CALIFORNIA, USA — Today's Why Guy question comes in from Terri Machado on Facebook: "Trying to ask why guy? Settle this, please?? The bottled water we buy and drink is not tap water, is it?"
Terri, yes, bottled water is essentially tap water! Bottled water is the #1 selling beverage in the United States, but is the need to buy it by the bottle more about perception than reality?
Bottled water companies are tapping the tap water. What comes out of the tap has valuable minerals like calcium and magnesium that are filtered out for bottled water. The bottled water industry calls those "impurities."
So, they take those out and sell you a bottle of what's left at a 4,000% markup.
The vast majority of Californians have access to safe city drinking water. There are challenges in farming areas where runoff chemicals get into the drinking water system, but for the rest of us, what comes out of your home faucet is regarded as safe.
That isn't stopping bottled water sales, which are predicted to rise 11% a year for the next five years, according to Grand View Research.
That $2 water you buy costs the manufacturer five cents to make. Ouch.
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