译者 piaao
In 1976 Americans drank an average of 1.6 gallons of bottled water every year. Roughly 30 years later consumption increased to 30 gallons per person, according to the Earth Policy Institute --- despite the fact that bottled water can cost anywhere from 240 to 10,000 times more than tap water, which is brought right to your home for pennies a gallon. Bottled water also creates its own share of pollution --- the production of plastic bottles requires millions of barrels of oil per year and the transportation of bottled water from its source to stores releases thousands of tons of carbon dioxide. (See References 1)
1976年，美国人每年平均饮用1.6加仑的瓶装水。30年后，据地球政策研究所统计——增长到每人30加仑。尽管瓶装水成本是自来水的240到一万倍，带到您家的这些自来水几便士每加仑。瓶装水同时也造成固有污染——塑料瓶生产每年需要几百万加仑的原油，运输瓶装水到便利店也产生数以千吨的CO2。
Oil Consumption
油耗
According to "National Geographic," Americans drink more bottled water than any other nation, purchasing an impressive 29 billion bottles every year. Making all the plastic for those bottles uses 17 million barrels of crude oil annually. That is equivalent to the fuel needed to keep 1 million vehicles on the road for 12 months. If you were to fill one quarter of a plastic water bottle with oil, you would be looking at roughly the amount used to produce that bottle. (See References 2)
据国家地理报道，美国人饮用的瓶装水比世界上任何一个国家都多，每年购买令人咂舌的290亿瓶。为这些瓶子制造的塑料每年消耗一千七百万桶原油。等价于一百万车辆行驶一年的燃料。如果你将油装到塑料瓶的四分之一，你看到的差不多是制造这个瓶子所消耗的石油。
Recycling回收
The recycling rate for those 29 billion bottles of water is low; only about 13 percent end up in the recycling stream where they are turned into products like fleece clothing, carpeting, decking, playground equipment and new containers and bottles. In 2005, that meant approximately 2 million tons of water bottles ended up in U.S. landfills, according to the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) (see References 3, Question 7). Plastic bottles take centuries to decompose and if they are incinerated, toxic byproducts, such as chlorine gas and ash containing heavy metals, are released into the atmosphere.
290亿只瓶装水的回收率低，只有大约13%以转变为产品而结束。这些产品包括羊毛衣、毛毯、装饰物、运动场地设施、新的容器和瓶罐。这意味着在2005年，据美国自然资源保护委员会统计，有近2百万吨废水瓶躺在美国的垃圾场里。塑料瓶需要几个世纪的时间腐化，有毒的副产品，如氯气和重金属粉尘被排放到大气层。
Transportation
运输
Bottled water often takes a long journey to U.S. markets. In 2006, the equivalent of 2 billion half-liter bottles arrived in U.S. ports, according to the NRDC. Fiji shipped 18 million gallons of bottled water to California, releasing about 2,500 tons of transportation-related pollution. Western Europe's shipment of bottled water to New York City that year released 3,800 tons of pollution. (See References 3, Question 7) The Earth Policy Institute estimates that the energy used to pump, process, transport and refrigerate bottled water is over 50 million barrels of oil annually (see References 4).
瓶装水常常是长途跋涉来到美国市场。据自然资源保护委员会2006的报告，有约20亿500ml瓶装水来到美国。斐济海运1800万加仑瓶装水到加利佛利亚，释放大约2500吨运输相关污染物。西欧当年运输到纽约的瓶装水释放污染也有3800吨。地球政策研究所估计：用于抽水、生产、运输、净化瓶装水的能源超过5000万桶原油。
Contaminants
污染物
Bottled water isn't always as safe as tap water. The NRDC conducted a four-year study of the bottled water industry and concluded that while most bottled water is safe to drink, there are areas of concern. Roughly 22 percent of the water tested contained contaminant levels that exceeded strict state health limits. One study found that hormone-disrupting phthalates had leached into bottled water that had been stored for 10 weeks. (See References 3, Questions 2 & 3)
瓶装水并不总是比自来水卫生。自然资源保护委员会进行为期四年的瓶装水产业研究，得出结论——虽然大多数瓶装水达到饮用水的标准，仍然有令人担忧的地方。大约22%接受测试的瓶装水含有的污染物超过国家高级健康标准。另一份研究表明，储存超过10周后，干扰激素邻苯二甲酸盐会渗透到瓶装水里。
