Further complicating matters for Elko New Market, in particular, is a need to update its 10-year water supply plan. This plan must account for climate change’s impact on water sources like the Prairie du Chien-Jordan Aquifer, which provides water not just for Elko New Market but for dozens of municipalities. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources believes it’s fully equipped to handle a plant like the one proposed by Niagara Bottling. But that ignores the environmental waste of bottled water.
The act of bottling water is an environmentally dangerous one that rarely benefits the folks buying up bottled water. Harvard University Sustainability found that bottled water is about 3,000% more expensive than tap water, adding up to about 64 cents per gallon, compared with just two cents per gallon for tap water. A fact-check shows that bottled water goes through less rigorous testing than tap water, too.
The bottles themselves aren’t all that great for the environment, requiring the production of more than 17 million barrels of oil to account for the annual consumption of bottled water in the U.S. As Buzzfeed News reports, rarely do those bottles then get recycled and turned into new bottles.
Major drink companies like Coca-Cola and Nestle Water North America reported in 2017 that just 6-7% of the bottles it uses for water are recycled. Coca-Cola was recently called out for a greenwashing campaign that still proves inadequate when it comes to sustainability, though Nestle has made some gains. The Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act could help with accountability substantially.
No matter how close to circularity companies get, using tons of water for the sake of bottling it and selling it for a profit is a bad bet for the Minnesota communities reliant on the Prairie du Chien-Jordan Aquifer. As the Star Tribune reports, overall water usage in Elko New Market would triple were the Niagara Bottling facility to begin operations. It’s a cost that residents and anyone concerned about the environment should not bear.
Have you changed the way you consume bottled water? I’m definitely all about metal water bottles at this point, and rarely drink bottled water except under emergency conditions.
