A Critical Response to Tom Standage’s “Bad To the Last Drop”

In “Bad To The Last Drop,” Tom Standage talks about our lifestyle option in choosing the type of water we drink: tap water or bottled water. It wasn’t till the end of the editorial I understood the message he was trying to convey. He doesn’t state which side he is defending or arguing against, but rather give an opinion to both sides of tap and bottled water. Those who drink tap water have the fear of getting sick from drinking it than they do from bottled water.
Tom argues that “for people living in the developing world...access to water remains a matter of life or death.” So contracting a sickness due to an improper filtration or lack thereof, isn’t an unusual thing in developing countries. Countless amount of the poverty population live in villages where there is no clean water and rely on the river water or ponds that are situated miles away from their homes. Upon receiving international aid, the countries start to get dependant on it, and won’t be able to raise above the poverty line.
Providing clean water to the world is another main concern that Standage discusses in the editorial. Projects that could help provide clean water (1.7 bill/yr) and improve sanitation (9.3 bill/yr) around the world is less than the annual spending on bottled water.

Bottled water has its effects on the environment. First of all, we know that plastic is a renewable resource, and the water we use is as well. The resulting product from filling the plastic bottles becomes heavy and costs alot of money to ship. We also know that our natural resources are slowly depleting yet we haven’t found anything to begin the replacing process. And thirdly, using up these resources is causing a great impact on our environment. The wastes end up in landfills, trash, lakes, rivers, and oceans despite efforts to prioritize the