Consuming bottled water requires >1000x the energy required for tap water

Physorg.com - How Much Energy Goes Into Making a Bottle of Water?

Bottling water includes the following steps: getting the water, making the bottles & caps, shipping it, then maintaining it at the local stores. The energy costs of making the bottles and caps is estimated to be 4,000,000 joules for a 1-liter bottle; given the current levels of consumption in the US, that equates to ~17,000,000 barrels of oil per year. One of the other factors is the two types of water sold in the US: purified water and spring water. Purified water is tap water that is treated, accounting for 44% of sales; spring water is taken from underground sources, 56% of sales. One part of the study looked at purified water (taken from taps) distributed locally in LA. The process of distribution was estimated at 1,400,000 joules for 1-liter. Obviously shipping spring water from Fiji or France (Evian) uses vastly more energy (also estimated in the study). Compare all this with the estimated 5000 total joules to get a liter of water from the tap.