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Bottled Water - the $100 Billion Fraud Industry

news.yahoo.com — Consumers spend a collective $100 billion every year on bottled water in the belief--often mistaken, as it happens--that this is better for us than what flows from our taps. At up to $2.50 per liter ($10 per gallon), bottled water costs more than gasoline in the United States.

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  • uncle_dad, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I always figure that it comes out of a tap somewhere, I'm under no illusions.

    Except Evian...that's good water.
  • GrahamStw, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4In 2004 Coke had to withdraw Dasani from sale in the UK after it was discovered that they had added illegally high levels of bromate to the water. Bromate has been linked to cancer and some of their samples contained more than double the UK's legal limit.

    So yeah, bottled water is not necessarily better for you.
  • Beanlover, on 10/12/2007, -4/+5My tongue tells me it tastes better...that's good enough for me.
  • GrahamStw, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Original BBC story about the Dasani/Bromate incident:
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3550063.stm

    Even Coke admitted that it took it's water straight off the mains water at a factory in Sidcup, Kent.
  • wayner45, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0This has always been a joke, but we all still buy it!
  • commiecat, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Filters are so much cheaper - we have one on our tap and on our fridge's water spout. I'd be kinda interested to see what the impact of the hurricanes were on US bottled water sales. The numbers showed the difference from 1999 to 2004. '04 and '05 were pretty bad hurricane years and I'm sure the SE United States bought impressive amounts of bottled water (I know Floridians did). How much different do you think the numbers would have been without any major storms?

    -commiecat
  • Floach, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Tap water has always tasted vastly better to me than bottled - for one thing, it's actually aerated when coming out of the tap. I constantly have friends and family trying to push bottled water on me when I ask for water, but I always decline; bottled water is a waste of money and doesn't taste good, either. I only get it when I'm on the road.

    Reminds me of some bottled water my mom bought at K-Mart one time: the label said "Source: Miami-Dade Municipal Water Supply." UGH! Needless to say, I didn't drink any .....
  • illynova, on 10/12/2007, -1/+16"Except Evian...that's good water."

    Ever spell Evian backwards?

    Yup, thats right. NAIVE.
  • Stikes, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5"Ever spell Evian backwards?

    Yup, thats right. NAIVE."

    I love irony.
  • jeremiahx, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1who the hell is spending $10 a gallon? We buy bottled water and get it at about $1.39 when purchased in a gallon jug. Yeah this is spring water and not Evian but yeah $10 is a really high estimate... no-digg.
  • Nacon, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3It all depends on location.
    Over here (Belgium) tap water doesn't taste as good as bottled water but is consumable.
    If you go to Spain for example tap water will make you sick, even in hotels.
    A few years ago i visited Sweden, good luck finding regular bottled water there... All they have is carbonated bottled water. But that's because tap water over there tastes as good as bottled water.
    Also id like to know where it is you pay $2.5 per liter? i doubt you'd pay more than that for 10 liter here.
  • phocai, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3The story says .."At up to $2.50 per liter ($10 per gallon)". Obviously you can buy it for cheaper but think of all the bottled water sold in vending machines for $1 to $1.50 each. At my local cinema, a one liter bottle of Dasani water costs $4. You can plan ahead and buy bottled water wholesale for much less but when you're out somewhere you end up buying a single bottle of water in a gas station, from a vending machine or at an event and this really adds up.

    But the point is that whether you're paying premium prices or wholesale, the cummulative price of a nation, or the world for that matter, drinking bottled water is astronomical - economically, socially and environmentally.
  • mark_in_bc, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I live in the center of British Columbia Canada surrounded by more fresh water than most people in the world could imagine. Despite this my community has been under a boil water advisory for almost 10 years. Bottle water in our home is a must even if it comes from a tap in some other town.
  • mobbydick, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0i drink filtered tap water
  • DrEbola, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Well look, if people are stupid enough to buy it--if it's in demand--it's not the companies that are to blame. It's the consumer.
  • Daytona955i, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0old news.... no digg

    Buy a filter (if your water's bad) and a water bottle.
  • TCDToxic, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Less then 1 person rules over what they put in those bottles.

