Tap water is making a comeback

[DaemonSeid]

With a day's worth of bottled water -- the recommended 64 ounces -- costing hundreds to thousands of dollars a year depending on the brand, more people are opting to slurp water that comes straight from the sink.

The lousy economy may be accomplishing what environmentalists have been trying to do for years -- wean people off the disposable plastic bottles of water that were sold as stylish, portable, healthier and safer than water from the tap.

Heather Kennedy, 33, an office administrator from Austin, Texas, said she used to drink a lot of bottled water but now tries to drink exclusively tap water.

"I feel that (bottled water) is a rip-off," she said in an e-mail. "It is not a better or healthier product than the water that comes out of my tap. It is absurd to pay so much extra for it."

http://www.cnn.com/2008/BUSINESS/06/...ion=cnn_latest

Measured in 700-milliliter bottles of Poland Spring, a daily intake of water would cost $4.41, based on prices at a CVS drugstore in New York. Or $6.36 in 20-ounce bottles of Dasani. By half-liters of Evian, that'll be $6.76, please. Which adds up to thousands a year.

Even a 24-pack of half-liter bottles at Costco Wholesale Corp., a bargain at $6.97, would be consumed by one person in six days. That's more than $400 a year.

But water from the tap? A little less than 0.14 cent for a day's worth of water, based on averages from an American Water Works Association survey -- just about 51 cents a year.

U.S. consumers spent $16.8 billion on bottled water in 2007, according to the trade publication Beverage Digest. That's up 12 percent from the year before -- but it's the slowest growth rate since the early 1990s, said editor John Sicher.

Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc., the biggest bottler of Coca-Cola Co.'s Dasani, recently cut its outlook for the quarter, saying the weak North American economy is hurting sales of bottled water and soda -- especially the 20-ounce single serving sizes consumers had been buying at gas stations.

"They're not walking in and spending a dollar plus for a 20-ounce bottle of water," said beverage analyst William Pecoriello at Morgan Stanley. Flavored and "enhanced" waters like vitamin drinks are also eating into plain bottled water's market share.

Pecoriello said Americans' concern about the environment was also a factor, driven by campaigns against the use of oil in making and transporting the bottles, the waste they create and the notion of paying for what is essentially free.

The Tappening Project, which promotes tap water in the U.S. as clean, safe and more eco-friendly than bottled water, launched a new ad campaign in May. The company has also sold more than 200,000 reusable hard plastic and stainless steel bottles since last November.

Linda Schiffman, 56, a recent retiree from Lexington, Mass., bought two metal bottles at $14.50 each for herself and her daughter from Corporate Accountability, a consumer advocate group, after she swore off buying cases of bottled water from Costco.

[33girl]

Dad 33 is SO happy every time he sees a story like this. He's been bitching about the whole bottled water concept for years.

I have a Brita at home & a water cooler at work, so the only time I ever drink bottled water is if I'm on the road or at a street fair or something.

Originally Posted by 33girl

I have a Brita at home & a water cooler at work, so the only time I ever drink bottled water is if I'm on the road or at a street fair or something.

I've been trying to convince TPTB to put a water cooler here at work! The tap water here is the best by far so consuming it is no problem.

With all the $$$ I'm spending on everything else, I really don't need to be paying extra whenever I buy cases of water. The beverage deposit fees added to the receipt whenever you buy bottles meeting the criteria as an incentive to get us to take our bottles and cans to the recycling centers.

The 5 cents a bottle is good incentive, but those centers are so spread out that I usually end up spending the money I make on gas, anyway.

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by OTW

I've been trying to convince TPTB to put a water cooler here at work! The tap water here is the best by far so consuming it is no problem.

With all the $$$ I'm spending on everything else, I really don't need to be paying extra whenever I buy cases of water. The beverage deposit fees added to the receipt whenever you buy bottles meeting the criteria as an incentive to get us to take our bottles and cans to the recycling centers.

The 5 cents a bottle is good incentive, but those centers are so spread out that I usually end up spending the money I make on gas, anyway.

That's kind of an interesting issue really, the environmental cost of not recycling vs. the costs related to recycling, maybe more so because you are in Hawaii. Do they ship the crap to the mainland to be recycled or do you have that kind of manufacturing and recycling there. (I apologize for my dumbness on this point.)

[Blacksocialite]

My dentist informed me that I should start drinking tap water again because he discovered two pinhead sized cavities in my back teeth.

http://www.ada.org/prof/resources/topics/bottledh2o.asp

My city was apparently one of the first to have fluoride in its tap water. I drink the tap water (sometimes with a filter) and I've lived to tell about it.

