Do you agree that bottled water is a culprit in our oil consumption?

Question

I had suspected this for some time, but I heard a person interviewed who said that our love of bottled water is a huge gas hog.

Consider: the bottles themselves are made from petroleum product, the energy to produce the bottles, the energy to run equipment to fill the bottles and then the gasoline to ship water in trucks around town, or sometimes all over the country (water is a heavy load). All this to bring water to places where it is already available.

When you think that with the millions of bottles of water are moved around, do you think maybe it's time to turn to filtered water, or buying it by the gallon and drinking from a non-disposable bottle?

Answer 1

No.  People should do what they think best for themselves and their family.

No one has the right to tell others what they should be drinking.

Bottled water is so much better than tap water anyway.

Answer 2

I do agree.  I think bottled water drinkers are the next smokers.

Dr. Jello:  Most bottled water is tap water.  There have been lots of tests done and papers on this subject.

Answer 3

hmm..there is alot of truth in that..

Answer 4

bottled water is a joke but if we all quit drinking bottled water today OPEC and Exxon could care less

Answer 5

This has always been a big issue for me.  I agree 100%.  Use the filtered water you have, in fact city water is tested everday (federal regulation) and bottled water only once per week(unless other state reg's apply).  Besides most bottled water is just "city" water in a bottle, maybe run through another filter or two.

Answer 6

That all makes sense but I wonder 2 things about this sudden issue. 1-Why did it only come up as a problem when water & fuel became limited resources with rising prices?

2-Why are soda, energy, fruit, yogurt drinks, & other drink containers not mentioned as part of the same problem?

Answer 7

ABSOLUTELY! It is ridiculous.

Answer 8

never thought about it but, yeah, it makes sense

Answer 9

I agree! All you have to do is reverse the Evian bottled water and what do you get? Naive. I discovered that about 10 years ago and pointed it out to someone. I do not believe it was just a coincident, I believe some smartbutt in management/advertising came up with the name. Something similar is the running lights on new cars. Who is making the $$ on all the lights that have to be replaced and the batteries that run down sooner from powering those running lights?

Answer 10

This is ridiculous.  You can make this argument for almost anything that isn't a naturally occuring organism in an eco-system.  Look out your window.  Some cars made in Japan.  They consume oil. They also require oil to be shipped on the freighters from Japan to here.  How about The power lines that send electicity to your home?  They require engines in chainsaws to cut down the timber to hold up the lines.  The lines themselves are formed in plants that operate on oil.  The plastic that coats the power lines is made partly from oil.   The list goes on, and on, and on . . .  Almost everything somehow involves the consumption of oil somewhere along the line of production and distribution.  So, if you want to single out water bottles you're only scratching the surface.  And the fact is, they are just one of the thousands of products that make our lives truly good.  If you eliminated everything that was somehow a contributor the "evil" consumption of oil, you'd be living in a grass hut with no electricity, no car and hunting, killing your own meals each night.  Oil is good.  It allows us to have better lives.  Myself consuming bottled water is none of your d**n business.  And if you pull the "you're polluting the earth line" you're only fooling yourself.  Take a look at that computer you're typing on at this very moment.  See all that plastic it's made of.  There's oil in the plastic it's made of.  And for all the oil that is consumed by one bottle of water through the process of making and shipping, your computer consumes exponentially much more energy.  Point being, don't criticize.  You are all just as bad.