Woa - I used to think the anti-water bottle thing was overstated. But this is mind blowing. I feel like a complete moron for drinking from bottled water; it takes 3x as much water to make the bottle that holds the water.Its less safe and not to mention the oil used to make them could fuel 1 million cars a year. Is it still convenient if I am essencially using the oil that could run my car (at a lower price thanks to higher supply)to hold water for a few minutes. On what planet is that a good idea? I guess this one.

I like fastcompany magazine. In out Strategic Leadership course, the professor used it a lot for current examples of business related thinking.

This is completely misleading. You only need to read the NYTimes.com series Toxic Waters to know the state of many municipal water systems : for many people (for example the immune compromised) drinking bottled water is their only choice if they want to drink safe water that actually has been rigorously tested - as opposed to many municipalities who are failing safety tests consistently and not being held accountable, or required to disclose it to the people who are drinking it. It's also true to say that not all bottled water is created equal on either a quality or environmental level. To blame the bottled water industry for the fact that consumers don't recycle enough is both lazy and lame. Fast Company should know better. Don't be fooled by this.

Anytime you're presented with a document that is strictly statistical, with singular conclusions patched together from multiple, disparate studies, of course you have to take it with a grain of salt. Academic material at least passes through peer review, this work does not.

However, we cannot throw this out as "completely misleading," either. A statement of purported fact does not "blame the bottled water industry for the fact that consumers don't recycle." It's meant to serve as a wake-up call, and to move purchasing decisions to a more contemplative level. I see no problem with this project, as I believe it accomplishes just that.

More to the point, the graphic actually glosses over another troubling issue, which is the rapid disappearance of groundwater resources the world over. A discerning person would not take this politically, as though it were propaganda, but instead look at it through the lens of his or her own actions and decisions. I think it could do a lot of good if presented in front of the correct target audience: i.e. not the medical market for bottled water (a true fraction of a fraction of the market, I'm sure), or even the health market (in place of a soda or the like when in need of a beverage), but the convenience market (the family that buys the Costco 64-pack of Arrowhead and takes a new one to work everyday just to throw into the bin under their desk) - I'd be willing to bet that last segment dwarfs all others in the market, and those are the people that need this most.

The solution is this simple: stop buying bottled water.

@Joshua---Thanks for your thoughtful comment
@Alan---I think you've actually misread the graphic on its own terms. The bottom line is that stats suggest that bottle water is a tremendous problem, and the bottles themselves are to blame. (Check out this article for more: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/27/magazine/27Bottle-t.html) You don't need bottles to get people clean drinking water, and hundreds of entrepreneurs are tackling this problem in the developing world (which you cite as a counterexample of why bottled water is necessary for some). The toxic waters series that you cite pointedly does not argue for more bottled water--but rather better water management.

If the author of the poster is reading this you may want to fix the punctuation error: "plastics that take 1000's of years to degrade" should be, "plastics that take 1,000s of years to degrade".

No apostrophe is necessary when declaring something a plural.

There's an important dimension to add to this -- the safety and purity of the country's water supplies. Clean water legislation has apparently done little to prevent many, many municipal water supplies from being adversely impacted by local polluters. See this article for a comprehensive look at water violations near your own home and place of work.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/13/us/13water.html?_r=1

--
Carlen Arnett

I am not sure where this person got their "facts". However, it appears this graph is nothing more than propaganda.

Several points are erroneous at best and fallacious at worst.

Bottle water does come from tap water in a lot of cases. However, it is treated to the point that there are no bacteria and/or minerals left in the water and then minerals are put back in the water.

Bottle water is considered a food by the FDA and as such has to be rigorously tested. It IS tested for e.coli...

The CDC states there are at least 19 million cases of illness that can be directly attributed to tap water while there are ZERO cases documented by the CDC attributed to bottled water.

Plastics used in the packaging of bottled products is an OIL BYPRODUCT. They are made from what is LEFT OVER after oil is turned into fuel and if not used for plastic packaging would be disposed of.

Bottled water competes directly with Soda... Which do you think does more damage?

These are easily verifiable if you just take the time to do so.

whether or not the water's chemical constituency is worth debating is secondary to the overwhelming amount of plastic bottles being thrown away everyday. anyone who knows about the great pacific garbage patch ( watch: http://bit.ly/7wngFW) knows how much of a challenge — and problem — this is. the bigger challenge is: what is the viable, inert replacement to plastic?

the debate isn't so much bottled water's chemical constituency but what to do with all the plastic. (watch: http://bit.ly/7wngFW). what is the viable, inert alternative that can replace plastic quickly?

Thanks to Lauren for this site! Ok FB friends. This is all true. No federal standards, might be City of Dallas or other muni water in that bottle, water quality deteriorates over time, concern about plastic chemicals in water not to mention enviro issues! Fill a reusable bottle or mug daily and stop buying bottled water!

This is completely false. Bottle water is usually the safest water you can drink. Tap water is full of chemicals like Chlorine and fluoride which we all know is very bad for our health. I buy Poland Spring water and I know first hand from working there years ago that their water is tested for anything bad. Plus all the bottles they use are recycled. In Maine, it's the law to recycle all plastics.

I would never drink tap water unless my life depended on it.

Thank you, Brian Roy, for the dumbest thing ever uttered on the web: "I would never drink tap water unless my life depended on it."

ROFL!