Not surprisingly, sales of bottled water have been soaring here.
Between 2012 and 2017, Rs9,010 crore worth of bottled water was sold in the country, growing at 184%, according to data from research firm Euromonitor.
Meanwhile, volume growth stood at over 150% from 5.3 billion litres in 2012 to 13.3 billion litres in 2017, Euromonitor estimates.
Bottled water sales in India have been on the rise ’12’13’14’15’16’1702,3754,7507,125Rs9,500 crore02,3754,7507,125 Data: Euromonitor So, who’s buying all this bottled water?
It was mostly urban Indian consumers with higher disposable income but facing an acute shortage of potable water, according to Mintel’s research.
For years, consumers in hot and humid India drank copious amounts of colas and home-made beverages.
However, recent trends have shown a marked shift.
The government, too, chipped in recently by imposing higher taxes on sugary drinks, citing health concerns.
Meanwhile, a recent study published by the State University of New York found particles of plastic present in bottled water brands the world over, including those sold in India.
The category is projected to grow at over 20% for the next five years, according to Euromonitor.

Every human who drinks water from a tap or bottle is exposed to tiny pieces of plastic, but no one knows yet what effect this has on our health.
But experts don’t yet know what effect this has on our health and say there is not enough evidence to blame the plastic bottles themselves for the particles.
The tests, on more than 250 bottles from 11 different brands found an average of 325 particles per bottle.
The bottled water had around twice the plastic particles of tap water tested in other studies.
“What worries me is that most people who are drinking bottled water are doing so because they believe it is healthier than tap water,” said Professor Mason in a recorded interview.
“Some particles might lodge in the intestinal wall,” according to Orb Media.
“These chemicals are very persistent and can linger for a long time in the environment.” As far as the Orb study was concerned, Muncke said it was “well conducted but the result does not provide scientific evidence that the source of the microplastic is the packaging.
Micro-plastic is everywhere.” Muncke believes that the particles probably got into the bottled water at various stages of processing, including while being bottled at source, in factories and through packaging.
Plastic is everywhere.
“For WHO to make an informed risk assessment, we would need to establish that microplastics occur in water at concentrations that would be harmful to human health.

FSU’s World Water Day event was put on by Take Back the Tap (TBTT).
The FSU campaign is housed under Sustainable Campus and aims to transform FSU into a “bottled water free campus.” The event featured different games that focused on environmental issues as well as visiting organizations centered around environmentalism.
In addition to promoting Tallahassee water, the water wagon was also distributing reusable City of Tallahassee water bottles.
In addition, the event featured two game stations that tested attendee’s knowledge of conservation and environmentalism.
She was overseeing the recycling game at the World Water Day event and commented on the way in which recycling and water conservation intertwine.
“Recycling ties into World Water Day because it just helps make the world, as cheesy as it sounds, a better place,” Perez said.
World Water Day is more important than ever for places like Cape Town, South Africa.
“It’s important in general because, I mean, the world has a plastic problem,” Oberlink said.
Plastic water bottles are also even further unregulated than tap water.” TBTT received over 300 pledges to stop using plastic water bottles at the World Water Day event.
On top of that, TBTT is trying to get the university to fund reusable water bottles to give out at campus tours/orientations as opposed to the plastic bottles that visitors currently receive when on campus.

Celeste Digiovanni may have found a solution for schools that have banned the sale of bottled water on campus.
(University of Ottawa) After banning the sale of bottled water on campus in 2010 to cut down on waste produced by plastic bottles, the University of Ottawa has launched a new initiative — selling aluminum bottles in campus vending machines.
She said the plastic water bottle ban left a gap for students who wanted easy access to transportable water.
She said many students — herself included — were buying bottled beverages, such as pop, from vending machines and reusing the bottles for water.
Wanted portable access to water Digiovanni met with the campus sustainability manager and landed herself an internship with the sustainability office to come up with a plan to come up with a solution.
Ultimately they decided to sell aluminum bottles in vending machines.
The bottles cost $3 each, and are sold empty — that way students are still encouraged to use public water and at the same time making it portable.
The bottles can be used over and over again.
Digiovanni now hopes that other schools might look at the new program for inspiration.
"I’m really hoping they might take it on."

