If you were to take a survey throughout the school and ask all the students that attend Cherry Hill High School West if they’d rather drink a glass of tap water or a bottled water, there is no doubt that the majority of students would choose to drink a bottled water. Many would choose bottled water for a number of reasons, some of which include convenience, taste, and an overall “safer” feeling. I know that this is how I felt about a week ago, before I started learning about the negative impact bottled water has on the environment, human health, water sustainability, and let’s not forget pollution. It is for these very reasons that I believe that this high school should no longer sell bottled water.

Firstly, bottled water is a major concern to environmentalists, because they create a multiple of negative impacts towards the environment. More than 1 billion water bottles wind up in the California trash every year. This translates to about 3 million every single day (“Report: Surge in bottled”). I know we are not from California, however, our numbers in New Jersey are still high as well, and every little bit of help counts. These water bottles are swallowing landfill space, and cause significant air pollution. When the bottles are incinerated, their fumes contain toxic chemicals that attack the ozone layer. We must reduce the amount of bottles purchased if that means losing out on convenience!

Not only are water bottles impacting air pollution, but they play a huge part in overuse of the natural aquifers that are vital to the water cycle. When you pump freshwater from aquifers faster than they can naturally replenish (recharge) themselves, water becomes a non-renewable resource. Since the withdrawal rate of water from aquifers is currently fifteen times greater than the recharge rate, we are quickly using up all our water supply. This also leads to reduced stream flow and habitat reduction for aquatic ecosystems, which is very harmful to the organisms that live in these systems.

There is a huge misconception that bottled water is safer than tap water. This stereotype towards tap water is very false, coming from the fact that tap water is tested for harmful chemicals and contaminants much more often the bottled water is. Environmental groups say that bottled water is indeed less safe than tap water (“Is Tap Water Safer?”). Under the Food and Drug Administration’s Food Drug and Cosmetic Act, the regulation of water bottles is less strict than the Environmental Protection Agency’s regulation of tap water (under the Safe Drinking Water Act). There is a higher chance of, say for example, contracting e coli by drinking a bottled water than drinking from the tap.

In conclusion, I believe that Cherry Hill High School West should no longer sell bottled water. It is very unsustainable behavior, has greater health risks than drinking regular tap water, and we should not condone this behavior just because it is more “convenient” for us. We all can help the world and the water cycle a little bit more by banning the sale of bottled water from our school. Thank you for your time, for reading, and taking into consideration the harmful effects of bottled water and the truth behind them.