The real cost of bottled water...

August 2nd, 2007 at 11:37 am

Driving home from work yesterday I was listening to a local radio station. The afternoon DJ has an "audio blog" that he reads from everyday around 5:30. Yesterdays rant was about buying bottled water.

Most of it was re: the chemicals and how it's not really any healthier for you, and how you're drinking water that wildlife has used for a toilet (lovely...).

But at the end he did make one point that just flabbergasted me:

In one year, someone who buys bottled water on a regular basis will spend about $1,400. In one year, someone who drinks tap water instead, will spend about $.49.

Good goddess!!!!!

All I can say is YAY for Brita!!!

Posted in | 20 Comments »

20 Responses to “The real cost of bottled water...”

Ima saver Says:
August 2nd, 2007 at 12:26 pm 1186057560
1186057560

I make my own bottled water. I do spend something for electricity but nothing like $1400!!
disneysteve Says:
August 2nd, 2007 at 01:46 pm 1186062374
1186062374

We drink tap water. We drink it at home. We drink it when we go to restaurants. We drink it when we travel, unless we are in a region that doesn't have a sanitary water supply.

At home, we have a water cooler with a 5-gallon bottle. I refill it from the tap.
Stein Says:
August 2nd, 2007 at 03:13 pm 1186067595
1186067595

It adds up and I also read that about 60% of bottled water is from the tap anyway.

We have a filter on our refrigerator and drink that at home. It is cold, great tasting and never runs out. We usually buy some bottled water while traveling if the local water tastes bad.
annab Says:
August 2nd, 2007 at 03:16 pm 1186067783
1186067783

Not to mention the energy cost -- the oil cost in transporting bottled water from the point of manufacture to the point of sales, also the amount of energy it takes to make the plastic bottles themselves, and the landfill costs for the trash: each bottle is sold as a "single use" item.

Finally -- there's the "hidden" cost: the privitzation of water. You pay for water and sewer from your city, and there's some accountability built into that: your vote can influence city/state policies to ensure your water is safe and available. There's not that accountability when you're buying your water from a manufacturer: they're selling in such a large market that losses in sales in one region can be offset by sales in another.
fern Says:
August 2nd, 2007 at 03:42 pm 1186069345
1186069345

Annab took the words right out of my mouth in her 1st paragraph.

Ten years ago there was no such thing as bottled water. Did anyone feel deprived? I don't think so. Bottled water is all about marketing, creating a product where none existed before.
Joan.of.the.Arch Says:
August 2nd, 2007 at 03:54 pm 1186070044
1186070044

Does no one else taste the PLASTIC bottle in the water? Sometimes (not always) I taste the plastic. Yee-uck. I only buy bottled water when I am desperate for something to drink.
koppur Says:
August 2nd, 2007 at 05:58 pm 1186077532
1186077532

We use a brita in the house and let me tell you, there is no difference in taste between that and bottled water. We don't even repalce the filter in it as often as we are supposed to. Our tap water tastes good as is, and as long as it is icy cold, I'm happy. on occasion I'll buy a bottle of water, but only if I am desperately needing a drink. I usually try to carry one with me.
LuckyRobin Says:
August 2nd, 2007 at 07:39 pm 1186083540
1186083540

We spend about $420 a year on our bottled water. We have it delivered at $7 per five gallon bottle and fill up our own sports bottles and take those with us everywhere. We go through about 25 gallons a month. Our local water supply ends up with e.coli in it two or three times a year, and I've seen first hand the results of e.coli in a child's system with a neighbor child. It is devastating and just not worth it to me.

I never liked the taste of Brita back when I was on city water. It always tasted like charcoal to me. We had a reverse osmosis system for several years, though. We'd still be using it, but it doesn't filter out e.coli.

I'm not sure where that $1400 figure is coming from, unless he is talking about buying 3 16 ounce bottles of water per day at regular retail prices.
Schadenfreude Says:
August 2nd, 2007 at 09:07 pm 1186088865
1186088865

I completely agree! Not only for the cost alone (many times the cost of gasoline per gallon), but the environmental and social impact. For a bottle of "Fiji" water, 7 TIMES the amount of water is needed in production compared to the amount that actually gets into the bottle. 38 billion plastic water bottles get discarded into landfills each year (that's not counting the 23% that people actually recycle). I think the worst part is half the actual residents of Fiji have unsafe drinking water. That's disgraceful
baselle Says:
August 3rd, 2007 at 12:21 am 1186100517
1186100517

We buy bottled water for emergency preparedness, but ordinarily, I have 3 multi-use bottles that I fill from the tap, then stick in the refrigerator. But that is Seattle. If you were living in Tucson, bottled water is safer than having to drink Central Area Project (CAP) water - the water was warm and yellow from the tap there.
pearlieq Says:
August 3rd, 2007 at 12:24 am 1186100668
1186100668

I struggle with this as well. DH and I spend approximately $200/year on bottled water in our home--$4 for a case of 28 bottles of Ice Mountain, not quite weekly.

