Isn’t it nice to know that the rest of the world is finally catching up to us frugal people? Well, maybe.
Of course, I couldn’t help but notice that the dancing cheerleaders at the Summer Olympics all carried plastic bottles of water in a little hip belt as they cheered and welcomed the athletes in to the stadium, during the opening ceremonies last night.
Despite those Summer Olympic cheerleaders, the sales of bottled water are on a major decline, as people opt for water from the tap instead. It used to be oh so cool to lug around bottled water. It was almost a status symbol. It indicated a person who was current, a person who was healthy, a person who was cool (in more ways than one). But now tap water in refillable bottles is the trend.
Yes, the environment may be a motivation for some of the switch, but when it comes down to it, analysts say it is just a matter of the downturn economy exerting its influence. And while environmentalists are cheering the results, they admit that what they have been trying to do for decades, wean people away from plastic bottles, is being accomplished rather swiftly by the fact that bottled water is expensive and it is cool to be frugal.
How much would it cost you if you rely on bottled water? Of course this depends on where you live and what brand of water you prefer. To supply one person with all of the drinking water in a year, you can spend anywhere from $400 on the fell-off-a-pick-up-truck water to hundreds of thousands of dollars for high-end brands. Close to $2,500 would be about average cost for the normal consumer relying on bottled drinking water, according to bottled water prices in the NYC area. Brita, the company that makes water filters, says that cost is closer to $1,700.
Sales of refillable bottles, especially the stainless steel kind, are up of course. So are sales of faucet accessories, as they are called. These are the faucet filters that can be attached to purify regular tap water. Some of these devices even come with optional flavor enhancers, so your water can taste like orange or cherry, for example.
One thing I would not suggest is to refill plastic bottles with tap water. Single use water bottles (the ones you buy in the store filled with water) are not meant to be refilled. They can harbor bacteria, even after being washed, and many contain dangerous chemicals that can leach into the water over time.
Do you drink tap water or do you prefer bottled water? Please share your thoughts!
Click here for more articles by Mary Ann Romans.
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