How Much Water Actually Goes Into Making A Bottle Of Water?

The bottled water industry says it uses water far more efficiently than other beverages. But water activists say that few companies in the beverage industry are calculating their total water footprint.

See details ::http://www.capradio.org/news/npr/story?storyid=241419373

3 Answers

1. I'm surprised at the lack of discussion on this board regarding bottled water.  Bottled water is on track to overtake soda as the #1 packaged beverage in the US by 2016.  The amount of water needed to make bottled water needs to include the bottle itself.  I've seen one estimate that says it takes 6 to 7 times the amount of water in the bottle to manufacture the bottle.  

    

   The estimate of 1.39 liters of water per one liter of bottled water came from the International Bottled Water Association (IBWA).  I  would like to see a comprehensive independent study.

2. @vish, i saw an article mentioning that on average, it only takes 1.39 liters of water to produce one liter of bottled water.

3. Jenny Kehl (in his blog: how virtual water is lost) said that one often does not hear of water "moving" across oceans, locked in sacks and cartons of food. Yet food exports hide the significant global trade in water, which could be made transparent and reorganised to reduce water stress and increase global food security. Several of the world's most water-scarce regions are producing the most water-intensive crops - for example, water-intensive rice grown in arid parts of Australia, Mexico and the American West for export to Asia or Europe. http://wildsingaporenews.blogspot.in/2013/03/how-virtual-water-is-lost.html