Stop drinking bottled water
By: Anthony Baratta
Issue date: 11/24/09 Section: Features
I remember the first time I watched comedian Jim Gaffigan's sketch on bottled water nine years ago. My family and I were on vacation in South Carolina, and, as is typical of many families on vacation, we were lounging in the hotel room watching television.
At the beginning of his routine, Gaffigan says, "How did we get to the point where we're paying for bottled water? That must have been some weird marketing meeting over in France. Some French guy's sitting there, like, 'How dumb do I think the Americans are? I bet you we could sell those idiots water.'"
Putting any offense taken by French majors aside, the sketch was funny. And bottled water is just as much a joke now as it was in 2000. But no one's laughing - we're just buying. According to Datamonitor, an independent business research group, the worldwide bottled water volume stood at 30 billion gallons in 2006. The group projects volume to increase 51 percent by 2011 to nearly 46 billion gallons. Not bad for a product that was only sold in gourmet shops and considered snobbish to drink in the 1960s.
The explosion of bottled water consumption comes at a greater cost than snobbishness. According to the Pacific Institute, the energy required to package water for American consumption in 2006 required the equivalent of over 17 million barrels of oil, excluding transportation costs. The same study found that producing the plastic bottles emitted 2.5 million tons of carbon dioxide. Indicative of the wasteful process, it required three liters of water to produce one liter of bottled water. This is the equivalent of a Wabash football player trading a fellow Little Giant three Busch Lights for one and walking away with a smile on his face. The system is destructive and counterintuitive.
Additionally, the increase of bottled water does nothing to help the disadvantaged. While some argue bottled water is necessary for countries with unstable infrastructure, a 2007 Worldwatch Institute report finds that three-fourths of the world's bottled water supply is consumed by only 10 countries. Of those 10, including the United States, half are "developed," while the purchases in "developing" countries like India are made by tourists and upper to middle-lower class families. In other words, those in desperate need for clean water cannot afford the product.
At the beginning of his routine, Gaffigan says, "How did we get to the point where we're paying for bottled water? That must have been some weird marketing meeting over in France. Some French guy's sitting there, like, 'How dumb do I think the Americans are? I bet you we could sell those idiots water.'"
Putting any offense taken by French majors aside, the sketch was funny. And bottled water is just as much a joke now as it was in 2000. But no one's laughing - we're just buying. According to Datamonitor, an independent business research group, the worldwide bottled water volume stood at 30 billion gallons in 2006. The group projects volume to increase 51 percent by 2011 to nearly 46 billion gallons. Not bad for a product that was only sold in gourmet shops and considered snobbish to drink in the 1960s.
The explosion of bottled water consumption comes at a greater cost than snobbishness. According to the Pacific Institute, the energy required to package water for American consumption in 2006 required the equivalent of over 17 million barrels of oil, excluding transportation costs. The same study found that producing the plastic bottles emitted 2.5 million tons of carbon dioxide. Indicative of the wasteful process, it required three liters of water to produce one liter of bottled water. This is the equivalent of a Wabash football player trading a fellow Little Giant three Busch Lights for one and walking away with a smile on his face. The system is destructive and counterintuitive.
Additionally, the increase of bottled water does nothing to help the disadvantaged. While some argue bottled water is necessary for countries with unstable infrastructure, a 2007 Worldwatch Institute report finds that three-fourths of the world's bottled water supply is consumed by only 10 countries. Of those 10, including the United States, half are "developed," while the purchases in "developing" countries like India are made by tourists and upper to middle-lower class families. In other words, those in desperate need for clean water cannot afford the product.
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