Quick Facts

1. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

70 million bottles of water are sold in the U.S. every day.
 
38 billion single-use water bottles end up in U.S. landfills and waterways leaching toxins into our earth and water every year.
 
Bottled water production, transportation and disposal required more than 17 million barrels of oil last year in America alone, enough fuel to power more than 1 million cars for a year, generating more than 2.5 million tons of carbon dioxide.
 
9 billion gallons of bottled water is consumed each year in the U.S.
 
The amount of fuel required to transport water bottles in the U.S. alone is equivalent to 38,000, eighteen-wheel wheel trucks delivering water weekly.
 
Over 2.5 billion tons of plastic are used to produce single-use water bottles every year.  This results in over 1.5 million tons of plastic waste – requiring 47 million gallons of oil every year.
 
Bottled water companies, water to production ratios are roughly 3 to 1; for every 3 liters of freshwater that the bottled water industry takes from the earth only 1 liter of bottled water is actually produced. 
 
Although two-thirds of the Earth is water, only 2% is drinkable freshwater.  However, 1.6% of the total 2% is locked up in polar ice-caps. According to the United Nations 17 years from now, by 2025, over two-thirds of our world’s population will not have enough water to sustain the basics of life.  This is not just our children’s problem.
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2. ECONOMIC IMPACT

Bottled water industry current annual revenues: $100 billion worldwide, $16 billion US

You can fill up an 8oz glass with filtered tap water 15,000 times and it will still cost you
less than purchasing a 12 pack of bottled water.

The average American family spends $500-$4000 each year on bottled water.

Large multi national water bottle companies are buying our U.S. water supplies. The Wall
Street Journal has called water the next best thing to Oil, commonly referring to water
as Blue Gold.

U.S. owned public water is our born American right, billions of taxpayer dollars are spent
for clean, safe water for our families. Do you want to have to buy your family’s water
needs from multi-national corporations?

On average, municipal water cost less than one cent per gallon. In the U.S., the average price per gallon of gasoline is around $3 to $4 – there are 128 ounces in a gallon putting the current price of gasoline over three-cents per ounce. Most bottled water is sold in 22oz containers for roughly $1.60 – costing consumers $9.31 per gallon – almost eight cents per ounce.

Americans drink more bottled water than coffee, milk, or beer.
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3. TAP VS. BOTTLE

40% of bottled water is filtered tap water sold back to consumers at hundreds of times
the cost.

Both tap water and bottled water are evaluated using similar standards. However, tap
water is tested far more frequently and has more independent oversight by state and
federal environmental authorities (EPA and DEP).

Tap water system operators must be certified and our water is frequently tested by labs.
Such testing is not required for water bottlers.

Lacking adequate capacity to regulated bottled water, our government relies on bottled
water corporations to police themselves, which in some cases has resulted in bottled
water contamination that has lasted for weeks before the public was warned.

Bottled water corporations spend tens of millions of dollars each year to convince us
that their products are safer and more pure than tap water. It is just not true.
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4. HOW MUCH WATER ARE YOU USING?

Use these U.S. water usage averages to see how much water you use on a daily and weekly basis.

5.5 gallons of water per minute for showering -10 minutes = 55 gallons per shower –
385 per week

50 gallons to ll a bath tub – 100 gallons for Jacuzzi tub

41 gallons per dishwasher run

140 gallons per week for general kitchen needs

1400 gallons per week for a leaky toilet

10 gallons per minute to water lawn – 10 minutes = 100 gallons

300 gallons per week for home gardens
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Sources:  Maude Barlow and Tony Clarke, Blue Gold, The Fight to Stop the Corporate Theft of the Worlds Water;
The Sierra Club
Wikipedia Encyclopedia
National Resources Defense Council