Gadling

You
would think bottled water would win without a question in a battle of being the healthier choice, but some
enviornmentalists say not so fast.

"Bottled water is no often
healthier than tap water, but it can be 10,000 times more expensive," says Emily Arnold, a researcher with the
Washington D.C. non-profit.

The battle over whether bottled water is more healthier than that running
from the faucets in our kitchen sinks isn’t so much about the humans drinking the liquid, but more so about the planet
and how the consumption of bottled water and the waste may be hurting Earth. Campaigners challenge the idea of drinking
bottled water in our developed nation by stating 25 percent of bottled water is just tap water in pretty packaging,
sometimes further treated and many times not at all. They also note the high mineral content in some bottled waters as
‘unsuitable’ for feeding babies and young kids. In developing countries where tap water is unsafe or unavailable
bottled water instantly wins the match. Believe me, I care about Momma Earth a great deal, but from L.A. (where the tap
water smells) to San Juan, CR, to Cluj-Napoca, Romania (where the water had a brown tint) bottled water wins. Hands
down.

But what to do with all that plastic?

Nat Geo News ran the piece
back in February this year and with Earth Day approaching it’s no wonder it jumped out at me. The picture with the
enormous load of plastic cash on the man above also caught my attention.