I really worry about all those bottles. I'm fastidious about recycling, going so far as to carry bottles and cans around with me until I can get them home to recycle if there isn't a place to do it while I'm out. But I know that while recycling is better than not, it still takes energy. I'm interested in reducing our consumption where we can, but I don't want to give it up all the way for two reasons--taste and convenience.

I enjoy the taste of the Ice Mountain brands. I don't care for Dasani or Aquafina, but I can differentiate and genuinely enjoy the taste of Ice Mountain.

I also can't beat the convenience of being able to open the fridge and pull out a perfectly chilled bottle any time I want. I can take it with me when I go out, take it around the house with me without worrying about the cats getting into it or spilling it, and my husband can grab one on his way to work. And while I don't buy into that whole "you must drink 8 glasses of water a day" myth, I do find I drink more water when I've got bottled, which I think is healthful, especially when it replaces other beverages.

There's a happy medium in there for everyone, I think!
JanH Says:
August 3rd, 2007 at 01:49 am 1186105751
1186105751

Our water is often brownish and doesn't taste good. It also upsets my stomach if I drink it a lot. Like Lucky Robin, I have water delivered. It costs me about 200 a year. And that's for the more expensive stuff. Hubby, now, drinks bottled water from the store. He doesn't like "my" water much and his costs around another 500 a year. But we don't have kids at home anymore. My plastic jugs are recycled by the bottler. His gets thrown in the trash, which bugs me a bit. I think that is the biggest problem I have with it--we can't recycle the plastic around here. Wish we could. That would at least counter the costs a bit, knowing we were not trashing the environment as much. We did try the Brita once. Don't have a clue as to why we quit it. lol
Amber Says:
August 3rd, 2007 at 02:53 am 1186109623
1186109623

Wow interesting, I heard something the other day that Aquafina (not sure of the name) uses tap water. And yes tap water is much better for you because it also has fluoride
LuckyRobin Says:
August 3rd, 2007 at 04:09 am 1186114193
1186114193

Ah, but fluoride isn't necessarily a good thing if they use the wrong type, and they often do because it is cheaper, to fluoridate water. Excessive fluoride ingestion by children is not safe, and its not generally safe for adults, either. That's why we spit it out at the dentist and when we brush our teeth instead of swallowing it. And I don't think I need to be bathing in fluroide, either. Personally, I think that if they spent all the money giving out free fluroide drops and tablets (controlled doses) at WIC, (and gave out free toothpaste, brushes, and floss as well), that they do trying to get municipalities to fluridate the water, we wouldn't have near the dental problems with the poor that we do. And the poor and their teeth is the excuse the pro fluroide people always give when pushing it. Most fluroide is a byproduct of manufacturing and of course, the best way for manufacturers to get rid of it is to dupe some municipality into buying it and dumping it into the water supply. Okay, but that's my personal rant. I'll stick to my non-fluridated delivered water, which comes in reusable 5 gallon jugs, and fill my own reuseable drink bottles with it.

Oh, and I hope my response doesn't come off as attitudy or snarky, because it isn't meant like that at all. Fluroide misuse in city water is my pet peeve, so I tend to be passionate about it. Feel free to disagree, LOL.
koppur Says:
August 3rd, 2007 at 11:24 am 1186140252
1186140252

I've heard the same thing from Aquafina. Infact, I heard they are now going to start putting that on the bottle. Some law requires them to.

To me, all bottles water tastes the same anyways. The only one I think tastes any different is Evian. For some reason, if it is warm, I still really like it. But I do try not to buy it often.

We can't recycle where we are either and it drivesme crazy. Worse still, I word for a production house for text books and we don't recycle our paper because "It's too expensive." Cheap-o bastards.
fern Says:
August 3rd, 2007 at 01:15 pm 1186146950
1186146950

I think there are some states that are trying to include things like bottled water and juices with the .05 return given for soda and beer cans. Wouldn't hurt to send a note to your legislator about it.
orchid Says:
August 12th, 2007 at 09:08 pm 1186952894
1186952894

Yes! I have brita too and I love it!
Danaan Says:
August 18th, 2007 at 09:38 pm 1187473080
1187473080

We buy filtered tap water since we don't want to buy, install and maintain our own filter since they go kaput the moment we accidentally run hot water through them. Cost around $25 per gallon.
adage Says:
August 27th, 2007 at 01:53 am 1188179631
1188179631

I made a conscious decision to stop buying bottle water (unless on vacation when there's no choice). I have a PUR water filter at home (water tastes great) and made a bulk purchase of several wide mouth Nalgene bottles, 16oz (purse sized) and the 1L (for hiking or longer trips) from EBAY. The wide mouth bottles are very easy to clean. I always keep a few bottles chilled in the fridge that I can grab on my way out.
Terner Says:
July 10th, 2008 at 12:29 am 1215649787
1215649787

Use the new google alert for the term "boil water" you will get 7-8 boil water alerts per day, of which half are in the US. When was the last time you saw a boil water alert for bottled water in the U.S.? on top of that, why wouldn't you be upset with Coca Cola or Pepsi.. it is basically bottled water with sugar and co2. Is that healthier than bottled water?

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The real cost of bottled water...

20 Responses to “The real cost of bottled water...”

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