    Thousands of people make sure what comes out of your faucet is clean.
  • strictnein, on 10/12/2007, -3/+01 US gallon = 3.7854118 liters, not 4 liters (or litres, if you prefer).
    That whole article reads like a sloppy rant.
  • thetruth, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1This article contained nothing substantively proving or even indicating a "fraud".

    I've never seen a bottled water ad that promised anything except that the water was clean.

    Stop trying to rage against the machine, feebs.
  • dstart, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Filtered tap water is the way to go..
  • codyman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I just drink the filtered water out of the refrigerator... put some ice in it and its just as if not more refreshing that bottled water...
  • jimmyM, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3when i buy bottled water i buy it for the service of somebody having put water in a bottle for me and selling it to me at the location where i am thirsty.

    i wouldnt care if it was tap water, i just like portability of it. i would rather just buy a bottle of water for 1.50 at the convenience store when i am thirsty than have to fill up and lug around my own bottle all the time.

    i dont think anybody with a brain thinks bottled water is different or worth buying for the actual quality of the water. its just water. if the news here is that many people are stupid, then i already knew that.
  • digitul, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1i constantly drink bottled water. not because i think its healthy or tastes better(i like tap better), but because its convenient. water is my prefered drink of choice and its much easier to grab a bottle then to have a cup splashing around in my cup holder or something. half the time i just refill my bottle at home.
  • Otto, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I don't drink bottled water. Why would you pay the same amount of cash for a bottle of water when you can get a tea or a cola? It makes no sense.
  • grayBot, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4ok lemme sum this up :

    bottled water is a ***** evil product for the following reasons in order of importance:

    1) its mostly taken from privatizing water in 3rd world countries, thus depriving very poor people of clean water ( more money is made selling it to coca-cola inc. )

    2) plastic is hugely wasteful - it takes oil to make, and leaves a huge amount of trash

    3) its not anymore healthy, -its probably worse -plastic does break down in heat; chances are if those shipments of bottled water have been sitting in a hot warehouse for even a short length of time.......

    congratulations you are drinking plastic.
  • agpc, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2The great thing about bottled water is it's portability.

    But there really is no point in drinking bottled water if you are at home. Its just a waste of money.
  • kbunsie, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0I don't know what this guy is talking about but a gallon of Poland Spring only costs $2.50 where I'm at. To me bottle water is much better than tap. It doesn't make you feel as bloated as tap and you don't have to worry about brownage happening when you turn on the tap. It also tastes better and cleaner than tap water. I would choose bottled water over tap any day. For the people who get filters, you're also paying a lot more money for your "cleaner" tap water on top of your regular water bill.
  • ahhell, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Buy a Britta. Bottled water is a waste of money
  • Thud, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Brita filter. Turns tap water into good water.
    Also turns really bad, cheap vodka into somewhat reasonable vodka.
  • diggthiscrap, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1Things I hate about America in the 2000s:

    Cellphones

    Lapdogs

    iPods

    Blogs

    Pretentious Films

    DIGG Clones

    PG-13 Horror Films

    Phony Hollywood Religions

    Pet Groomers

    Bottled Water
  • GrahamStw, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"1) its mostly taken from privatizing water in 3rd world countries"

    Eh? Are you saying that they bottle the water in Africa (for example) and then ship it over to first world countries?

