So just how bad is bottled water? Let's look at some statistics.

• This year more than 25 billion single use plastic water bottles will be sold in the United States alone and more than 80 percent of those will end up being disposed of rather than being recycled (that's 20 billion bottles to the landfill Virginia!).

• Over 1.5 million barrels of oil were used to make the plastic bottles consumed in the US last year–and that doesn't include the petroleum used to transport them.To put that in perspective, that's enough petroleum to power 100,000 automobiles for a year!

• Drinking out of bottled water actually wastes water, using up to five times as much, and in a world where many people don't have adequate drinking water, that's just wrong.

• Bottled water sold across state lines is not necessarily regulated while tap water is strictly regulated so you have no idea what you are drinking when you pop open a cold one.

• Certain plastics have been shown to leach Biphesenol A, a hormone disruptor. While this is not a problem in all bottled water, who's to say what scientists will find leaching from plastics down the road.

• While some bottles do end up getting recycled, in reality they are downcycled, being turned into other products leaving most new water bottles to require virgin plastic.

• There is a belief that every adult should drink 8 bottles of water a day, a myth most likely created by water retailers. There is no scientific evidence to prove this and while it is important to stay hydrated, this is akin to saying every adult should eat 8.2 pounds of food a day.

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