Bottled Water: United States Consumers and Their Perceptions of Water Quality

Zhihua Hu,Lois Wright Morton,Robert L Mahler

doi:10.3390/ijerph8020565

Abstract

Consumption of bottled water is increasing worldwide. Prior research shows many consumers believe bottled water is convenient and has better taste than tap water, despite reports of a number of water quality incidents with bottled water. The authors explore the demographic and social factors associated with bottled water users in the U.S. and the relationship between bottled water use and perceptions of the quality of local water supply. They find that U.S. consumers are more likely to report bottled water as their primary drinking water source when they perceive that drinking water is not safe. Furthermore, those who give lower ratings to the quality of their ground water are more likely to regularly purchase bottle water for drinking and use bottle water as their primary drinking water source.

Highlights

Consumption of bottled water is increasing by ten percent every year worldwide, with the fastest growth seen in the developing countries of Asia and South America [1]
We found that groundwater quality perception was a significant predictor
The findings about water quality perceptions generally confirmed that when public doubts about the safety of their tap water, they look for alternatives like bottled water [6,14]

Summary

Introduction

Consumption of bottled water is increasing by ten percent every year worldwide, with the fastest growth seen in the developing countries of Asia and South America [1]. The United States (U.S.) is the largest consumer market for bottled water in the world. The U.S consumption of bottled water in 2008. Despite the common belief that bottled water is safer to drink and has better taste than tap water, scientific studies have shown that the belief is not necessarily true [3,4]. Research shows that the sales and consumption of bottled water can have environmental and social impacts whose consequences are yet to be fully understood [5,6,7]

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Results

Discussion

Conclusion