Originally Posted by UGAalum94

That's kind of an interesting issue really, the environmental cost of not recycling vs. the costs related to recycling, maybe more so because you are in Hawaii. Do they ship the crap to the mainland to be recycled or do you have that kind of manufacturing and recycling there. (I apologize for my dumbness on this point.)

I know of one in Oahu (up the hill from my house, actually) and a new on one the Big Island, but unfortunately I don't know too much about them, so I'm just as clueless!

I also forgot to add that a lot of elementary schools have recycling drives where people can take in their recyclables to the schools and the kids get to keep the money. Ideally I'd like to get my money back, but sometimes it's just easier to help the kids and the environment at the same time!

[Munchkin03]

I guess for some of us, tap water never really went out of style.

Growing up where I did, where the water supply was fluoridated, it was cool to drink tap water. Now, I only drink bottled water out of convenience, like if I'm traveling, or I'm headed to the gym. I have a Brita pitcher at home, so that helps.

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by OTW

I know of one in Oahu (up the hill from my house, actually) and a new on one the Big Island, but unfortunately I don't know too much about them, so I'm just as clueless!

I also forgot to add that a lot of elementary schools have recycling drives where people can take in their recyclables to the schools and the kids get to keep the money. Ideally I'd like to get my money back, but sometimes it's just easier to help the kids and the environment at the same time!

If you have the ability to actually recycle out there back to the product stage then it totally makes sense no matter who is getting the money, but at the point you're shipping the recyclables to California on a diesel engine ship, maybe it really makes more sense to make a new reef of recycled Fiji bottles and Spam cans, JK.

[cheerfulgreek]

Water from the sink? Yuck. I wouldn't even give my cat tap water. I still would rather drink bottled water. Take a glass and fill it with tap water and look at all the particles floating around in it. Bottled water is so clear.

[summer_gphib]

We have filtered water from our fridge and a Britta pitcher, so that works for us. I will buy bottled water when I'm on road trips, but I bought hubby a cool aluminum refillable bottle with a bunch of camping stuff, so I think we'll use that more. :-)

[texas*princess]

I'm one of those weird people that can taste differences in water.

I want to switch over to a Brita + tap, but I'm scared it will taste weird

[SWTXBelle]

PLEASE don't reuse those plastic bottles - I'll try to find a website, but I know that the plastic harbours all kinds of nastiness. And washing them doesn't seem to help - recycle them, but don't refill. When the first reports of that came out, those metal refillable bottles became popular.
http://environment.about.com/od/heal...ic_bottles.htm
eta - apparently, you should be more afraid of the BPAs than bacteria!

I miss the well water we had in TN. It was great - but I like the Britta system now.

[texas*princess]

Originally Posted by texas*princess

I'm one of those weird people that can taste differences in water.

I want to switch over to a Brita + tap, but I'm scared it will taste weird

I finally did it. I went to a local store to buy my Brita water pitcher. I ended up getting the "dispenser" which is bigger than a pitcher (holds 16 cups vs the 6-8 cups of the pitchers) because between my dog & I, we go through a ton of water. I got it all set up, and I was pleased to learn Brita water actually tastes great! (Which is what I was hoping, because the dispenser was about $26 haha)

[ISUKappa]

Originally Posted by OTW

The 5 cents a bottle is good incentive, but those centers are so spread out that I usually end up spending the money I make on gas, anyway.

Iowa has had the deposit for ages (as far as I can remember). The nice thing is quite a few stores will take back the cans/bottles here. Almost all grocery stores, Target, Wal-Mart, plus a few standalone redemption centers will take them. We have two big garbage bins we toss the aluminum/plastic into and take them in every few months or so. We can sometimes end up with $15-20 refund.

I grew up drinking well water, so that's what I really prefer. Our tap water is pretty good, though. We have a Brita, but that took up too much room in the refrigerator. I wouldn't be opposed to one that attaches to the tap, though, especially if we move out to the country.

[DSTCHAOS]

No tap water for me.

As for water bottles, I drink a gallon of water a day so bottled waters would be costly and inconvenient for me.

I buy 7 gallons of Deer Park every week (the gallons and not the bottles) and fill my reusable 1/2 gallon water jug with it. I fill this jug about twice a day.

Water is my only beverage and I love it. Plus, I exercise a lot so it is a big part of my life.