Tap Water vs. Bottled Water

Why Tap Water Is Better Than Bottled Water

• Bottled water is not typically safer than tap water. In fact, more than half of all bottled water comes from the tap.
   
• Buying bottled water is like pouring money down the drain. Bottled water costs from $0.89 per gallon to $8.26 per gallon, compared to fractions of a penny for water from your tap. That makes bottled water thousands of times more expensive than tap water.
   
• Water bottle garbage is a major source of pollution.
   
• Buying a reusable bottle is an easy way to save money and help the environment. 

Is My Tap Water Safe?

FACT: Bottled water is not "safer" than tap water.

Did you know that tap water is tested more frequently than bottled water? In fact, in the United States, our drinking water is continuously monitored and treated according to federal standards. If local tap water is unsafe then water companies are obligated, under federal law, to notify the public.

But My Tap Water Tastes Bad, What Should I Do?

• Odd tasting water does not necessarily mean that it is unhealthy or contaminated. The taste may be a result of chlorination or the mineral content in the water.
   
• Using a filter is an easy way to keep your water tasting great – and it’s much less expensive than buying bottled water.

How To Check Your Tap Water Quality

Contact your local water company to request a copy of the Annual Water Quality Report, also known as the Consumer Confidence Report. These reports are intended to help people make informed choices about their drinking water.

These reports contain a lot of useful information but are often overwhelming or confusing to read. We’ve put together a helpful guide on how to read your report and choose the best filtration system for your home.

Bottled Water Is Nearly 2,000 The Price of Tap Water

1. A gallon’s worth of single-serve bottled water costs almost $9.50 — nearly 2,000 times the price of tap water, three times the national average price for a gallon of milk and four times the national average price for a gallon of regular grade gasoline.
    
2. From 2011 to 2016, the bottled water market grew 39 percent by volume, from 9.2 to 12.8 billion gallons, while the soft drink market shrank 8 percent in volume.
    
3. In 2016, 4 billion pounds of plastic was used in U.S. bottled water production, requiring an estimated energy input equivalent of about 64 million barrels of oil.
    
4. The International Bottled Water Association, Nestlé Waters NA, Nestlé USA and Coca-Cola lobbied Congress on issues including bottled water, water infrastructure, California drought relief and a National Park Service policy to allow parks to ban bottled water sales. These companies’ lobbying expenditures between 2014 and 2016 topped $28 million.
    
5. Multinational bottling companies benefit from public disinvestment in water infrastructure, as the chairman of Nestlé Waters stated in 2009: “We believe tap infrastructure in the U.S. will continue to decline…. People will turn to filtration and bottled water for pure water needs.”

Read our new report, Take Back the Tap: The Big Business Hustle of Bottled Water