Bottled v tap - the great water debate

There's nothing wrong with keeping the body hydrated with the healthy optimum of eight glasses of water a day. But you may want to think carefully about your source

Stocking up on plastic bottles of spring water could swell your carbon footprint, while some claim that tap water may not be as pure as it looks. Could you bottle out of mineral water or pull the plug on tap water?

Message in a bottle

Bottled spring water may come straight from Mother Nature, but as with other imports, air miles are clocking up on the carbon emissions counter.

According to the Chartered Institute of Water, nearly a quarter of bottled water supplies cross national borders to meet customers and 22 million tonnes of bottled water are transferred from country to country. Italy, Europe's largest mineral water drinker, sells 280 brands of mineral water alone.

The Evening Standard reported this year that bringing water into the UK produces approximately 33,200 tonnes of CO2 emissions. That's the same as the yearly energy consumption of 6,000 homes.

Amy Dutton, Thames Water's spokesperson, is encouraging people to turn to tap. She says: 'We recommend people switch to tap water to reduce their carbon footprint as packaging and transportation increases carbon emissions. Bottled water is 300 times higher in CO2 emissions per litre than tap water, which releases just 0.0003 kg of C02.'

Are bottled brands all bad guys or are we going carafe-crazy? Not all spring water is flown into the UK. Many suppliers source their water from local springs and sell to customers within our shores, like Minton Pure Spring Water from Dartmoor.

Mehmet Seferoglou, Minton's general manager, says: 'We must have the lowest carbon footprint! Our water comes from Devon and we supply shops and businesses in the UK. We have a fantastic local customer base in Devon, so our water comes straight from the ground and then travels a couple of miles down the road. Perrier and San Pellegrino have a larger footprint than us!'

Highland Spring also claim that three quarters of their bottled water produced in the UK fills British glasses.

Exporters Danone, who produce big brands Evian and Volvic, claim their footprint is a tiptoe. They state that the CO2 from one litre of bottled water is one-thirtieth of that of one kilogram of organic chicken.