    I seriously doubt that, though it would explain the droughts I guess. :)

  • buryme, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0I've never really thought about the health benefits...if tap water tastes awful, I'm going to buy it bottled.
  • addisonj, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0What i don't understand is why in the communties where the tap water is so bad the cities don't take measures to improve the water. Seems a bit more money into aging systems could improve water quality and encourage people to switch back from bottled. While i will drink bottled water occasinly, it tends to just be when I am traveling or out and about and get thirsty, water has become a trendy thing. A girl i work with brings a bottle of that insanely expensive Fiji water... pretty much tasted like my tap water though she claims it is much better, thats just too much
  • Eaglefire, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Sure buying bottled water is wasteful - but this Earth Policy Institute is going about it the wrong way. Instead of condemning the bottled water industry, why don't they:

    - Make their own bottled water brand
    - Start a bottled water bottle buyback/recycling program
    - Use the money to provide third world nations with drinking water

    If I got to choose between buying bottled water just for me or buying one for both me and some third world orphan (at the same price), what do you think I would choose? What about the rest of people in general?

    Condemning something has never worked as a way to get people to change. If I condemn you and say you're a fatass who spends too much time at the Internet, would you get up and start jogging?

    There are ways to get things done and there are ways to stand still and bicker about it. The Earth Policy Institute could be making a good situation out of bad, but instead they released a public announcement condemning everyone and making them feel bad (and spiteful).

    For the record, I buy bottled water in those big pallets from Safeway when going on long car trips because it's more convenient in a car to have individual servings instead of cups and jugs. Will this announcement change my behavior? Take a wild guess.
  • Mantarii, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2It isn't fraud. It is mearly an "idiot tax". Ethically dubious, at worst.
  • mrASSMAN, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1i cant drink anything but bottled water.. its no fraud. to me, tap water doesnt compare with bottled water.

    btw evian water is terrible.
  • Mantarii, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0> Less then 1 person rules over what they put in those bottles.

    I'm half the man I used to be?
  • Carbito, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Tap water for the win!
  • lordsandwich, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Tap water may be fine on its own, but when it runs through ***** pipes like in the building where I work, it ends up tasting nasty. The endpoint matters.
  • Eskadus, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0The bottled water I buy about every 2 weeks.

    http://tinyurl.com/cul8x
    http://tinyurl.com/9ywl8 - Second Listed
  • bobbknight, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Penn And Teller on their showtime show Bull Sh*t did a scene about this.
    Torrent it to see, it was funny.
    If you want good cheep water, go to the grocery store and buy distilled water by the gallon.
  • endekks, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0This was a great story when I realised it at the product's inception, and during the Penn & Teller episode about it from long ago. Make sure to link us to some "breaking news" that petroleum products might not be the ultimate choice for our fuel needs next time.

    No digg.
  • StickyDragon, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Very interesting, but I DO taste a difference and bottled water does taste better.
  • Eskadus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"I just drink the filtered water out of the refrigerator... put some ice in it and its just as if not more refreshing that bottled water..."

    I do the same when I have no Aquafina. My refrigerator has an ice dispenser and filtered water system in one.
  • arpspoof, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2I have a firm belief that SPRING water is worth being put in a bottle. If it says purified or filtered, I don't bother. I would only accept filtered if it was reverse-osmosis and that is not cost efficient for companies to do that. Ever look at the local water reports on what is in the water? Sure you say filters for your tap are cheap, but most of those cheap filters are carbon filters, and only take out a small amount of things like chlorine, that effects taste. Do a google search on the subject. I bet this article was paid for by some interested parties, or someone was just written in ignorance. But I do believe people who buy "filtered" water are getting duped.
  • Mantarii, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0> Very interesting, but I DO taste a difference and bottled water does taste better.

    Plastics can actually add an appealing taste to water, can't it?
  • shatters, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Dasani, and other brands, put salt in their bottled water. They say it's for "purification purposes" but I say it's so you'll drink more of their bottled water.
  • mysearchisover, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1I try and get bottled water without sodium Fluoride. I've heard the fluoride in municiple water used to be used for rat poison. If our bodies weren't able to filter out this toxin we would probably all be dead. Fluoride has an acute toxicity greater than lead meaning an ounce of fluoride is more likely to kill you than an ounce of lead.
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