http://www.opposingviews.com/questions/is-bottled-water-worth-the-cost Opposing Views - Is Bottled Water Worth the Cost? http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/the-big-picture Not all tap water is perfect, but it takes political will to raise water rates and issue bonds to tighten watershed protection and improve treatment plants and distribution lines. Abandoning these systems in favor of bottled water for drinking and... Elizabeth Royte Thu, 28 Aug 2008 22:56:22 -0500 http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/the-big-picture http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/environmental-footprint According to a study (see below) conducted by the Swiss Gas and Water Association, tap water, even if it’s refrigerated, has less than one one-hundredth the global warming impact of bottled water. It takes oil to make the plastic bottles, and it... Elizabeth Royte Thu, 28 Aug 2008 22:56:20 -0500 http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/environmental-footprint http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/taste-and-convenience In blind taste tests most people can’t discern between bottled and tap water. If you find the taste of chlorine offensive, filter your water with a simple countertop pitcher or let it stand overnight in the fridge. If other contaminants concern... Elizabeth Royte Thu, 28 Aug 2008 22:56:14 -0500 http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/taste-and-convenience http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/cost-and-safety Cost: Given the choice between water and a high-calorie beverage, water - either bottled or tap – is more healthful. But tap water is many hundreds -- if not tens of thousands--of times cheaper than the bottled variety. And its social and... Elizabeth Royte Thu, 28 Aug 2008 22:56:11 -0500 http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/cost-and-safety http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/bottled-water-a-great-use-of-natural-resources The United Nations is a diligent tracker of water usage. It reports the following water footprints of many common products:  •    688 gallons of water are required to produce one pound of finished cotton... Thu, 28 Aug 2008 22:56:10 -0500 http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/bottled-water-a-great-use-of-natural-resources http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/do-you-enjoy-bottled-water-in-restaurants There are 215,000 full-service restaurants in the United States and another 250,000 fast-food restaurants, according to the 2006 Barnes Report. Keep those numbers in mind when you hear of one or two eateries making brief headlines by stating they... Thu, 28 Aug 2008 22:56:10 -0500 http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/do-you-enjoy-bottled-water-in-restaurants http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/how-much-oil-is-needed-to-produce-the-plastic-bottles Most of our critics cite a prominent anti-bottled water activist claim, using 2002 data, they state that it takes 17 million barrels of oil in a year to produce water containers. What they don’t tell us is exactly how they calculate this number. Thu, 28 Aug 2008 22:56:09 -0500 http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/how-much-oil-is-needed-to-produce-the-plastic-bottles http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/isn-t-bottled-water-more-expensive-than-tap-water Bottle water critics often claim: it’s 1,000 or 4,000 or 10,000 times more expensive that tap water. Actually, every beverage in the supermarket is mostly water and is far more expensive than an equal amount of tap water. It is useful to point out... Thu, 28 Aug 2008 22:56:08 -0500 http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/isn-t-bottled-water-more-expensive-than-tap-water http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/how-much-money-is-bottled-water-anyway According to the most recent (2007) figures from the Beverage Marketing Corporation (BMC), the weighted average price per gallon of bottled water is $1.32. In the retail channel, the average price per gallon is $1.43. In the HOD market, prices of... Thu, 28 Aug 2008 22:56:07 -0500 http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/how-much-money-is-bottled-water-anyway