A Battle Against the Bottles: Building, Claiming, and Regaining Tap-Water Trustworthiness

Physical and chemical characteristics of drinking water quality in Kuwait: tap vs. bottled water

“…Over at least the past two decades, there has been increased concern regarding the quality of tap water due to pollution and its undesirable taste and odor (Saleh et al, 2001;Ikem et al, 2002). The pollution of tap water could originate from several sources, including contamination from water pipes and storage tanks (Parag & Roberts , 2009) and, in the absence of proper and periodic maintenance, from disinfectant by-products resulting from the treatment of water by ozonation and chlorination (Richardson 2003;Chen & Westerhoff , 2010). Thus, for the sake of safety and quality, people are switching from tap water to bottled water.…”

Bottle Water Bans: How can we curb the thirst for bottled water?

“…17 Most plastic bottles are not recycled and accumulate in landfills, taking hundreds of years to biodegrade. 18 In 2005, two million tons of plastic bottles were dumped in landfills. 19 Water bottles are made completely of Polyethylene terephthalate plastics (PETs), but PETs do not biodegrade quickly.…”

“…Parag and Roberts suggest a five stage plan to restore the trust in tap water. 60 Stage one is to create public awareness. Media often highlights the trust-destroying events such as water contamination like the case of Flint, Michigan, but the media does not display the positive events such as reports of good tap water.…”

“…Pollution impacts stem from the production, to distribution, and disposal. 15 One major environmental impact involves the extracting and processing of oil to make the plastic containers. Bottled water production uses 17 million barrels of oil per year and requires triple the amount of water to make a bottle as it does to fill it.…”

“…According to Parag and Roberts, the effects of the creation, transportation, and disposal of bottled water on the environment is more than 100 times higher than that of drinking tap water. 2 The rise in bottled water use has huge implications for the environment. Consequently, policy makers have sought new ways to reduce bottled water consumption.…”