McGill University is making the move to phase out the sale of bottled water on campus.
The McGill Office of Sustainability, which is leading the charge towards a greener campus, argues that bottled water comes at a heavy price.
Not only do the water bottles generate a lot of waste — most of which is not recycled — but three litres of water goes into the production of just one litre of bottled water, according to a statement posted by the sustainability office.
READ MORE: Could Montreal ban plastic water bottles?
The office says it will also work with partners to ensure events held on university grounds have the necessary tools at their disposal to reduce or eliminate the distribution of bottled water during McGill events.
One solution includes the use of a mobile water kiosk, that organizers can rent for outdoor events.
The kiosk provides filtered water, free of charge, to anyone with a refillable container.
READ MORE: How often should you wash your reusable water bottle?
Consultants are also available to help organize activities that are more environmentally friendly, as well as inclusive and accessible.
© 2018 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has said that it is launching a review of the potential risks of plastic particles in drinking water.
The announcement comes after a study found that over 90 percent of the world’s most popular bottled water brands contain microplastic.
The analysis was conducted by the State University of New York in Fredonia as part of a project from Orb Media.
259 bottles were bought in China, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Lebanon, Kenya, Thailand and the United States.
Out of all the bottles tested, only 17 were found to be plastic-free while on average, each liter sold contained 325 pieces of microplastic.
These included polypropylene, nylon, and polyethylene terephthalate.
In one case, a bottle of Nestlé Pure Life contained over 10,000 pieces of microplastic while high levels were also present in bottles from Bisleri, Gerolsteiner and Aqua.
WHO officials have said that while there is no evidence that ingestion of these microplastic fibres can cause health problems, it does remain an emerging area of concern.

A case of bottled water – which a Bennington resident told police was purchased from Walmart last month with multiple pinholes through the wrapper and bottle caps – was shown in a Facebook post that has been shared thousands of times.
BENNINGTON — A social media post that purportedly showed a case of bottled water purchased at a local big-box store with multiple punctures in it launched a police investigation this month.
"Currently, there does not appear to be any danger to the public," Bennington police said in a statement issued Thursday.
A case of bottled water — which a Bennington resident told police was purchased from Walmart last month with multiple pinholes through the wrapper and bottle caps — is shown in a Facebook post that has been shared thousands of times.
No other cases of water have been found with punctures in them, according to police, who say staff of the Walmart on Northside Drive "have been extremely cooperative and helpful with the investigation."
The incident in Bennington was referenced in a recent article on the fact-checking website Snopes.com.
The site lists the claim as false.
"Possible explanations for the punctured caps include a manufacturing mistake of some kind, tampering prior to the bottles being packaged, or tampering by the purchaser after the package was opened," the Snopes article states.
Bennington police say the incident is still under investigation.
"As always, consumers should be cautious, and observant, of any purchases made at any store of products that can be tampered with," police said.

McGill says it currently sells about 85,000 plastic water bottles every year and thousands more are distributed at special events.
(Navneet Pall/CBC) Plastic water bottles will soon be a thing of the past at McGill, as the university plans to phase out the sale of bottled water on its campuses over the next 14 months.
Non-carbonated bottled water will no longer be sold in vending machines and anywhere food is sold on McGill’s downtown and Macdonald campuses by May 2019, the university said on Friday.
François Miller, director of the McGill Office of Sustainability, told CBC News he was "convinced" the move has popular support at the school.
He said McGill currently sells around 85,000 single-use, plastic water bottles every year and thousands more are distributed during special events.
(Navneet Pall/CBC) "We think that by phasing out those bottles over the course of the next 14 months, it will have a large impact on McGill’s sustainability in general," Miller said.
McGill says it will improve existing water fountains and build 25 new ones as part of the $150,000 project.
She said it will be great to have more water fountains on campus.
Sayeef Mohammed, a mechanical engineering student at McGill, said getting rid of plastic water bottles campus-wide is "a great initiative in trying to make [it] more sustainable."
Bottled water is "a luxury that is completely unnecessary," Mohammed told CBC News.

Researchers release a warning on plastics found in water bottles.
A recent study found that 93 percent of bottled water contained signs of contamination with microplastics.
More than just water However, it’s not just bottled water that health experts are worried about.
A number of industrial and consumer products made of plastic contain endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), which can negatively impact human health.
EDCs are chemicals found in a number of everyday products that can interfere with hormones.
Even in low doses, they can lead to a number of abnormalities in the body.
And that’s just one of many chemicals.
Affecting future generations A recent study by the Endocrine Society found that the impact of EDCs could extend beyond more than one generation by contributing to a significant drop in sperm count and sperm quality.
Researchers said this suggests prenatal exposure to DEHP can impact both fertility and reproductive capacity of more than one generation.
This, coupled with controversy surrounding the safe doses of various EDCs, has impacted the development of federal regulations and guidelines.

But recently, the WHO has found that 90% of bottled water contains microplastics.
But even more alarming was the second study that found that there are also microplastics in as much as 90% of the bottled water consumed in the world.
On average, scientists found 325 plastic particles per liter.
So far the only response by the bottled water industry to this research has come from just two big brands who while they confirm that their bottled water contains microplastics they also claim that the amounts that the study conducted by Orb overstates the amounts.
Scientists at the State University of New York used infrared microscopes to analyze the particles found in the water, that were confirmed to indeed be plastic particles.
Hence, why the World Health Organization has now launched a review into this.
More Studies Into Microplastics in Bottled Water The Guardian article also mentions another study that was commissioned by Story of Stuff, a U.S. based campaign group.
In the case of that study, only 19 brands of bottled water were analyzed and all of them were from the United States.
According to the Story of Stuff study, bottles of Fiji Water contained 12 plastic microfibers for each liter of water.
Boxed Water, another popular brand, was revealed to contain about 58.6 plastic microfibers on average for each liter of water.