Bottled water facts

Most bottled water containers are made from recyclable PET plastic, and some of these bottles end up in the waste stream in landfills. The financial and environmental costs of transportation bottled water have been another concern because of the energy used and the consequent release of carbon dioxide and the potential impact on climate change.

In some cases it can be shown that bottled water is actually tap water. However it is also argued that the quality specifications for some bottled waters in some jurisdictions are more stringent than the standards for tap-water. In the USA, bottled water that comes from municipal suppliers must be clearly labeled as such unless it has been sufficiently processed to be labeled as “distilled” or “purified”.

Perceptions about Bottled Water

How long will bottled water last-Bottled water is perceived by many as being a safer alternative to other sources of water such as tap water. Bottled water usage has increased even in countries where clean tap water is present. This may be attributed to consumers disliking the taste of tap water or its organoleptics. Another contributing factor to this shift could be the marketing success of bottled water. The success of bottled water marketing can be seen by Perrier's transformation of a bottle of water into a status symbol. However, while bottled water has grown in both consumption and sales, the industry’s advertising expenses are considerably less than other beverages. According to the Beverage Marketing Corporation , in 2013, the bottled water industry spent $60.6 million on advertising. That same year, sports drinks spent $128 million, sodas spent $564 million, and beer spent $1 billion.

Consumers tend to choose bottled water due to health related reasons. In communities that experience problems with their tap water, bottled water consumption is significantly higher. The International Bottled Water Association guidelines state that bottled water companies cannot compare their product to tap water in marketing operations. Consumers are also affected by memories associated with particular brands. For example, Coca-Cola took their Dasani product off of the UK market after finding levels of bro-mated that were higher than legal standards because consumers in the UK associated this flaw with the Dasani product.^[

"Bottled water sales are higher amongst African – American, Asians and Hispanic groups, which typically have lower incomes than whites. Some hypothesize that these differences are due to the geographic distribution of ethnic groups. It was theorized that ethnic differences in bottled water usage "mirror the variability of water system quality between urban, suburban and rural areas  and it was also pointed out that they might reflect the memory of past problems caused by deficient tap-water systems in deprived areas . In France, a similar geographic study in the early 1970s found that bottled water consumption was found to be much higher in urban areas . This finding was "also explained in terms of the poor quality of urban tap water and of the bad condition of the old lead pipes in French cities. Nonetheless, while poor tap water quality may motivate the public to search for alternative sources, it alone does not necessarily lead to higher consumption of bottled water.

Some surveys "found that bottled water, far from being an alternative to tap water, seems to be mostly consumed as a substitute for alcoholic and traditional soft drinks  – the exception being when water contamination presents serious health risks and the trust in the tap water company is highly eroded  . Another explanation for the rise in popularity of bottled water is alternative explanation is that "the consumption of 'pure' and 'natural' bottled water in degraded environments may represent a symbolic purging behavior.