Rethink plastic water bottles

What’s more refreshing than a cool drink of water?

Not much, according to the Beverage Marketing Corporation, which reports that sales of bottled water are quickly overtaking those of carbonated soft drinks in the United States. In 1976, the average American drank 1.6 gallons of bottled water a year, in 2001 that figure reached 18.2 gallons and in 2011 consumption soared to 29.2 gallons.

While this may be good news on the health front — overconsumption of sugary sodas has been linked to obesity and its many related ills — the fact that so much of an otherwise healthy drink is consumed from single-serving plastic bottles is bad news for the environment, and for the pocketbooks of consumers who could drink fresh, tasty water from the municipal tap at a tiny fraction of what they’re paying for the bottled variety.

Charles Fishman, author of "The Big Thirst: The Secret Life and Turbulent Future of Water,"writes that Americans are buying more bottled water than ever — despite organized campaigns against it across the country and increased awareness about the negative environmental impacts — because they consider it healthy, convenient and appealing.

But what’s so appealing about using one of the most durable products on earth — plastic — to make containers designed to be disposed of after a single use?

This question has special resonance in Hawaii, where our fragile marine ecosystems are assaulted by marine debris that originates not only in the islands but also thousands of miles from our shores, carried through coastal watersheds and into the ocean, ending up wherever the waves and currents take it. Much of this marine debris is plastic, potentially lethal to monk seals, birds, fish and other marine and wildlife.

Nowhere is this more evident than at the Papahnaumokukea Marine National Monument in the northwest Hawaiian islands, whose remote, uninhabited shores are nonetheless littered with junk from around the world. "Marine debris is one of the greatest threats. Plastic water bottles take a long time to break down, and when they do, they don’t break down completely. They break down into these tiny, tiny pieces that the fish eat and the birds eat. Eventually, they get impacted gut and die," explained Randall Kosaki, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s deputy superintendent for the monument. Necropsies show that "literally every single albatross out there has a belly full of plastic," he said, explaining that many chicks fill up on plastic and end up starving to death.

The monument’s staff do important outreach at schools and other institutions in Hawaii and elsewhere, urging people to reduce consumption of single-use plastics and recycle everything they can. Easy alternatives abound, including using reusable water bottles that can be filled at the tap at home or work or at the growing number of water fountains that dispense chilled, filtered tap water straight into the container. "The thing is that we’re blessed with pretty good tap water here. So go ahead and put a filter on your faucet if you want and you’ll have a virtually endless supply that tastes good, is safe to drink and is way better for the environment," Kosaki concluded. "Save the bottled water for the hurricane kit."

His sound advice serves the consumer, human health and the natural world. Let’s hope it starts to sink in.