Bottled water loads the ecosystem 1400 times more than tap water

If all the inhabitants of the second largest city in Spain drank bottled water, it would result in several thousand times higher costs of extracting resources than if they preferred tap water. This is stated by researchers from the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), who studied the impact of bottled water on the environment. This is the first research of its kind. Barcelona has a population of about 1.6 million and bottled water is still popular there. This is despite the fact that the quality of local tap water has been improving in recent years. If all the locals switched to drinking bottled water, the costs associated with the extraction and processing of raw materials would be $ 83.9 million per year. The study points out that this would have a 1400-fold greater impact on ecosystems and represent 3,500-fold higher costs. In addition, the consumption of bottled water by all the inhabitants of the Spanish capital would lead to the loss of 1.43 species per year. ISGlobal researcher Cristina Villaneuva states that the quality of tap water has improved significantly in the capital over the last few years. "However, this significant improvement was not reflected in an increase in tap water consumption, which suggests that water consumption may have been stimulated by subjective factors other than quality," she said. For example, the presence of chemical compounds, such as trihalomethanes, which are associated with, for example, bladder cancer. "While it is true that tap water may contain trihalomethanes, which are formed as a product of the disinfection process and are associated with bladder cancer, our study shows that due to the high quality of tap water in Barcelona, ​​the risk to health is low, especially , if we take into account the overall impacts of bottled water, "Villaneuva mentioned. The study's authors concluded that reducing environmental impacts outweighed the small risk associated with bladder cancer by drinking tap water. "I think this study can help reduce bottled water consumption, but we need a more active policy to change that," Villaneuva said. "People believe in bottled water because advertisers have done a good job of convincing people that it's a good choice. So we need effort on the other hand, "she added.