1. Bottled vs. Tap Water

2. Warm-Up
How many disposable Plastic water bottles (PWBs) do you use in a week (average)
What % of the PWBs you use do you recycle?
For what reasons do you use PWBs over tap water? (convenience, fear of tap, mom makes me…)

3. Why bottled? Convenience Health- “it’s better than soda!”
Tap is less desirable
“It tastes funny”
I’m scared
Wells can have high mineral content
Iron- “blood” taste
Sulfur- “rotten eggs”

4. The Facts
Historically, bottled water are helpful in emergencies and in areas where clean water is unavailable
Pollution events, Natural Disasters
PWB usage in the US has increased 70% since 2001
Americans drank 33 billion L of bottled water in 2007
It takes 3 L of water to package 1 L of bottled water

5. PWB usage

6. Are tap and bottled so different?
Analysis
Are tap and bottled so different?

7. Poland Spring “Born Better”
Sources: Aquifers in Maine
Poland Spring- Poland Spring, ME
Evergreen Spring- Freyburg, ME
Spruce Spring- Pierce Pond Twp, ME
Garden Spring- Poland, ME
Bradbury Spring- Kingfield, ME
Cold Spring- Denmark, ME

8. Consumer Investigation
Nestle “Pure Life” customer hotline- Karen
Sources: “Deep protected well Breinigsville, PA and/or Public Water Supply, Allentown, PA. Purified using reverse osmosis or distillation and enhanced with a balance of minerals for taste”
Contains: Purified water, calcium chloride, sodium bicarbonate, magnesium sulfate

9. Kirkland- Purified Drinking Water
Processed by advanced filtration, ozone, and reverse osmosis technologies
Ingredients: Purified Water, Potassium Bicarbonate, Sodium Bicarbonate, Calcium Citrate, Sodium Chloride, Magnesium Oxide
“All are food grade chemicals used purely for taste”
Customer Service- Municipal Water supply from Allentown, PA
12 plants across country
3 plants use well water (Ontario, CA, FL)

10. What they put back in… Calcium Chloride (CaCl2)- road salt
Sodium Bicarbonate (NaHCO3)- baking soda
Magnesium Sulfate (MgSO4)- electrolyte
Water sourced from deep well:
Minerals are removed
Water is treated, or “purified”
Minerals added back in

11. The Energy Costs Plastic is made from oil, a fossil fuel
0.33% of total US energy use is from production of PWBs (17 million barrels of oil)
Energy required to make 1 L of bottled water = 8 million Joules
Indirect energy usage- packaging, transportation, refrigeration

12. Economic Costs Tap water = $0.01 / gallon
Bottled Water = $0.89 / gallon
PWB sales in U.S.
56% spring water (Poland Spring)
44% filtered tap water (Aquafina, Dasani)

13. Is it healthier? Tap Water (municipal) Bottled Water
Regulated by the EPA
Safe Drinking Water Act
Multiple daily tests for pathogens and contaminants
Results are made available to public
Bottled Water
Food & Drug Administration (FDA)
Weekly tests for water quality
Test results do not have to be made public

14. Is it healthier?
Chemicals have been known to leak into the water from plastic from
Overuse of the bottle
Left in hot car or in direct sunlight for too long
Bisphenol-A (BPA): affects endocrine system
As of yet, there has not been proven to be a link between using PWBs and cancer

15. Solid Waste Concern Only 23% of PWBs are recycled in the U.S.
8% of total plastic waste was recovered for recycling in 2011
The bottles that are NOT recycled end up
Landfills
Litter
Plastic takes >1000 years to biodegrade

16. Bring Back the Tap! Reusable water bottles Home water filters
BPA free plastic “Nalgene” bottles
Stainless steel or aluminum
Glass
Home water filters
Faucet filters
Pitcher filters

17. Blind Taste Test 4 water samples - 3 bottled - 1 tap Taste Ranking
1 = best taste
4 = worst taste
Matching
Fiji
Poland Spring
Aquafina
Livingston Tap

18. Bottled v. Tap- Math Practice
Show your work, box your answers
Graded on accuracy
Significant Figures- 3 (  11.3)
Use Scientific Notation when appropriate
5.7 million = 5,700,000 = 5.7 x 106
47.2 billion = 47,200,000,000 = 4.72 x 1010