Today is World Water Day
Do you really need to drink your water from a plastic bottle?
We and our home planet are made up of mostly water. The surface of the Earth is made up of about 71 percent water. The human body consists of about 60 percent water. The percentage of water in infants is much higher, typically around 75-78 percent, dropping to 65 percent by the age of one year old.
In South Africa tap water is safe to drink in most places. Everyday millions of people purchase bottled water. Most of them have little idea or regard for the vast consequences of the production of that water, the bottle it’s in, and the incredibly harmful environmental impact the whole process generates.
More than 50 billion plastic water bottles are bought each year, with 80 percent of them ending up in a landfill or the ocean, despite extensive recycling efforts.
Five reasons to avoid bottled water where possible
1. Bottled water production consumes huge amounts of energy and petroleum products
2. It takes more water than it provides
3. Bottled water is neither cleaner nor healthier than tap water
4. PET bottles may leech toxic chemicals into your water
(The most common plastic bottles are made from a petroleum-derived chemical called polyethylene terephthalate, more commonly known as PET.)
5. Plastic bottles break down with harmful ecological impact
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch
The Great Pacific garbage patch, also described as the Pacific trash vortex, is a gyre of marine debris particles in the central North Pacific Ocean.
The patch is characterized by exceptionally high relative concentrations of pelagic plastics, chemical sludge and other debris that have been trapped by the currents of the North Pacific Ocean.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch or Trash Vortex explained
