I have read that the plastic bottle takes twice as much water to produce than it contains. So a 1-liter bottle needs 2-liters of water to manufacture it, then another one to fill it. Is this true?
Maybe, but it’s not the same water as is used to fill it. The industrial facility I work at uses 35 million gallons of water a day. Less than 3% of it is potable. The vast bulk of it is raw water which we draw from a river, filter and treat, use, and send back after treating to make it acceptable to discharge. We don’t make plastics, but the same thing occurs in those facilities.
The water isn’t used so much as processed. The two liters of water used to make a bottle aren’t destroyed, in some cases it’s discharged cleaner than when it comes into the facility.
The real cost of bottled water is in the distribution. A pallet of water weighs a tonne and they get shipped all over the country - even air freighted around the world…
Why people are prepared to pay a premium price for water in a plastic bottle, when the water that comes out of the tap is perfectly fine, beats the hell out of me. A triumph of marketing over common sense I guess.
(1) Not all tap water is perfectly fine.
(2) Bottled water often tastes better, and comes in a handy portable container. (Sure, you could use a Britta Filter and carry around your own sports bottle that you wash every day, but that takes, you know, effort.)
I once saw footage of a guy with a tanker truck filling up at the municipal water supply’s well and pay $8 for the privilege. Then they put it in bottles and mark up a bazillion percent, putting a non-negligible amount of carbon in the atmosphere.
I only once had bottled water that tasted better than average tap water. Still not worth paying 99900% more.
You are both right. One thing I really don’t get is why people buy bottled water at fast food places/cafeterias. These places have soda fountains that use regular tap water to make drinks. If the water isn’t safe, they wouldn’t sell fountain drinks. Hell, the fountain usually has free water in it, and if there is a soda fountain, there are portable cups.
Yes, especially the people who bring their own containers into a grocery store and pay to fill them from the “filtered” water dispenser. Those dispensers are just connected to the city water supply. And the ‘filtered’ part? Well, that depends on how carefully & consistently the grocery stock boy changes the filter. I’ve seen ones being changed that are incredibly dirty & moldy, from way too long between changes.
Interestingly, the most common customers I’ve seen buying this water by the gallon appear to be recent immigrants. Possibly they come from countries where the municipal water systems aren’t safe, and so are in the habit of buying other water to drink?