Paying for something you can get for free, or close to free, would seem to be positively un-American. But with one product, it happens all the time — every day, over and over, to the tune of $21 billion a year.
Water.
In 2009, wholesale sales of bottled water in the U.S. amounted to $10.6 billion, according to the International Bottled Water Association (see the chart on page 11). Factor in a 100 percent markup, and Americans spent about $21 billion in 2009 on bottled water, laying out "more on Poland Spring, FIJI Water, Evian, Aquafina and Dasani than we spent buying iPhones, iPods and all the music and apps we loaded on them," writes Charles Fishman, author of the smart, intensively reported book The Big Thirst: The Secret Life and Turbulent Future of Water. The volume of sales — 8.45 billion gallons in 2009 — amounts to 27 gallons per American per year.
In 2009, the U.S. was the largest market for bottled water in the world, with Mexico, China, Brazil, Italy and Indonesia rounding out the top six. The difference, of course, is that those other big consumers are generally poor, developing economies that lack the infrastructure and resources to deliver potable water to its citizens. (The exception is Italy, in which, if I'm not mistaken, regulations require every citizen to purchase several bottles of fizzy San Pellegrino each week.) In poor countries, buying bottled water is a necessity, a matter of health.
In the U.S., by contrast, pretty much every home, public workplace, restaurant, institution and school has a faucet that dispenses potable water. Sure, there are some places where the tap water comes out slightly discolored (for fear of retribution from real estate agents, I won't name the places along Florida's Atlantic Coast where I've seen yellowish effluent from faucets). And occasionally, the refreshing stream at the ancient drinking fountain in the public park may have rusty overtones. But overwhelmingly, free water safely slakes our collective thirst. As Fishman writes, "The United States has among the safest, most closely monitored water systems in the world, a tap water system that is responsible in part for the extraordinary leaps in lifespan in the United States in the last hundred years."
And yet, as Fishman and I discuss in the accompanying video, that system is widely distrusted. As then-Sen. Arlen Specter put it a town hall meeting in April 2009, "I don't like drinking tap water because I don't trust tap water." He went on to note that there is a "natural inclination for people to want to be a little extra sure on the water."
On many levels, the choice of bottled water over tap doesn't make sense. Start with safety. "Bottled water is not nearly as closely regulated as tap water," Fishman says. "It's not one one-hundredth as well regulated. In 99 percent of America, in 99 percent of the moments of the day, there's no need for bottled water." Besides, about one quarter of the bottled water consumed in the U.S. — Dasani, Aquafina and Nestle's Pure Life — is simply re-purified municipal tap water, according to Fishman.
The economics of bottled water are also bizarre. Fishman writes that Americans spend $21 billion on a small amount of drinking water each year, but spend only $46 billion on all water used at home over the course of a year. "Basically, people spend for a half-liter about what they spend for all the water used in their house for a day," he says. What's more, Americans only spend about $29 billion maintaining the extensive system of water treatment plants, pumps and pipes. "So as a nation, we spend very nearly as much on water delivered in small crushable plastic bottles as we do on sustaining the entire water system of the country."
If we, as a society, were more willing to pay for the upkeep of our collective, near-free water source, than we might not feel compelled to spend so much money on privately produced bottled water, as ex-Sen. Specter does.
Of course, a good chunk of bottled water sales can be ascribed to convenience, taste and sheer marketing persistence. Some people may find that bottled water tastes better. It's easier to buy a bottle than to remember to pack a thermos. Others may prefer sparkling to still. Bottled water is, as its boosters argue, healthier than soda. And all those ads for Poland Spring and Dasani have made bottled water part of our consumer culture, an ingrained habit. Want to get a good laugh? Gather your kids around and tell them how, when you were their age, water came only out of the tap and water fountains. You'll get the same stares of disbelief you get when describing how, back in the day, we wore watches, got busy signals on the phone and listened to music on 8-Track cassettes.
Fishman isn't an anti-bottled water scold. But I am. With apologies to the good people at Poland Springs and Evian, there is something absurd about taking water out of a tap, or a spring somewhere in Maine (or, even worse, Fiji), pumping it into plastic containers — whose construction consumes lots of energy, chemicals and petroleum — and then shipping those containers on trucks (more petroleum consumed) to the point of sale, whence a consumer will slug it down and then toss the bottle into the garbage. Next, that bottle will most likely make its energy-intensive way back to a landfill. The IBWA notes that, last year, only 31 percent of plastic water bottles were recycled.
When we craft lists of money-saving ideas — drop the latte, fill the tires with air, clip coupons — not paying unnecessarily for drinking water should be right at the top. It would be a useful exercise for everyone to chart how much his or her family spends on bottled water over the course of a year. This may not win me any friends at the International Bottled Water Association, but I'm firmly of the opinion that a dollar spent unnecessarily on water is a dollar that could better be spent on something else, such as retirement savings, or my kids' college education, or the sinful prime rib sandwich at Eataly. In an age of limited resources, why squander them on a drink that is essentially free?
In recent years there have been signs that thirsty Americans agree. After rampant growth in the middle of the last decade (sales were up 11.8 percent in 2002 and 10.8 percent in 2005), U.S. consumption and sales of bottled water peaked in 2007. In 2008 and 2009, the volume of bottled water sold fell 1 percent and 2.5 percent, respectively. In dollar terms, 2009's sales were below the figure for 2006. Looking at these numbers, you might think that we have reached Peak Bottled Water (PBW).
But the PBW argument may not, um, hold water, says Tom Lauria, spokesman at the IBWA. In 2010, as the economy revived, Americans forswore their frugal ways. Citing data provided by Beverage Marketing Corp., Lauria says the volume of bottled water sales grew by 3.5 percent in 2010, completely erasing the declines of 2008 and 2009. When Americans began to feel a little more liquid, in other words, they started paying more for liquid. Says Lauria: "Bottled water is back."
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