It is unknown how long the water sits in the bottles before being delivered to your office – days, weeks, months? During this time, chemicals can leach out of the plastic and into the water you are drinking. The plastic used in water bottles contains a chemical called Bisphenol A (BPA), which has been proven to leach into the water. BPA is an endocrine disruptor, and is shown in over 130 studies to be linked to reproductive abnormalities, ADHD, cancer, and heart disease. Additionally, the NRDC conducted a four-year study of 103 brands of bottled water, finding that about 1 in every 3 bottles tested contained levels of contamination -- including synthetic organic chemicals, bacteria, and arsenic. Bottled water can hide behind an image of purity because it is a highly unregulated industry, with little safety requirements.
Per liter, bottled water costs up to 10,000 times more than tap water!
The production of bottled water required the equivalent of 17 million barrels of oil last year—enough fuel to run 1 million U.S. cars for a year—and generated more than 2.5 million tons of carbon dioxide. Each year, 50 billion plastic water bottles end up in landfills or as roadside litter, which take up to 1,000 years to biodegrade.
Plus, it requires 3 times as much water to make the bottle as it does to fill it...