This article is not first one on Green Prophet dealing with water and other beverages sold in polyethylene and polystyrene bottles; and it probably won’t be the last either. But the increasing environmental damage, as well as health hazards being caused by this method on containerizing beverages, especially H2O, is something that should be dealt with more urgently, and the sooner the better.

Bottled water has become such an issue in spoiled, modernized societies (especially the USA) that people have this “commodity” at the top of their shopping list when they go to their neighborhood Costco or Walmart Super Center in American cities.

Although sometimes packaged and sold as “mineral water,” i.e. pure, mountain spring water that is free of chlorine and other chemicals, most bottled water is simply ordinary tap water that has gone through a filtration process to get rid of these chemicals and improve the water’s taste as well.

Bottled water sold here in Middle East, whether it comes from Lebanon’s Mt. Lebanon (where those stately cedars still grow and are threatened by climate change), the pristine springs and streams on Mt. Hermon (where Israel’s Mei Eden brand is made from), or the ones that flow into the Dead Sea (Ein Gedi brand), is still bottled water that came from somewhere, whether from an actual mountain spring or not.

Recently, even Israeli companies like Mei Eden and Netivot had to suspend their bottling temporarily when contamination was found in the water due to insufficient rainfall.