In “Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner” written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge in the 1700’s, men on a long voyage began to run out of drinking water. Even though they were surrounded by water, it was seawater causing them to say, “Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink.” Is it possible that we might have a similar concern about the lack of drinking water in the future?
Elizabeth Royte, an environmentally focused researcher and reporter, has written several books about the “greening” of America. Her first two books were Garbage Land: On the Secret Trail of Trash and The Tapir’s Morning Bath: Mysteries of the Tropical Rain Forest and the Scientists Who Are Trying to Solve Them. Recently she has also authored Bottlemania: How Water Went on Sale and Why We Bought It, and discussed her book with Dr. Mehmet Oz on his radio show on XM channel 156.
Royte grieved over the fact that Americans throw away over 30 billion water bottles a year. Additionally, she offered some startling statistics:
• U.S. water sales jumped from $115 million in 1990 to $4 billion in 1997.
•Sales increased a shocking 170 percent from 1997 to $10.8 billion in 2006.
•Bottled water is now a $60 billion-a-year business worldwide.
•Per person consumption of water went from 5.7 gallons in 1987 to 27.6 gallons in 2006.
Given these statistics, it is no surprise that water has become one of the larger green concerns about carbon footprints and recycling. Royte warns us that natural supplies of clean, fresh water will evaporate if we don’t start paying attention to where water comes from, what we do to it and why we drink it.
In addition to her book and her interview with Dr. Oz, Royte recently wrote “A Tall, Cool Drink of … Sewage?” for the New York Times magazine (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/10/magazine). Her message is that Americans must educate themselves about the products they consume and the packaging they discard, especially bottled water.
While she admits that bottled water is much needed when there are emergency or certain health-related issues, the widespread use of water comes at a high price for our environment. Royte is astonished at how a natural resource like water has become such a fast-selling commodity. Her writing and her interview explain the dangers to the environment by exploring how water is accessed, packaged and sold. Part of her mission is to prove that bottled water is no better than tap water, and she raises thoughtful questions about the impact of its sale on the environment.
