Bottled Water vs Tap Water - Carbon Footprint Compared

27/02/2012 By The British Water Cooler Association

Does the bottled water industry create a larger carbon footprint than the tap water industry?

The British Water Cooler Association (BWCA) is doubtful if this statement can be substantiated with accurate data.

Data released by the media suggests that up to 3.6 billion litres of tap water were lost through leaks each day of 2006 by the water utilities. (Source: Towards Sustainability 2005-6) although recent answers to a House of Commons select committee show this to be only a rough estimate, the real figure is unknown and could be much greater.

The bottled water cooler industry delivered a total of only 0.43 billion litres throughout the same year.

On this basis the water utilities waste water at a rate 3,000 times greater than the whole supply of bottled water for water coolers.

Alternatively, the water wastage by the water utilities through leaks is equal to all the bottled water delivered to water coolers in 2006 in just 3 hours!

In terms of greenhouse gas emissions, published figures by the UK mains water industry show that they use approximately 2% of all UK annual energy requirements currently and account for ca. 1% of all UK CO2 emissions (ca. 4.15 millions tonnes of CO2 in 2005/6).

Whilst they have plans to reduce this by 2020, they forecast (Speech from Water UK chairperson 26/9/07) emissions to rise over the next 5 years. Meanwhile, the emissions from the much smaller UK bottled water industry pale into insignificance in comparison. We nonetheless remain determined as an industry to provide a quality service to our customers whilst minimising or negating our overall environmental impact.

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