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Convenience to Blame in Rising Demand for Bottled Water

What accounts for the popularity of bottled water? Health concerns? Convenience? Marketing? More and more people, especially Americans, seem to prefer bottled water to tap water. The product's relativ

Convenience to Blame in Rising Demand for Bottled Water

(Originally aired July 30, 2007.)

Tom Fudge: If you buy bottled water at the grocery store, it's possible you've purchased Aquafina. It's a big seller, a Pepsi product. And on the label you see an image of mountain peaks. But does this water really come from some pristine mountain spring? No. It comes from a tap. In fact, the product has always carried the initials P.W.S., which stands for public water source.

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The fact that a lot of bottled water comes from the same place as the water in your sink raises questions about why we buy so much water. Bottled drinking water, as a consumer product, barely existed 30, 40 years ago. Now it's huge. In fact, to some people the idea of drinking water from a tap or drinking fountain is distasteful. Yet some studies indicate people can't really tell the difference between tap and bottled water, if it's the same temperature. Why have we come to expect bottled water? And is there anything wrong with Americans spending money on drinking water?

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