Natalie Lamb and the water quality: Bottled water vs tap water

The Consumer Council for Water (2015) completes yearly reports from audited data from UK water companies. It was found that in 2015, 14% of UK consumers prefer to drink bottled water, rather than their tap water when a home. But which should be drinking? Bottled water or tap water?

1. Cost

Bottled 

Bottled water may cost over £1 per litre.

Tap

In 2015 there was a decrease in the percentage of customer who felt their water service bills were fair, from 68% in 2014 to 62% in 2015 (Consumer Council for Water, 2015) but tap water can cost 1p per litre, much cheaper than bottled.

Winner? Tap

2. Taste 

Bottled 

Half of the people who opted to drink bottled water in the Consumer Council for Water (2015) study did so because they perceived tap water to be of poor quality, bad tasting or of a bad smell. 

Blind comparisons of different waters found that consumers preferred waters with high mineral content (e.g. bottled water, groundwater) over lower mineral content water (Falahee & MacRae, 1995). However, this study did not take familiarity into consideration- it might just be that people like to drink what they are used to.

Tap

On the whole, people are happy with their tap water quality, with 93% of customers were satisfied with the taste and colour of their water and 87% satisfied with the taste and smell (Consumer Council for Water, 2015).
If you do dislike the taste of tap water, have you tried placing jugs of tap water into the fridge to remove the taste?

Winner? Bottled?

3. Quality

Bottled 

Both bottled water and tap water must conform to The Water Supply (Water Quality) Regulations.

Tap

It has been argued that tap water is better controlled than bottled water, with more rigorous standards and more frequent analysis (Olson 1999). Tap water can often also have more advanced treatment methods (DWRF 1999).

Winner? Tap

4. Trust

Bottled 

Perrier Mineral Water was recalled worldwide in 1990 when it was found to be contaminated with benzene. After this incident, bottled water sales in the US dropped until 1993 (Doria, 2006). 

Tap

However, the same can also be said of tap water.Drinking water consumption can be decreased in areas that have previously had serious problems with their tap water, encouraging consumers to drink bottled water (Anadu & Harding 2000). For example, incidence of  Cryptosporidium and Giardia in Sydney in 1998 resulted in a 40% bottle water sales increase in the year following the contamination and remained increased five years later  (Lonnon 2004).

Winner? Draw

5. Environmental Impact

Bottled 

According to the Pacific Institute (2007), it takes about 3L of water to produce 1L of bottled water, meaning that more than 100 billion litres of water is wasted yearly to produce bottled water (van der Linden, 2015).

Bottled water also requires the use of more energy. Per litre of water produced, bottled water requires 2000 times more energy than tap water (Gleick & Cooley, 2009). 
The manufacture, transportation and disposal of plastic bottles have negative environmental impacts, including the fossil fuel consumption, the CO2 emissions required and the waste plastic generated (Etale et al., 2018).

Tap

The use of tap water could have an impact on the environment but much regulation is put in place to stop this. For example, water companies are only allowed to abstract a certain amount of water from local water bodies, monitored by the Environment Agency, to ensure levels do not get too low.

Winner? Tap

Overall Winner

Bottled 1

Tap 3

Draw 1

It looks like tap water has won this quick rundown, however I am biased as my research is in tap water. What are your thoughts? If you choose bottled water in the UK, why do you do so?

References

Anadu, E; Harding, A (2000) Risk Perception and Bottled Water Use, Journal of American Water Works Association, 92 (11), 82–92.

Consumer Council for Water (2015), Water Matters: Household Customers’ Views on their Water and Sewerage Services 2015.

Dorria, MF (2006), Bottled Water Versus Tap Water: Understanding Consumers’ Preferences, Journal of Water and Health, 4 (2), 271-276.

Drinking Water Research Foundation (1999), Analysis of the February 1999 Natural Resources Defense Council Report on Bottled Water.

Etale, A; Jobin, M; Siegrist, M (2018), Tap Versus Bottled Water Consumption: The Influence of Social Norms, Affect and Image on Consumer Choice, Appetite, 121 (1), 138-146.

Gleick, PH; Cooley, HS (2009), Energy Implications of Bottled Water, Environmental Research Letters.

Lonnon, K (2004) Bottled Water Drowns the Competition.

Olson, E (1999), Bottled Water: Pure Drink or Pure Hype?, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), New York.

Pacific Institute (2007), Bottled Water and Energy Factsheet, http://pacinst.org/publication/bottled-water-and-energy-a-fact-sheet/

van der Linden, S (2015), Exploring Beliefs About Bottled Water and Intentions to Reduce Consumption: The Dual-Effect of Social Norm Activation and Persuasive Information, Environment and Behavior, 47, pp. 526-550.