Drinking Bottled Water Brings More Harm than Good. Do you agree or disagree?

Bottled water has become an inseparable part of Indonesia's lifestyle since its first
introduction to the public in 1970. According to a report by Indonesian Association of
Packaged Drinking Water, the production of Indonesia's bottled water industry reached 24.7
billion liters in 2015. Although it has been known to be an essential part of the water drinking
habit of Indonesia's public, many argue that drinking bottled water brings more harm than
good. I absolutely agree with this viewpoint, and I believe that the bottled water industry has
far more detrimental consequences than benefits.
First, bottled water can lead to health risks because of its microplastic content.
Microplastic is small pieces of plastic debris less than five millimeters in size. In their
research, Mason et al. (2018) stated that 93% of various brands of bottled water showed
signs of microplastic contamination. One theory suggests that the act of opening bottled water
might be the reason why microplastic can be found in the drinking water, imposing various
health risks. For instance, consuming microplastic is linked to affect the lymphatic system
through blood absorption. Other organs, including the liver, spleen, kidneys, heart, and even
the brain, are vulnerable to microplastic's harmful effects on human health (Karapanagioti
and Kalayrouziotis, 2020). That is why drinking bottled water in daily activities is not
beneficial for our health.
Second, the increase in bottled water consumption negatively impacts the
environment by contributing to global plastic pollution. According to Dutta et al. (2018), six
hundred billion plastic bottles are thrown out every year worldwide, with a significant
amount of these bottles ending up in landfills or oceans. As a result, ecosystems are
disrupted, and wildlife is endangered as a result of animals becoming entangled in plastic
trash or ingesting it. For example, nearly all species of sea turtle are classified as endangered,
with plastics being one of the main drives to its extinction. A sperm whale was discovered
dead in Indonesia after ingesting a large amount of plastic, including plastic bottles, adding to
the hundreds of thousands of marine mammals that have died due to plastic pollution. Thus,
the constant consumption of bottled water consumption has been shown to have a negative
influence on the environment.
In conclusion, from the standpoint of human health and ecology, consuming bottled
water causes more harm than good. There are efforts that need to be made by all sides to shift
back our drinking habit from bottled water to other sources. We can achieve a better lifestyle
and save the environment by gradually reducing our dependency on bottled water.  
References:
Dutta, S., Nadaf, M., & Mandal, J. (2016). An Overview on the Use of Waste Plastic Bottles
and Fly Ash in Civil Engineering Applications. Procedia Environmental Sciences, 35,
681–691. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proenv.2016.07.067
Mason, S. A., Welch, V. G., & Neratko, J. (2018). Synthetic Polymer Contamination in
Bottled Water. Frontiers in Chemistry, 6. https://doi.org/10.3389/fchem.2018.00407
Karapanagioti, H. K., & Kalavrouziotis, I. K. (2020). Microplastics in Water and Wastewater
(2nd ed.). Iwa Pub.