In 2018, the average Americans consumed almost 42 gallons of bottled water—collectively spending $31 billion on the product.
Over the past decade, buying and drinking bottled water has become the norm for many U.S. residents. But is it really a better option than just drinking the water that comes out of the tap? Consumer Reports recently published this article exploring the topic.
Here are a few key takeaways from the Consumer Reports (CR) article:
- A CR survey revealed that 40% of Americans believe bottled water is safer than tap water
- While the perception is that bottled water is higher quality than tap water, CR concludes: “Information about bottled water quality is hard to find, oversight of the industry is inconsistent, and as with tap water, some bottled water can be contaminated”
- CR notes that although bottled water is required to be tested for quality, the FDA doesn’t usually do the testing (the bottled water companies do) and the companies are not legally required to make the test results available to the public (like public water systems are)
- There’s also the problem of billions of plastic bottles being used and thrown away every year as a result of increasing bottled water consumption
If Americans are turning to bottled water because they are worried about contamination in their tap water, bottled water may not offer the best solution in either the long term or the short term. As the article states: “the long-term solution isn’t for more Americans to turn to bottled water, but to fix the nation’s water infrastructure”. Meanwhile, the article suggests some better short-term solutions including:
- Making it easy for people to get water quality reports that are easy to understand
- Providing people access to places where they can refill their own bottles with safe water
- Investing in filtration systems at the community or home level that can remove PFAS and other harmful drinking water contaminants
Read the full Consumer Reports article on bottled water to learn more about this topic
