Spare Change

Thirsty?

Posted by Bryan

Fast Company offers a fascinating article on the bottled water industry.

Sipping from the content:

• In 1976, the average American drank 1.6 gallons of bottled water a year, according to Beverage Marketing Corp. Last year, we each drank 28.3 gallons of bottled water--18 half-liter bottles a month. We drink more bottled water than milk, or coffee, or beer. Only carbonated soft drinks are more popular than bottled water, at 52.9 gallons annually.


• In San Francisco, the municipal water comes from inside Yosemite National Park. It's so good the EPA doesn't require San Francisco to filter it. If you bought and drank a bottle of Evian, you could refill that bottle once a day for 10 years, 5 months, and 21 days with San Francisco tap water before that water would cost $1.35. Put another way, if the water we use at home cost what even cheap bottled water costs, our monthly water bills would run $9,000.

Is it possible that America's global production and widespread consumption is a more significant, egregious offense than its propensity for driving SUVs? I would be interested to know what the Gore-y zombies following the propaganda would have to say, once confronted with the data. I'd want to make sure they have already set aside their 1 liter bottle of Fiji water, lest I be in the direct zone of a spit-take.