The consumption of bottled water around the world

The consumption of bottled water around the world is rising by about 10% annually with the United States accounting for the largest market (Gleick, 2010). For instance, in 2008, an estimated 8.6 billion gallons of bottled water were consumed in the United States alone (Zhihua, Morton, & Mahler, 2011). There is a common belief that bottled water is safer to drink and tastes better when compared to tap water.

However, scientific evidence from several research studies indicates that the belief is necessarily not true. Additionally, a number of studies have shown evidence that the consumption and sale of bottled water results into a variety of social, environmental and health effects.

The steady rise in the demand for bottled water is causing hips of unnecessary garbage and resulting in the consumption of vast quantities of energy according to the report by (Zhihua, Morton, & Mahler, 2011). Nearly all countries, including Canada, have policies that govern the quality measures required in the production and distribution of tap water.

However, most countries have less, if any, such policies that stipulate quality requirements in the production and distribution of bottled water (Petraccia, Liberati, Mascuillo, & Grassi, 2005). Many analysts have observed that bottled water does not really solve the problem of clean and affordable water that is essential for communities around the world.

There is a growing perception that bottled water is better than tap water in terms of taste and quality. Therefore more and more people are turning to bottled water in their endeavor to such for safe drinking water. However, several studies conducted in this area confirm that tap water is in fact better than bottled water.

This observation is partly attributed to the more that directs the processing and distribution of tap water in many countries around the world. Additionally, consumption of bottled water results into environmental pollution through various ways that have been discussed in the literature review below. Thus, the study will seek to determine the scenario at the University Of British Columbia (UBC).

According to recent statistics there are currently about 1.1 billion people around the world that have no access to safe drinking water (Zhihua, Morton, & Mahler, 2011). In order to halve this population by 2015, members of the UN require approximately $15 billion every year. This amount might seem large but its minimal compared to the estimated $ 100 billion that is spent on bottled water annually (Gleick, 2010).

Tap water is processed and distributed in an while bottled water is transported over long distances, usually across nations via air, road and sea (Petraccia, Liberati, Mascuillo, & Grassi, 2005). This involves the use of large quantities of fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are also consumed in the packaging process.

Most of the bottles used for water packaging are made from polyethylene terephthalate, a plastic developed from crude oil (Ikem, Odueyungbo, Egiebor, & Nyavor, 2001). The amount of crude oil used to manufacture water bottles in Canada can be used to fuel up to 50,.

Statistics indicate that about 90% of the water bottles become litter or garbage after being used. Incineration of such used water bottles results in the production of toxic byproducts such as chlorine gas and ash containing heavy metals that can affect the health of both humans and animals (Ikem, Odueyungbo, Egiebor, & Nyavor, 2001).

Burying the water bottles does not provide a viable solution as the bottles would require up to 1000 years to biodegrade. Waste bottles are sometimes exported for recycling in other countries such as China and therefore accounting for further fuel consumption.

There are various socio economic factors that affect the consumption bottled and tap water, that bottled water is more expensive (Zhihua, Morton, & Mahler, 2011). Some studies have shown that gender and educational differences play a role in the preference of bottled over tap water because of their differences in the perception of environmental risk.