Many of us rarely think twice about the water we drink. We are lucky to live in the St. Croix River Valley where most of us can trust that our water is fresh and clean. Yet, despite this abundance, …
This item is available in full to subscribers.
To continue reading, you will need to either log in, using the login form, below, or purchase a new subscription.
If you are a current print subscriber, you can set up a free website account and connect your subscription to it by clicking here.
Otherwise, click here to view your options for subscribing.
Please log in to continue |
Many of us rarely think twice about the water we drink. We are lucky to live in the St. Croix River Valley where most of us can trust that our water is fresh and clean. Yet, despite this abundance, we routinely purchase bottled water trucked in from distant states or even shipped across oceans. This everyday habit carries with it a host of environmental, economic, and ethical consequences; however, by choosing to refill a reusable water bottle instead, we can embrace a simple act that encourages gratitude, fosters responsibility, and inspires meaningful change.
Consider the environmental impact of a typical single-use plastic water bottle. Made of PET plastic (polyethylene terephthalate), the manufacturing of single-use plastic water bottles consumes oil, natural gas, water, and energy. According to the National Institute of Health, producing one standard 500 mL plastic bottle consumes up to 2.5 megajoules of energy, enough to power a 60-W lightbulb for roughly 20 hours.
Further, it takes an estimated 17 million barrels of oil annually to supply plastic for the bottled-water industry in just the United States. And, the Center for Sustainable Systems reports that the energy and emissions from manufacturing and transporting bottled water can range from 11 to 31 times greater than consuming a comparable volume of municipal tap water from a reusable vessel.
Then there’s the waste. Single-use bottles make up a large amount of the litter on land and in marine systems, harming wildlife, damaging ecosystems, and costing municipalities in cleanup efforts. The U.S. alone consumes tens of billions of single-use plastic bottles annually, almost half of which are not recycled. Instead, they end up in landfills, on the roadside, in waterways and oceans, breaking down into microplastics that will persist for centuries.
When we switch to a durable reusable bottle, the environmental implications of our daily water intake quickly begin to shift. One lifecycle study by Oregon’s Department of Environmental Quality found that drinking tap water from a reusable bottle, even if washed frequently in an inefficient dishwasher, reduced energy consumption by about 85% and greenhouse gas emissions by 79% compared to consuming the same amount of single-use bottled water.
Simply put: every time you refill a quality reusable bottle instead of buying a disposable one, you’re reducing demand for fossil-fuel-based manufacturing, cutting emissions, and avoiding waste. And the longer you keep using that well-made bottle, the larger the payoff because while reusable bottles require more resources upfront, they become more sustainable the more they’re used.
Often we think sustainability costs more, but in this case the savings are tangible. I’ve done the math: If I had purchased a $0.99 single-use plastic water bottle for every time that I’ve used my reusable water bottle over the past 15 years, I would have shelled out over $5,000 in that time. That’s enough money for a real vacation!
So the reusable bottle isn’t just an environmental choice, it also makes financial sense. You invest once in a quality product then refill it for free or nearly free for years and years.
Additionally, many single-use plastics contain chemical additives; when those bottles are reused, crushed, scratched, or left in hot cars, they can leach those chemicals into your water which poses health risks. Choosing a reusable bottle made of stainless steel or BPA-free plastic reduces exposure to those chemicals and ensures that the water you drink is as pure as the water you put into it to begin with.
Now, here’s where this connects on a deeper level: when we fill a reusable bottle with clean water, water that is delivered reliably by our public infrastructure, we are recognizing a gift, the gift of life sustaining water. When we then choose not to buy a disposable bottle, we are responding to that gift with gratitude. Our actions say: “Thank you, Earth, thank you community, thank you to the unseen systems that deliver water; I will honor this resource.”
In this way, the humble water bottle becomes a small but meaningful gesture of stewardship. It reminds us that our everyday choices ripple outward. A refill instead of a purchase means fewer oil wells drilled, fewer deliveries shipped with fossil-fuels across the continent, fewer plastics in our oceans, and fewer dollars extracted from our wallets for packaged water.
The next time you fill your reusable bottle, use that time to reflect. Think of the rain and the forests that filtered it, the Kinnickinnic River and St Croix River watersheds that naturally filter and clean our water, the municipal system delivering you water through pipes, the bottle you’re holding. Then ask: how will I honor this gift?
By embracing the use of a reusable water bottle, you engage in a quiet but profound act not of sacrifice, but of gratitude. And in doing so, you help protect the water, the air, the land, the other creatures with whom we share the planet, and the generations yet to come.
Call Out Box:
Upcoming Sustainability Events
