Study Shows That Bottled Water Is 3,500 Times More Harmful to the Environment Than Tap Water

Written By Jessica Stewart

If you needed another reason to ditch bottled water and turn on the tap, a new study shows that it's 3,500 times more harmful for the environment than tap water. This number comes from assessing everything from extracting the raw materials (to make the bottles) to manufacturing, distribution, transport, usage, and disposal. The Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) focused on bottled water usage in Barcelona, Spain, and gives one more reason to stop relying on bottled water.

In the study published in Science Direct, researchers showed that just making the bottle requires three times the amount as the bottle actually holds. By studying Barcelona, where 60% of the population drinks bottled water, they were able to uncover some incredible information. In fact, they discovered that if the entire population switched to drinking bottled water, the production that would be necessary would kill 1.43 species a year and it would cost about $83.9 million to extract the raw materials. Additionally, there would be 1,400 times more impact to ecosystems and 3,500 times higher cost of resource extraction.

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