Bottled water fad evaporates
Thursday, 24 July 2008
Print
Email
The reasons for buying bottled water are drying up — it is expensive, bad for the environment and many people think it tastes the same as tap water, a survey has found.
Leading independent consumer champion Which? questioned 3,039 members of the Which? online panel in April and May about their water-drinking habits and found that almost one fifth of respondents actually prefer the flavour of tap water, while half surveyed said they cannot taste the difference between bottled and tap water.
However, there is no contest when it comes to the cost of water — at 0.22p a litre, tap is 141 times cheaper than the bestselling mineral water, Evian, which costs 31p a litre in a supermarket but is likely to cost more if bought on the high street.
Britons splashed out £1.68bn on 2.275bn litres of bottled water in 2006 but there are signs that the UK public’s thirst for bottled is drying up.
Nearly a quarter of the people Which? surveyed said they are drinking less bottled water than a year ago and according to one market research agency, sales of bottled water dropped by 9% last year. Over 80% of people surveyed by Which? believe tap water is better for the environment than bottled.
The industry’s carbon footprint is significant — the production process wastes an estimated two gallons of water for every gallon purified to put into a bottle; some bottled waters come from as far away as New Zealand, accumulating thousands of unnecessary “water miles”; and most plastic water bottles go to landfill where they can take up to 450 years to decompose.
Which? advocates the idea of installing free tap water ‘refilling stations’ — similar to vending machines — in public spaces.
Post a comment
Limit: 500 characters
View all comments that have been posted about this article
Offensive or abusive comments will be removed and your IP address logged and may be used to prevent further submissions. In submitting a comment to the site, you agree to be bound by BelfastTelegraph.co.uk's Terms of Use.
Posts submitted in UPPERCASE letters will be rejected.
I use a filter jug from a well known shop, the water is lovely out of it. I buy bottles of water from the same shop every once in a while and refill them from my filter jug. The water is chilled as I leave the refilled bottles in the fridge for the kids to grab as they need it. My youngest daughter was allowed to drink a bottle of water during the school hours and its a habit that has carried on with her.
When the bottles are done or Im replacing them, I just drop them into my recycle bin and thats that!
Posted by Rua | 03.08.08, 10:58 GMT
Approximately £400,000 (Information derived under Information Act for years '05-'06) by the Assembly,Government Departments,Local Government and Government Agencies especially NI Water, (who import from Wales!) There is no evidence that this demand has decreased. The public have therefore more confidence in our Water supply than do our representatives. Tap water is actually as good as many of the expensive bottled water supplies, but it is obviously better for those in poor health to drink water that is low in nitrates, aluminium ,THMs, and pesticides. Some of our aquifers provide excellent water in this respect.
Posted by Malachy McAnespie | 25.07.08, 10:11 GMT
A bottle of water in the Odeon cinema, Victoria Square, Belfast costs £2.60 ($5.20) for 600ml! No wonder people are drinking less bottled water.
Posted by Waterripoff | 24.07.08, 23:16 GMT
my family have just recently change from bottled water to buying a water filter, because it was getting expensive buying a 6pack of evian once a month. tastewise i cannot tell the difference, but there is still packaging involved reagarding the filters, but i'm sure its better for the inviroment than 6 plastics bottles.
I would like to know if the sales in water filters have effected the downturn of sales in bottled water.
Posted by Macflex | 24.07.08, 17:49 GMT
my family have just recently changed from bottled water to buying a water filter, because it was getting expensive buying a 6pack of evian once a month. tastewise i cannot tell the difference, but there is still packaging involved reagarding the filters, but i'm sure its better for the inviroment than 6 plastics bottles. I would like to know if the sales in water filters have effected the downturn of sales in bottled water.
Posted by Macflex | 24.07.08, 17:47 GMT
Babies exposed to fluoride are at high risk of developing dental fluorosis - a permanent tooth defect caused by fluoride damaging the cells which form the teeth. Other tissues in the body may also be affected by early-life exposures to fluoride. According to a recent review published in the medical journal The Lancet, fluoride may damage the developing brain, causing learning deficits and other problems.
Posted by Helen.k | 24.07.08, 13:40 GMT
I am from Phoenix, Arizona but living in Belfast. We have terrible drinking water in AZ (taste is horrible, very chlorinated) so most people would drink bottled or filtered water.
Bottled water (not fancy Tahitian water - just filtered!) is sold in the supermarkets in 3-5 gallon jugs that can sit in your fridge and be dispensed through a spigot - very handy. We have 'refilling stations' at all grocery stores, and people bring their jugs to re-fill for a nominal charge rather than purchase new ones. The water in the refilling station is filtered for taste and quality, and is a great option rather than purchasing dozens of plastic bottles. Many people would also just have a water filter built into their kitchen sink to dispense drinking water.
We are very lucky to have such good tap water here - we just had friends visting last week and they were amazed that we can drink straight from the tap! People are silly to waste their money on bottled water in NI.
Posted by Candi | 24.07.08, 13:37 GMT
Finally! - This is great news!
Has anyone ever tried spelling Evian backwards?
Posted by Dave | 24.07.08, 13:24 GMT
Its unfortunate that many places don't provide tap water to drink. For instance at a railway station, I have to buy bottled water.
This country doesn't seem to have water fountains like other countries. They probably say something about health & safety... but i imagine the truth is the water is a money spinner.
Its worth noting about the governments plan to add flouride to all tap water even though theres plenty of evidence that it can lead to various illnesses. Perhaps more people will drink bottled water once this is in place. You get a dose of flouride from taking a bath even, so the dose-level is completely uncontrolled.
Posted by Ian | 24.07.08, 13:20 GMT