How Much Water Actually Goes Into Making A Bottle Of Water? 
 
 Enlarge this image toggle caption Steven Depolo/Flickr Steven Depolo/Flickr 
 
 Environmental activists have long claimed that bottled water is wasteful. Usually, they point to the roughly 50 billion (mostly plastic) bottles we throw away every year. 
 
 The International Bottled Water Association, ever sensitive to criticism that it's wasting precious resources, has commissioned its first ever study to figure out how much water goes into producing one liter. The results, released this month, show that for North American companies, it takes 1.39 liters to make one liter of water. 
 
 That's less than the global averages of a liter of soda, which requires 2.02 liters of water. A liter of beer, meanwhile, needs 4 liters of water, wine demands 4.74 liters. Hard alcohol, it turns out, is the greediest, guzzling 34.55 liters of water for every liter. 
 
 This, the bottled water industry says, is evidence that its product isn't so bad. "Bottled water products are extremely efficient in terms of water use compared to some other packaged beverages," says Chris Hogan, spokesman for the International Bottled Water Association. 
 
 But water activists say the IBWA study highlights a problem throughout the beverage industry: Few companies take the whole water-use picture into account when calculating their water use. Just as companies are beginning to calculate their carbon footprint, they also need to analyze their water footprints to find opportunities for conservation. 
 
 Bottled water companies (along with many other beverage companies) should include the water in their supply chain, says Ertug Ercin with the Water Footprint Network. Ercin says a true water footprint includes all freshwater used in production, including the water used for packaging. 
 
 "Packaging makes a significant footprint," he says, adding that three liters of water might be used to make a half-liter bottle. In other words, the amount of water going into making the bottle could be up to six or seven times what's inside the bottle. 
 
 Drilling for oil to make plastic, Ercin says, uses a substantial amount of groundwater. And you need water to make the paper, too, he adds. 
 
 Still, Ercin notes, bottled water packaging uses far less water than soda, which needs extra water to grow sugar and make dyes. 
 
 Hogan says that one reason why the IBWA didnt look at these issues is that it's hard to know where to stop. "You could extrapolate that ad infinitum," he says. 
 
 Hogan says some companies say they don't think they can get any more efficient, but they're trying. "Water," Hogan says," is the lifeblood of the industry and they want to be as efficient as possible." ||||| Credit: CC0 Public Domain People may be ingesting between 3,000 and 4,000 microparticles of plastic from tap water every year, according to a study published Wednesday based on samples from 14 countries. 
 
 While the health risks are unknown, the researchers pointed to previous findings that plastic particles can absorb, and release, potentially harmful chemicals and bacteria. 
 
 For the survey, 159 tap water samples were analysed of which "83 percent were found to contain plastic particles," according to the report compiled by Orb Media, based on tests conducted by researchers from the University of Minnesota and the State University of New York. 
 
 While much research has focused on plastic pollution of lakes, rivers, the ocean, beaches, even the air we breathe, less attention has been paid to its presence in human consumables, the team said. 
 
 This was the first study to look at micro-plastics in drinking water, they added. 
 
 Samples were collected in the first three months of the year in Kampala, New Delhi, Jakarta, Beirut, Quito, several cities in the United States and in seven European countries. 
 
 All were sent to the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, for lab testing. 
 
 By far the majority of particles found were fibres ranging from 0.1 to five millimetres (0.004-0.2 inches) in length. 
 
 The range was from zero to 57 particles per litre of water, with an average of 4.34 particles per litre. 
 
 "The highest density of plastic per volume of tap water was found in North America and the lowest densities were found, collectively, in seven European countries," wrote the team. 
 
 More research needed 
 
 Based on liquid consumption of three litres (6.3 US pints) per day, as recommended, a man may consume as many as 14 plastic particles daily if his chosen beverages were tap water or made with tap water, said the authors. 
 
 For women, this would amount to about 10 particles for an intake of 2.2 litres. 
 
 "These daily doses add up to an annual total of over 4,000 for men and over 3,000 for women," wrote the team. 
 
 "These plastic particles are in addition to plastics potentially consumed in other products, such as sea salt, beer and seafood." 
 
 A study in January said a European shellfish consumer may be ingesting up to 11,000 micro plastics per year from that source alone. 
 
 For the new study, the researchers used the same plastic containers in which the samples were collected to test treated water from the lab, to rule out plastic contamination from the bottle itself. 
 
 "The results of this study serve... as an initial glimpse at the consequences of human plastic use (and) disposal rather than a comprehensive assessment of global plastic contamination," the team concluded. 
 
 They called for further tests to gather more data about potential pollution sources and pathways, as well as the risks to human health. 
 
 Micro-plastics are less than 5 mm long, about the size of a sesame seed. They come in the form of "micro-beads" used in scrubs and toothpaste, and can also be created when larger pieces of plastic waste degrade. 
 
 Explore further: Tiny plastic particles from clothing, tyres clogging oceans: report
– If you think it takes a liter of water to fill a liter water bottle, the International Bottled Water Association has news for you: It takes more than that. NPR reports on the group's first look at the topic, which found that 1.39 liters (or 47 ounces) are needed to make a one-liter bottle (that's about 34 ounces of water); this includes product water and the water needed for things like cleaning and bottling. It arrived at that figure by asking its members to submit three years of detailed data, touching on factors like total water use and the type of treatment used. Writes IBWA, "The study represents 14.5 million liters of bottled water production, an impressive 43% of total 2011 United States bottled water consumption." That figure applies to US and Canadian companies, and a rep for the group actually calls that "extremely efficient." NPR explains why: A liter of soda demands 2.02 liters of water, while the same quantity of wine requires 4.74 liters. The IBWA chose to stop there in its calculations, but the truth is that the actual "water footprint" is much larger: For instance, oil is needed to make plastic, and drilling for it requires, yep, water—in some cases as much as seven times what the plastic bottle ultimately contains.