I drink a lot of water, and actually believe that different waters have different tastes, based on their pH and mineral content, for example. In my head, its easier to justify spending 3$ on a 500 ml bottle of water than it is spending 3$ for a can or RedBull that only contains about 300 ml. Still, many of my friends call me crazy. I go to great lengths to find the best bottled waters, not to say I do not enjoy filtered or unfiltered tap water. But let’s be honest, it depends on where you live. Still, this (probably) equates to perhaps several hundreds of dollars per month in spending, since bottled water isn’t “cheap”. Anyhow, let me know what you think.
A scam, yes - just one more marketing-driven “must have” people have come to take as a necessity. The question pretty much answers itself.
Consider that tap water costs about 0.05 cents per liter - $2.00 per thousand gallons. Even at that, drinking water is essentially free in most households since water consumed is a fraction of the total water used for bathing, laundry, cooking etc.
Most bottled water is either shipped from the far side of the world, giving it a huge carbon footprint on top of an inflated price, or it’s… local water, bottled for you by the region’s Coke plant.
So if you can justify around 50,000% more for someone to put it in a bottle for you, feel free. Millions do.
On a hot humid sweaty day when you’re parched and hurtin,’ NOTHING is more welcome than a small glass of chilled mineral water. Particularly Gerolsteiner, product of Germany.
I’m willing to pay 50,000% for that (once in a while, not daily), and screw the carbon footprint.
The 50k% applies to a 25-cent liter like those you get at Sam’s Club.
At $1 a liter, it’s 400,000%.
At Gerolsteiner’s $3.25 a liter (Jet.com price), it’s 1,300,000%. A santé.
I traveled to India a few years ago, and in much of that country (even in the big cities), you can’t drink the water straight from the tap without risking illness. Some people have filters and some boil the drinking water, but if not, bottled water is the alternative. (You have to be careful, though, as I’ve heard of people refilling plastic water bottles with whatever local water is available.)
On the other hand, in the US, virtually everywhere you go the tap water is completely safe to drink, as is the water I use to flush the toilet or wash my car. It’s quite a luxury. (I do drink bottled water on rare occasions when traveling.)
I vote scam…but then again I live in the St louis area. Our tap water is GREAT.
A lot of bottled water is simply filtered tap water.
When I buy bottled water, I am paying for the bottle more than the water. It makes it easy to carry and then it is disposable. Carrying around a cup is a pain in the neck, so I think bottled water can be a good deal for the convenience. When I am at home though it is always tap water.
What’s the scam? They’re offering water for X dollars per gallon, and you’re willing to pay what they’re asking. You get water, which is what you expected.
If you are under the impression that bottled water is healthier or safer or ?er than tap water, you’ll have to spend some money to prove it. My city provides annual reports on water quality in which they list the measured concentrations of various undesirable contaminants (chlorine, chloramine, lead, etc.); next to each reported value they list the applicable standard to be met, so you can see how they’re doing.
My city always meets or beats the standards, but I can’t definitively say the same for bottled water since I can’t easily get my hands on a report for it. I don’t have any particular doubts about bottled water’s safety. If I have a choice, I’ll drink tap water, but that’s because they taste the same to me and I’d rather save my money. If bottled water is all that’s available - e.g. if I’m at a gas station with no public drinking fountain - then I’m fine with getting bottled water.
If you think bottled water tastes better than tap water - by a large enough margin to justify its price - then go for it. There’s no scam involved there; you just have a sense of taste (or a perception of value) that is far, far different from mine.
I bought a bottle of water at work because the tap water here tastes nasty. I refill it at home because our well water is good, and I bring it with me every day. Under most circumstances, I won’t buy bottled water.
I have a sister, however, who refuses to drink or cook with tap water. They always have the big blue bottle mounted in the dispenser in their kitchen. She also sends her husband out to buy bags of ice - I wonder what water is used for that? And she drinks fountain sodas - does she think they use bottled water for that? yeah, she’s nuts…
In the US or most of Europe, I’d say it’s a scam. It’s all safe to drink, and any issues with taste, turbidity, etc… can be easily rectified with a Brita-style filter, which costs much less than its equivalent in bottled water.
I find that the best still water is Ougaku (from Japan). The best one widely available would have to be Evian for me, with Icelandic as a close second. For sparkling water, Badoit would have to be my favorite. I enjoy its mineral richness. The only problem with tap water I have is that the treatment process usually makes the water slightly acidic (below 7 pH), which reduces the benefits of water. Its important to drink water that has a pH around or above 7.3, which is the pH our blood has. For me, water is a passion, which is why I don’t mind the price tag. But with the pollution caused by plastic bottles, the monopolies by companies such as PepsiCo, Coca-Cola and now Nestlé, and the millions of people who still don’t have access to water, I’m beginning to question things. Then again, driving your car to work, in comparison I guess, is just as harmful.
True. You’re probably thinking of Dasani and Aquafina, or even SmartWater, which is just distilled water from Boggs in PA. But many popular brands like Poland, PureLife, Evian and such come from natural springs, hence the term spring water. But you’re right, paying for tap water, whether it has been filtered, mineralized or demineralized seems like a scam.
Well said.
In most of the places I have lived, the tap water tasted bad.
I take my 5 gallon bottles and have them refilled with the filtered from the water store.
Billions of dollars in marketing every year, promoting it as a worthwhile product. They’re not “offering” it, they’re all but waterboarding us with it.
I think it is a scam that capitalizes on a commodity that has been essentially free, by stoking fear that your city’s tap water is poor tasting and/or potentially dangerous. The power of suggestion at work here. Recent events such as Flint, MI only help the bottlers bottom line, but for a majority of cities the tap water is just fine. Sometimes a bottle of water is needed for convenience, or emergencies, I will grant that.
This article is a bit dated, but shows the movement by city governments to rid themselves of bottled water due to cost and environmental concerns, and being that the tap water they provide (that everyone pays for) is just as good - the bottled water being an un-necessity.
People have figured-out how to commercialize formerly free things, like water (bottled water), space (storage units), and TV (cable). These things all have lobbies that help fight against anything that could be seen as hurting their cause. Of course they are going to spend money convincing you their water is somehow “better” than what comes out of your tap, but your local city will not spend anything to try and get you to drink tap water.
Nestle Pure Life is purified Dallas municipal water "purified’ through reverse osmosis. Does not sound like a “natural spring” to me.
Depends on where you live. In Canada, its sourced from a natural spring in Ontario. Same goes for many different brands depending on where you live. Should have mentioned. My bad.
Sorry, but no tap water is going to taste like Gerolsteiner. It has a very strong metallic taste that you can’t get from the tap or anywhere else. It’s like comparing tap water to whiskey. There’s a big mark up in comparison, but the two aren’t the same thing.
I’m not the one who made the comparison. If it’s not “water,” it’s an inappropriate example.