Water bottles, the small ones up to gallon containers and even the three gallon containers, have become so flimsy that you might as well be drinking water from Ziploc bags. They should market them as collapsible, because some of the bottles will almost collapse when you try to open them. Some, if not many of the bottles today, are not ideal for long-term water storage, because of how thin the material is.
The packaging now makes it more difficult to store them long-term, because they are easily punctured and they will crack and begin to leak sitting on the shelf. The material becomes brittle and cracks even when not being handled.
Supposedly the bottles are made this way to cut down on the amount of plastics in landfills. The manufactures have come out ahead however, because of the reduced costs of materials that go into producing the bottles.
According to miwaterstewardship.org it can take up to 450 years for the average plastic beverage bottle to decompose. Therefore, the reasoning is that the less material in a plastic beverage bottle the less time it takes to decompose completely. This of course begs the question, why do they feel so cheap that they may not last the trip home from the grocery store then (Michigan Water, 2015).
Of course, there are water bottles that are rather sturdy, and can be refilled repeatedly for storage of water. You will likely pay more, but you buy less often if you can refill them from your tap or other reliable source.
The point is of course is that in many situations, you would need reliable water storage containers that can be easily transported, and can take a little rough handling in a backpack or vehicle. The cheap bottles you buy at the store may not hold up long enough in the trunk of your car to get a case home. (continue reading)