Water bottle demand has dramatically increased in the recent years. This can only mean more resources are being taken up to meet the demands. According to the WorldWatch Institute, an organization who visions a more sustainable future, stated “Excessive withdrawal of natural minerals or spring water to produce bottled water has threatened local streams and groundwater and the product consumes significant amounts of energy in production and shipping”. The presence of water bottles are clearly taking up more resources than what the water itself provides. How much longer until Earth runs out of springs and streams? The Pacific Institute provides a article titled “Bottled Water and Energy Fact Sheet” which bring facts they’ve researched on water bottles to the readers. Some of it is consistent with what Water Project Inc. provides and it has some facts of its own. It states that the bottles of P.E.T which is produced by fossil fuels such as natural gas and petroleum. The carbon dioxide emission was measured in 2006 to be 2.5 million tons from the production of water bottles. The energy required to make water bottles were measured in 3.4 megajoules per oil barrel and with there being more than 17 million barrels used up to make water bottles in 2006 really emphasises the waste of oil and energy put into its manufacturing. Water is wasted when filling up the bottles and the …show more content…
As previously stated the amount of resources it takes up is massive and growing. Alongside that is the damage it has been doing to the environment. Earth’s resources are not infinite and it is only a matter of time when we will be unable to manufacture more water bottles. Duke University has realized this and began doing something about it. They have stated “Recognizing the negative environmental and social impacts of bottled water, Duke University has recently undertaken several efforts to reduce consumption of single use bottled water on campus”. This effort would not be happening if the water bottle industry was good and nonconsequential. They eliminated the accessibility of bottled water and banned them. They found alternatives such as compostable plant bottles, encouraging bringing a refillable canteen, use of tap water, and much more. They then state the facts that were previously mentioned above by the other organizations to show others why they are doing this. With what options they were left with they still pursue a more eco friendly way to quench their thirst. All these ideas are wonderful and can only be better with the filtered water bottle. However, this is still a university, how will third world countries benefit from the university 's ideas? They wouldn’t be able to afford what the university does. In other parts of the world water is scarce and watered bottles will be