UN research: Bottled water undermines sustainability goals

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This was announced Thursday by the Canada-based UN Institute for Water, Environment and Health.

Expanding the bottled water supply may mean that general access to clean water is not sufficiently expanded, while bottled water producers make money, especially in underdeveloped countries. From 2010 to 2020 alone, business volume grew by 73 percent – this trend will continue, according to forecasts.

“This points to a global case of extreme social injustice, where billions of people worldwide lack access to reliable water services while others enjoy luxury water,” the statement said.

While bottled water is considered healthier and tastier in industrialized countries and is therefore a more luxurious item, the sale of bottled drinking water in poor countries is due to the lack of public water supplies. Lack of investment and corruption are often responsible for these problems.

Bottled water can cost 150 to 1,000 times more per liter than tap water, according to the report. Accordingly, 350 billion liters of water were bottled worldwide in 2021, with sales of US$270 billion. 25 million tons of plastic waste was created – that’s the equivalent of a 40-ton truck chain from New York to Bangkok.

As for bottled water consumption per capita, Switzerland ranks 27th in a global comparison at just under 70 liters per year (in 2021). . In neighboring countries such as Germany (rank 10) and Italy (rank 11) the per capita consumption of bottled water is around 150 litres, more than double that in Switzerland.

According to the United Nations, the study’s findings are based on analyzes from more than 100 countries. 22 March is World Water Day. The UN water conference in New York also begins today. The aim is to examine the extent to which internationally agreed goals can be achieved, including the UN sustainability goal of access to clean water for all people. Two billion people worldwide – one in four – do not have clean water.

(SDA)

Source : Blick