Water in a Bottle

Water is crucial for survival of life. Human beings can survive for long without food but lack of water over a long time becomes fatal. However, not all water available on earth is fit for drinking. Water contains harmful chemicals and solid wastes dissolved within it which, when consumed become hazardous to health.

Bottles containing purified water for drinking are now being sold throughout the world. Such bottled water remains relatively free from contaminants and are safe to drink. The manufacturers of bottled water have to adhere to strict quality standards and so people all over the world prefer to these bottles specially when traveling.

Sources of Bottled Water- About a fifth of all bottled waters are obtained by filtration or are municipal waters as in the case of USA. The majority is tapped from natural sources like rivers, springs, lakes and artesian wells. The FDA regulations require the manufacturer to reveal the source of the water on its label.

In Europe, ground water flowing over mineral rich rock is often bottled after removing the unstable or unwanted chemicals from it. Such water is known as mineral water. Strictly speaking, all bottled water is not mineral water although the two are used synonymously at times.

Effects of Bottled Water- Few may argue that bottled water is relatively safer for human consumption yet it is the bottles themselves which have attracted a lot of criticism in recent times. The water is packaged in Polyethylene terephthalate or PET bottles which amounts to almost 1% of the waste in developed countries.

Bottled water lacks fluroride and may cause tooth decay occasionally. Mineral Water contains high levels of calcium which increases the risk of gall or kidney stones if taken in excess.

Sale of Bottled Water- US is the largest market for bottled water with Mexico, China and Brazil following closely behind.

Some companies specially supermarket chains have recently installed pure water vending machines which can be directly collected into the consumers own container. This has proved to be very cost effective as it eliminates the packaging and transportation costs entirely