The April edition of Hope Australia’s newsletter has a great article about why you should not drink bottled water. I will outlne the important points the article makes here.

• Even in areas where tap water is safe to drink, demand for bottled water is increasing – producing unnecessary garbage and vast quantities of energy, both for transporting the bottles as well as creating the actual packaging.
• Creating the bottles to meet America’s demand alone requires more than 1.5 million barrels of oil annually, enough to fuel some 100,000 US cars for a year. Worldwide, some 2.7 million tones of plastic are used to bottle water each year.
• Water extraction is concentrated in communities where bottling plants are located. In India, for example, water extraction by Coca Cola for Dasini bottled water and other drinks has caused water shortages for over 50 villages. Similar problems have been reported in Texas and the Great Lakes region of North America, where farmers, fishers and others who depend on water for their livelihoods are suffering as water tables drop quickly.
• Bottled water in most cases is no healthier then tap water. The French Senate even advises people who drink bottled water to change brands frequently because the added minerals may be helpful in small doses but dangerous in higher doses.
• Halving the amount of people lacking access to drinking water would cost $30 billion which may seem like a lot but this number pales in comparison to the $100 billion that is currently spent on bottled water annualy.