The Booming Plastic Water Bottle Industry Poses a Huge Problem.
The bottled water industry is expected to nearly double by 2030, with global sales reaching 350 billion liters and valued at an estimated $270 billion in 2021. However, the industry's growth comes at a huge environmental, climate, and social cost, according to a report by the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health. Groundwater extraction to fill billions of plastic bottles a year poses a potential threat to drinking water resources and feeds the world's plastic pollution crisis, while the industry's growth helps distract attention and resources away from funding the public-water infrastructure desperately needed in many countries.