"Don't drink the water." Most opt for bottled in Mexico

By Tim Johnson
Kansas City Star

It's a simple warning - don't drink the tap water - and Mexicans take it to heart as much as any foreign tourist does.

Mexicans drink more bottled water than the citizens of any other country do, an average of 61.8 gallons per person each year, according to the Beverage Marketing Corp., a consultancy. That's far higher than Italy, and more than twice as much as in the United States.

The boom in bottled water has an underside, too. Empty plastic water bottles litter landfills and roadsides at a rate that alarms consumer and environmental groups. Recycling experts say that only about one-eighth of the 21.3 million plastic water and soft drink bottles that are emptied each day in Mexico get recycled.

www.kansascity.com/2010/05/30/1980465/in-mexico-fear-of-tap-water-fuels.html