Natural bottled water has a relatively small water footprint compared with other beverage options
Natural bottled water is the most efficient packaged beverage when it comes to water efficiency as so little water is used in its production. Other beverages may use a substantial volume of water in their manufacture, especially when the whole supply chain is accounted for.
The United Nations Environment Programme estimates that every person on Earth had about 9,000 cubic metres of freshwater available to them 20 years ago; 10 years later this figure was down to about 7,800. By 2025, it is expected to fall to around 5,100 cubic metres. This figure is sufficient for human life - although only if the water was distributed evenly around the world, between nations, regions or seasons. The conclusion drawn by NGO Waterwise in 2007 is that two-thirds of the global population will live in areas of water stress by 2025, if present levels of water consumption continue.
In the UK, areas towards the south east of the country are already classified as water stressed, where rivers have unacceptable flow regimes. This situation is likely to get worse as summer mean temperatures rise, population grows and water demand for industrial use increases. The demand forecasts have prompted Thames Water to submit plans for the UK's first desalination plant at a cost of £200 million - although this was rejected by Mayor of London Ken Livingstone on the grounds that it would be too energy intensive.
The government issued its future water strategy for England in February 2008, with various practical measures it is taking to manage water as a resource. Among these are the steps it is taking - through the water supply industry - to reduce tap water leakages. The tap water supply network in the UK leaks 4,520 million litres each day, according to the UK Water Sustainability Indicator report 2006/07 from Water UK. This leakage amounts to 74.6 litres per person per day - around twice the average annual consumption of bottled water.
Beverages' water footprint
Several studies have looked at the amount of water used in the production and consumption of beverages and other items. When assessed in the context of all embedded water, including that used in agriculture, many beverage options, including milk, orange juice and hot drinks, use hundreds of litres of water per litre consumed. The embedded water footprint of bottled water is believed to be only a few litres of water per litre of bottled water, since there are no agricultural water inputs.
Looking at production only, that is, excluding the water used to produce ingredients and packaging, the UK's Department for Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs estimates that soft drink bottling uses between 2 and 4 litres of water for every litre of soft drink, whilst brewing uses 4 litres of water. Bottled water firms are now reporting that an additional 1 to 1.5 litres of water is used for each litre bottled for cleaning and other production uses.
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