The Most Insane Billion Dollar Business - Bottled Water

            Bottled water is expensive! Considering the fact that most of us can access a cold drink of water from our kitchen faucet, the amount of money American's spend to get a drink of H2O in a clear plastic bottle, is astounding! According to a recent consumer survey, bottled water costs an average of $1.22 a gallon, leading consumers to spend 300 times more than if we'd drink water from the tap; (Boesler, 2013) with thirsty Americans spending $10.6 billion on bottled water in 2009.(Sullivan, N.D.). .
             There's no question that water is an essential part of everything that lives. And having enough water to drink is imperative to our good health. It is recommended that we drink eight glasses of water every day. If we were to drink eight 12oz bottles of water a day, it would cost us each approximatley $1,400 a year. However, if we drink eight glasses a day from our tap, it will only cost .49 cents.a year! (The Hidden Costs of Bottled Water, 2013).Companies who sell bottled water are making millions - even billions - of dollars.
             Many households in the United States recycle. Everything from glass pickle jars to the daily newspaper is recyclable. Only one fifth of water bottles actually make it to the recycling bin (Hallet, 2007). Most of them end up in the trash, which ultimately goes to our landfills. "In 2006, Americans sent 38 billion plastic water bottles to landfills."(Resetarits, 2012, p. 55) Which is a huge problem considering a plastic bottle takes between 400 and 1000 years to biodegrade, depending on how much sunlight it's exposed to (Resetarits, 2012). "Bottled water production in the United States used the energy equivalent of 32 and 54 million barrels of oil to produce and transport plastic water bottles in 2007 "enough to fuel about 1.5 million cars for a year."(Sullivan, N.D.).
             Is bottled water that much cleaner and fresher than tap water? Let's think about where the bottles come from. According to Vicky Hallett (2007) our bottled water is filled and shipped from overseas where they are then driven across country to be stocked in grocery stores.