Bottled waters, consumption

Affirming its importance as the world s most advanced soft drinks market, the United States is by some margin the world s largest bottled water market, with a 16% volume share of global bottled water consumption in 2003,... 

Although PVC is second only to polyethene in terms of polymer production volumes, recycling is not widespread this is attributable to the long-term nature of its major applications in the construction industry, e.g. pipes and window frames. A potentially valuable source of PVC in municipal waste is the water bottle (especially in areas of high bottled water consumption like France). PVC has found widespread use in this application since it does not taint the water. 

The public perception of the existence of any risk associated with the consumption of essential drinking water can have profound consequences both locally and nationally, including the loss of public confidence in political institutions. It can cause some consumers to shift from public water supplies to private sources, self-provided water treatment, or bottled water. 

The evaluation of the value of health and a human life are rather subjective. A way to translate this relationship into a consumer view may be to look at the amount consumers are willing to pay for safe drinking water. An increase in consumption of bottled water was observed during the 1998 Cryptosporidium and Giardia outbreak in Sydney. While tap water is priced at about A 0.80/m (US 0.52/m ), bottled water is sold at a cost of around A 1000/m This reflects a very high willingness of the consumer to pay for safe drinking water. 

The most appropriate approach for treatment of this type of protozoal infection is through prevention. Because the infection usually ooours by consumption of contaminated drinking water and food, avoidanoe is the key to prevention. Drinking bottled water, or boiling or disinfecting the water, will reduce the risk. Improvement in personal hygiene and general sanitation also are... 

Bottled waters are alternatives to drinking water from the tap. The term bottled water is a generic term that describes all water sold in containers. The consumption of bottled water has risen phenomenally over the past years and the bottled water industry has grown to accommodate the demand [47]. Bottled waters are classified as a food material. They are monitored by the national food agencies and some international institutions. Many countries require the manufacturer to indicate the source of the water and the date of production on the label. The International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) also inspects its members annually to check for compliance to the IBWA standards. In the United States, bottled waters are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and state governments. 

The FDA regulates the quality of bottled water. The water passes through one or more purification steps (Figure 11.12). The three purification methods (which can also be done in home treatment systems)—distillation, carbon filtration, and reverse osmosis— have already been discussed as methods used for treating municipal water. The maximum levels of contaminants allowed by the EPA after these treatments are listed in Table 11.10. Each of these methods is expensive and results in a high cost per gallon of treated water. In the case of bottled water or home water treatment, the cost of treatment is not the major factor, because only the small amount of water needed for human consumption needs to be specially purified. Figure 11.12 shows... 

The popularity of mineral water is on the rise. In Germany, Austria and Hungary annual average consumption is about 110 1/person, the same number is 150 1/per-son in France and 180 1/person in Italy, although the outstanding Italian popularity is not simply by choice in Italy, tap water is not uniformly safe to drink. The rise of mineral water consumption is mostly at the expense of sweetened soft drinks, which seems favorable from a health perspective. Yet some questions arise. What is the difference between mineral water and tap water anyway Are some varieties of mineral water healthier than others Do all types of bottled water qualify as mineral water ... 

A particular problem for packaging applications is the growing consumption of plastic containers for bottled water (22). Due to rising health concerns related to the quality of tap water, an increasing rate of people started to consume bottled water. However, the discarded plastic water bottles are harmful to the environment. Not only do wasted plastic containers fiU up our landfills, but they also frequently cause water contamination as they end up in water streams. 

FIGURE 8.1 Bottled water sales in the United States is on the increase with a per capita consumption of 29 US gallons in 2011. 

The problem of bromate also concerns bottled water, which has become a healthier choice than tap water for many people, because they beheve that bottled water contains fewer contaminants or they dislike the taste of chlorinated tap water. Therefore, the annual consumption of bottled drinking water in the world is substantial. Nevertheless, it is well known that significant amounts of bottled drinking water pass through treatment processes such as filtration, deionization, reverse osmosis, or ozoni-zation to ensure its quality. ... 

Various U.S. and other surveys of drinking water consumption rates differ considerably depending on what subdivisions of total fluid volume intakes are included in the various totals being reported. Some deal solely with daily direct water intake volumes while others include water quantities consumed directly and volumes used in daily food preparation. Still other surveys include bottled water or water volumes used for beverages as well as tap water volumes or include just community water sources in the intake tallies. The various tabulations presented in this section note that these qualifications were feasible. 

There have been comparatively few studies that have examined NP levels in source waters used for bottled water. One study in Spain analyzed AP levels in source waters, and found a detectable level of 4-NP in one out of 131 samples at 0.058 p.g/L, while A-tert-GP was detected in foiu samples at a mean level of 0.0024 pg/L (Bono-Blay et al. 2012). Exposure to NP from tap water in China has been estimated (based on consumption of 2 L/day) to be as high as 1.4 pg/day (Li et al. 2010b). 

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