OAKLAND, CA — A recent study by the Pacific Institute, based here, estimates that the annual consumption of bottled water in the United States in 2007 required the equivalent of between 32 million and 54 million barrels of oil — roughly one-third of 1 percent of total US primary energy consumption, the institute said in a February 24 news release.

In addition, the study, published in the February 2009 edition of the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Research Letters, finds that producing bottled water requires as much as 2,000 times the energy cost of producing tap water.

The authors of the journal article, “Energy implications of bottled water,” are Pacific Institute president and researcher Peter H. Gleick and researcher Heather Cooley.

The authors note that a single estimate of the energy footprint of bottled water is not possible due to differences among water sources, bottling processes, transportation costs, and other factors. Gleick and Cooley calculated the energy requirements for various stages in bottled water production, including the energy to manufacture the plastic bottles, process the water and the bottles, and transport and cool the final product. The authors combined the energy intensities for these stages for their analysis.

Tom Lauria, vice president for communications for the International Bottled Water Association (IBWA), told WaterTech Online®, “This study’s many generalizations about bottled water transportation make it difficult to be useful. … If bottled water uses approximately one-third of 1 percent of energy resources, what does the rest of the supermarket — with thousands of plastic containers — add up to?”

Lauria said the study looked at bottled water apart from, and out of context with, the rest of packaged food products.

He also stressed that the bottled water industry is advancing recycling of its containers. “This analysis is also quite light on the impact of recycling, an important societal goal that impacts everyone’s bottom line,” Lauria said.

The Pacific Institute describes itself on its Web site as a nonpartisan research institute that works to advance environmental protection, economic development and social equity.

To read the full press release, click here.

To access the article, click here.

For related information, click here.