added to the ethical and environmental burden that the West has created.

Consider for a moment the bottled water that you consume. First, it was probably bought cold. This means that it was refrigerated. The refrigeration unit was probably powered with electricity which in many cases is made from burning fossil fuels.

Second, it is carried in a plastic bottle. Again this means more fossil fuels have been used.  In your country it may be recycled when you have finished, but this is not the case in many countries.

Finally, let’s consider the ethical issues of consuming a sterile and disease free bottle of water, when the people that of the country that the water comes from may not have clean drinking water themselves.

In order to assuage your conscience you may argue that paying the steep fee for the water is adding to the country’s export dollars, therefore indirectly assisting these people. However experience dictates that this money rarely reaches those most in need.

Now that our society has become hooked on the idea of bottled water, we no longer look at the faucet as a supply of water.  To remedy this situation in countries where the water is treated, people should move back to drinking tap water as an environmental initiative.

Some towns in Australia have actually banned the selling of bottled water in plastic. In countries where the water is not safe to drink from the tap, water filters should be fitted to all water taps to provide safe, fresh water for drinking.  

Going green has become a catch cry of governments, environmental groups and concerned citizens. Making a personal agreement not to buy bottled water is an easy green transition to make. So before you purchase that next bottle of water, plan ahead and carry a reusable bottle that has been filled with tap water or use a water fountain.

In restaurants ask for tap water. If they insist on giving bottled water then share your environmental concerns and lobby for a change. Together we can make a difference.

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