Sometimes the facts speak for themselves. Here are some about bottled water, via the American Museum of Natural History in New York. My favorite, is the last one...


Bottled water may be a healthy and increasingly common alternative
to soft drinks, but the plastic bottle turns out to have a hidden dark side:
energy consumption, waste disposal, and other environmental concerns. As
bottled water grows in popularity, these problems also proliferate.

. Worldwide, bottled water consumption nearly doubled between 1997 and 2005,
with U.S. residents tipping back the largest share-nearly 26 gallons per
person in 2005.

. Bottled water costs as much as $10 per gallon for bottled water compared
to less than a penny per gallon for tap water.

. It takes three liters of water to produce a one-liter bottle of water.

. Worldwide, 2.7 million tons of plastic are used each year to make water
bottles, but in the U.S., less than 20 percent of these bottles are
recycled.

. The total estimated energy needed to make, transport, and dispose of one
bottle of water is equivalent to filling the same bottle one-quarter full of
oil.

. An estimated 40 percent of bottled water sold in the U.S. is just filtered
tap water.

To learn more about water-where it comes from, how it shapes the
planet and the lives of people, plants, and animals everywhere-visit the
special exhibition Water: H2O = Life at the American Museum of Natural
History, November 3, 2007, through May 26, 2008. For more information visit
www.amnh.org.