Despite tough economic times, people are still shelling out money for bottled water. Why? The primary motivator is convenience, not perceived health benefits, according to a study conducted in the United Kingdom.
Although most study participants said there were general health benefits to bottled water, they were unsure exactly what these benefits were and considered them negligible.
Despite a vague belief about increased healthfulness, most could not identify the health benefit. The most commonly given reason for purchasing bottled water was convenience. Many participants said they drank tap water at home, but purchased bottled water when they were out and about.
“Interestingly, while the majority of participants expressed the belief that bottled water has health benefits of some kind, paradoxically these same participants also stated that the health benefits of bottled water are negligible or nonexistent,” researchers write in the study. “This perhaps reflects confusion in the general public.”
No wonder they are confused. Although Americans drank 9 billion gallons of bottled water last year, or slightly more than 29 gallons for every man, woman, and child in the country, they also spent $22 billion on a product that critics of the bottled water industry say they should be getting for free from their home faucets.
Roughly 45% of the water sold in single-serve bottles comes from a municipal water source!
By law, bottled water that comes from a municipal water supply has to disclose this on its label unless the bottler takes steps to further purify the water, which most do. In this case, the label will say "purified water" or "purified drinking water," but the original source is probably tap water.
Water labeled "spring water" comes from an underground water spring, but it may be piped to the bottling plant.
"Mineral water" comes from an underground source and must contain no less than 250 parts per million total dissolved solids, such as salts, sulfur compounds, and gasses. No minerals may be added to the water by the bottler.
"Artesian water" or "artesian well water" must come from a well that taps a confined aquifer.
Do you buy bottled water?
Comments (15)
Unfortunately, I do.
Not that often, but we do have a few in the house.
No, I don't. I think whoever came up with the idea was a bleepin genius!! !!
yeah ii do =T
Only when I don't have a tap or a drink on me. And then when I'm done drinking the bottled water, I fill it up with tap water from home and reuse the bottle.
I don't buy it anymore; I use a Brita filter. However, we have a couple of bottles in the fridge and a box of it for emergency purposes in the closet because my boyfriend's family business made labels for thousands of bottles of water, and then the water company went out of business. So they're stuck with, like, 16 pallets of the stuff, and we get a box or two every so often. It's not like they can sell them now, so what else are you supposed to do with all that bottled water other than drink it before it goes bad from the plastic?
No, very rarely... I always have a water container/bottle with me so I can refill it as much as possible if needed.
only if i'm in need of water (in other words, only if i'm dehydrated).. but yeah, most of the time, i drink water that's either from a brita filter or a fountain... but if it's from a fountain and the fountain is right by a washroom, i question whether that water is recycled or directly from the water plant...
does anyone else wonder about that? LOL
not to scare you or anything, i'm probably sure it's clean, unless the washrooms are backflowing...
yes i do
I hardly drink bottled water, except when there's no drinkable water source around. We have a really great filter at home to ensure our water is clean and drinkable, so I don't have to spurge on those bottled water.
Before, I used to just drink water from tap, back in NY...purely refreshing, nice and cold.
RIght now I am in nevada...and their water..well, it sucks. So bottled water is really the only thing to get (Mainly Smartwater), or filling up gallons of water at machines at local supermarkers.
yes i do...
genius..take something free and put it in a plastic bottle and sell it to people who are willing to buy it for a butt load of money!
and let's gouge the prices at clubs and sporting events and raves...$8-10 dollars...for a mini bottle...wtf?!?!
Not often. We use a Brita filter at home, as Daytona Beach tap water tastes and smells like a swimming pool (I even filled the tub up once and it had that pool-green tinge to it!) and I usually just order tap water at restaurants, but if I'm going to be out and about I'll buy a bottle to take with me. Thats about it.
Occasionally, but then I reuse the bottles and fill them up with water from the fridge.
Not very often. We have a well with good water and refill plastic containers with it when needed.