Water/Environment - 825 Words

Water/Environment (Research Paper Sample) Content: Water/Environment Student's Name: Professors Name: Course Number: Date: Water/Environment Abstract The key objective of the research is about the negative impacts of the bottled water to the environment. Many people and animals are suffering from the impacts of the plastic bottles that as used to store mineral water. Based on the history and the origin of the bottled water, it is clear that the bottled water producers had no ill intention in their bottling processes but after a while, unethical competition leads to the production of unhealthy bottling of water. The best solution to the problems that are brought by bottled water is the introduction of strict policies to both water bottlers and consumers. Introduction Bottled water is the water that is stored in the plastic bottles to allow the consumer to take both the liquid and the containers. Portability is much considered by both the producers and the consumers, but the impacts to the environment are given little thought. Therefore, the bottled water has led to the problems to both animals and humans being because of the rapid increase consumption of the bottled waters in The United States and of the parts of the world. Some measures are supposed to be put in place to protect the environment against pollution that results because of the consumption of bottled water. The background With the start of the thermal resorts across the world and the recognition of therapeutic advantages f the mineral water and spring water people started to take the thermal water from the urban centers and continue to enjoy the healing features of mineral water. The commercialization and the bottling of the mineral water first started in the mid 16th century (Dege, 2011). In 1856, the Sarotage springs in New City was bottling more than 7 million bottles mainly for medicals reasons. In the United States of America, individuals consume over 30 billion bottles of water annually, and the analysis shows that over 50 billion of bottled water is consumed in the world every year. Therefore, it means that the United States consumes approximately 60% of the bottled water in the world regardless of the reason that the United States makes about 4.5% of the world population (Gleick, 2010). 1,500 of the water bottles are consumed after every second in the United States. 9.1 billion gallons were sold in 2011. The sales that was made in 2011 was the highest sale in history because it is equivalent to 29.1 gallons per person per annum. The impacts of the bottled water to the environment Water bottles can be created out of recyclable polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastics. The PET is non-biodegradable; hence, they split down into tiny fragment over time. The fragments absorb the toxins that can contaminate or pollute the soil, waterways and sicken the animals in the society. The plastic bottles trash can absorb the organic pollutants such as PCBs and BPA (Miller, Spoolman, 2012). Based on the study which was carried by the Oceanic Conservatory, the results showed that plastic bags and plastic bottles are the most widespread kind of pollution found in most beaches and oceans in the world. The study by Oceanic conservatory analyzed that for every square mile of the ocean there are over 46,000 floating plastics such as plastic bottles. 10% of the plastics that are manufactured by the plastic manufacturing companies in the world end up in the oceans. When the plastics are floating in the oceans over time they accumulate since they are non-biodegradable; hence polluting water and affecting the living organism in the water (Miller, Spoolman, 2012). Bottled water is not safer for consumption because the most of the scientific evidence show that plastic bottles leach into the water they hold; hence, the leaching effects have been connected to the health problems such as various types of cancer and the reproductive issue (Miller, Spoolman, 2012). After the ten weeks of storage, the harmful hormone-disrupting phthalates can leach into the water which is kept in the plastic bottles or even much quick especially in the condition where the bottled water are left in an open place where there is direct sunlight. Tap water is not perfect because the purity of water depend on the source and the place where the consumers live. Based on the study which was carried by the National Resource Defense Council it was ascertained that 22% of the water tested had a nonterminal level that is over the health limit of the United States. Over 780 million people in the world which are over double of the United States population do not have access to safe an...