Tap Water Vs Bottled Water Cost

Ok so we ve made the cost argument.

Tap water vs bottled water cost.

The bottled water industry grossed a total of 11 8 billion on those 9 7 billion gallons in 2012 making bottled water about 1 22 gallon nationwide and 300x the cost of a gallon of tap water. However bottled water is made from tap water and then sterilized. Environmental protection agency epa. That means that priced by the gallon.

Most municipal water costs less than 1 cent per gallon while a bottle of water typically costs over 1 for 20 ounces. I hate to burst your utopian fantasies of crisp icy glaciers polar bears and trickling mountain streams but it s mostly just the same stuff. But how about the purity argument. One gallon 3 8 liters of tap water costs roughly 0 005 in the united states while the same amount of bottled water obtained from combining single serving water bottles costs around 9 47.

That doesn t sound too bad until you look at the cost of tap water which is 2 per every thousand gallons according to the u s. The environmental protection agency regulates tap water while the fda regulates bottled water. According to the ibwa the average cost per gallon of bottled water not counting imported or sparkling waters was 1 21 in 2013. According to abc news most bottled water is just reprocessed tap water.