In the movie "Dr. Strangelove," General Jack D. Ripper was afraid his "precious bodily fluids" would be contaminated by a Communist fluoridation plot, so he drank only distilled water or rainwater — never tap water. Back in the 1960s, people laughed at that paranoid delusion. But in 2002, Americans paid $7.7 billion for bottled water, and sales continue to increase. And the environmental impact is not funny.

Every year, about 1.5 million tons of plastic go into water bottles globally, using processes that release toxics such as nickel, ethylbenzene, ethylene oxide and benzene. In the United States alone, 1.5 million barrels of oil are consumed in making the bottles. Most bottles end up in landfills, adding to the landfill crisis. Additional oil is used to transport and refrigerate the bottled water.

And what about the water itself?

Many people drink bottled water believing it is safer than tap water. But this is not guaranteed. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has strict quality standards for tap water, but the EPA does not oversee bottled water.
Bottled water sold across state lines is regulated by the Food and Drug Administration

(FDA). While the FDA requires water sources to be "inspected, sampled, analyzed and approved," it has only one inspector, so the industry itself does the inspecting. Nor do the FDA regulations prevent bottling companies from drawing water next to industrial sites, underground storage tanks, or dumps.

Most bottled water is actually just tap water that has been treated or filtered in some way. And what about bottled water that really does come from remote springs? That water may be more desirable for human consumption. However, the ecosystem impacts can be quite large.

Removing spring water from local aquifers deprives the surrounding areas of that water. This can change the osmotic pressure and cause salt to infiltrate the aquifer. Nestlé is one of the companies that uses spring water. In Mecosta County, Michigan, a judge has ruled that Nestlé must stop pumping from a site that is threatening the surrounding ecosystem. Nestlé has at least 75 spring sites around the country and is actively looking for more.

The Sierra Club is also concerned about environmental justice. Replacing public tap water with private bottled water is an example of privatization of an essential resource. If there are concerns about the quality of tap water for drinking, those concerns should be resolved to the satisfaction of everyone. People with more money should not be opting out of having these problems solved for everyone else.

More immediately, Nestlé received $9.6 million in tax breaks to site their Ice Mountain bottled water plant in Mecosta County, Michigan. Yet in Detroit more than 20,000 families have had their water shut off because they could not pay their water bills when the state refused to provide a subsidy. How do such policies measure up to the United Nations declaration "The human right to drinking water is fundamental to life and health"?

In Santa Barbara, there is no evidence of actual public health concerns with the tap water, despite popular belief to the contrary. Some people do not enjoy the flavor of the water here. The flavor of the water is largely due to minerals picked up by the water in the rocky water tunnels from the reservoirs. It is ironic that people want to have these "contaminants" removed and then they pay good money to buy mineral supplements to have these minerals replaced in their diets.

When I first arrived in Santa Barbara for graduate school in 1982, everyone I met told me I absolutely had to drink bottled water. Fortunately, the dental hygienist at the UCSB dental clinic told me that was not true. She told me that if you drink the local water for a couple of weeks, you become accustomed to the minerals and the water will taste just fine.

I have been drinking the unfiltered local tap water for over 22 years as my primary source of fluid and she was absolutely correct.

If you find that the taste of the local tap water does not suit your personal preference, you can provide the same treatment that the water bottlers do. All you need is a good filter for your tap. This will provide filtered water for one-tenth the cost of bottled water and you will also be avoiding the plastic leached from the bottles.

Finally, if you need to carry water with you, buy a good bottle and simply refill it.

Much of the information for this article comes from the Sierra Club Web site (www.sierraclub.org/cac/water/bottled_water) which may be consulted for more information. Ending the use of bottled water will be good for your health, the environment and environmental justice.