Water Scarcity In The United States
Due to climate change, water scarcity is developing into a globally pressing environmental problem.
Water scarcity presently affects people most harshly in areas where clean water is not easily accessible. Yet, the United States remains the largest international consumer of water bottles. The semblance of safety offered by water bottles in the commercial American mindset is counterproductive in an era of water treatment. The purification process of plastic-making for water bottles takes over twice the amount of water that the bottled water actually contains- which means the consumption of water bottles wastes more water than what people eventually get to drink. Furthermore, the amount of oil required to produce the plastic for a water bottle
could fill approximately ¼ of the bottle. Then, there are additional oil importations that must be made in order to transport them. The effects of fossil fuels on the environment prove a whole new complication and devastation to the environment. Concurrently to water depletion and fossil fuel consumption, the complex impurities of plastic bottles makes them hard to recycle, with most bottles ending up as non-biodegradable litter.
The vast extent of water bottle culture is wasteful and in vain. Tap water, regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency, remains an equally safe and notoriously economical option for hydration- tap water remains more secure than bottled water, whose plastic concentration of chemicals including phthalates and bisphenol A correlates to endocrine disruption and cancer. Water filters would provide an additional degree of comfort for consumers worried about the impurities of tap water. Reducing the consumption of bottled water and improving recycling initiatives are vital steps into solving the water crisis at home before moving abroad to provide permanent water accessibility.
Water scarcity presently affects people most harshly in areas where clean water is not easily accessible. Yet, the United States remains the largest international consumer of water bottles. The semblance of safety offered by water bottles in the commercial American mindset is counterproductive in an era of water treatment. The purification process of plastic-making for water bottles takes over twice the amount of water that the bottled water actually contains- which means the consumption of water bottles wastes more water than what people eventually get to drink. Furthermore, the amount of oil required to produce the plastic for a water bottle
could fill approximately ¼ of the bottle. Then, there are additional oil importations that must be made in order to transport them. The effects of fossil fuels on the environment prove a whole new complication and devastation to the environment. Concurrently to water depletion and fossil fuel consumption, the complex impurities of plastic bottles makes them hard to recycle, with most bottles ending up as non-biodegradable litter.
The vast extent of water bottle culture is wasteful and in vain. Tap water, regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency, remains an equally safe and notoriously economical option for hydration- tap water remains more secure than bottled water, whose plastic concentration of chemicals including phthalates and bisphenol A correlates to endocrine disruption and cancer. Water filters would provide an additional degree of comfort for consumers worried about the impurities of tap water. Reducing the consumption of bottled water and improving recycling initiatives are vital steps into solving the water crisis at home before moving abroad to provide permanent water accessibility.