Credit: Wikimedia Commons/Afouchardiere

- Advertisement -

It's been seven months since we finished the bottled water challenge. I've been keeping it up - I haven't bought a single bottle of water since then! I've been relying on my lovely Sigg bottle to keep me hydrated. I hope you've all been doing well with this too!

Sales of bottled water are still increasing everywhere, so there's still some work to do on getting the message out. But recently, the Bottled Water Alliance did a survey which revealed the following facts:

• 89% of people think bottled water is an expensive marketing con
• 22% of people always use a reusable bottle
• 39% of people didn't know that restaurants must serve free tap water if requested

I'll admit that I'm part of that last 39% - I always get tap water if it's offered, but I didn't know that it's the law that if I asked for it, the restaurant must provide it for free.

If you've slipped in your bottled water habits, remember these simple steps to get you back on track:

• Get a reusable bottle that you like and can refill from the tap
• If you don't like your tap water, look into getting a filter for it
• Ask for tap water instead of bottled when you're at a restaurant
• Remember the money you're saving by going for the tap instead

Remember, you're doing your bit to save the environment when you leave the bottle behind: 50 million litres of oil are used each year to make the bottles, 80% of which end up in landfill. The carbon emissions are as much as you'd get from driving 13,000 cars for a year!