A student is writing an argumentative essay about why people should decrease the use of bottled water. Read the paragraph from his report and the directions that follow.
Americans are fortunate to live in a country where clean drinking water is readily available. Every year we buy over eight million gallons of bottled water. The use of bottled water is not worth the cost to our environment. Most people think that they are drinking better water when it comes from a bottle. In fact, 40% of all bottled water is just plain tap water like the kind that comes out of your sink in your home. Convenience is another reason people buy bottled water but drinking tap water from a fountain or from the sink is easy too. There is no doubt that bottled water is a life–saving product when natural disasters make local water supplies unusable, but for everyday use, it is not necessary. It takes millions of barrels of oil each year to make plastic bottles that hold the water. Only about 20% of these plastic bottles ever make it to the recycling center. The rest end up in the garbage and are filling up landfills.
The student found information in sources. Choose a piece of information that supports the claim in the student's paragraph.
A.
Plastic water bottles take up to 1000 years to biodegrade in landfills.
B.
Most brands of bottled water do not contain any fluoride.
C.
The sale of single–serving bottled water is against the law in Concord, MA.
D.
The Environmental Protection Agency makes and enforces regulations for the safety of tap water.
1 answer
A. Plastic water bottles take up to 1000 years to biodegrade in landfills.
This piece of information directly supports the claim in the student's paragraph that the use of bottled water is not worth the cost to our environment, as it emphasizes the environmental impact of plastic bottles.
