The energy implications of bottled water are also problematic. A research paper in the open-access journal Environmental Research Letters (http://stacks.iop.org/ERL/4/014009) examines how much energy is used to produce and distribute a bottle of water, considering three cases to estimate boundaries for transportation energy: 1) municipal water that is bottled locally, 2) spring water bottled in the South Pacific, and 3) spring water bottled in France. The local water had the lowest energy consumption (5.6 MJ per liter), the South Pacific water had 2nd lowest (8.4 MJ per liter) and the French water had the highest (10.2 MJ per liter). Of these totals, it took 4 MJ per liter to produce the bottle and minimal amounts of energy for water processing and bottle filling/sealing, with the rest going to transportation. For reference, the authors report that it takes only 0.005 MJ to treat and distribute a liter of tap water.

As for whether bottled water is responsible for neglect of public water systems, I wish it was that simple. There are many more things at work, like anti-tax attitudes and the invisibility of the water system to name two.

I get that for most people, but where I originally grew up we got yearly warnings on how poisonous the water was. 3x the legal limit of arsenic for starters. I think occasionally, it's justified but just stop getting tiny containers and get refillable ones if you must drink bottled water.

Kudos for putting this up. It's important. People also forget how bottled water is stored--incontainers and/or warehouses where it's allowed to heat, increasing the likelihood of BPA being leached into the water.

EWG also conducted an interesting study on water quality: http://www.ewg.org/BottledWater/Bottled-Water-Quality-Investigation/Bottled-Water-Quality-Investigation-Test-Results

Thank you for this image...very informative!

Something that many people fail to notice...

Most grocery stores have a Water Refill Station where you can bring in 1 to 5 gallon containers and refill them. This will be more expensive than tap water from your home, but much less expensive (and less wasteful) than bottled water. It is a particularly good option in areas with poor tap water quality.

Very informative...great visual. Hopefully people are starting to wake up to the fact that bottled water is is a huge waste. Better to have a POU system in home.