Cost Comparison: Bottled Water versus Water Filters

If aliens were to visit our planet, they might marvel at the ubiquity of those fluid-filled plastic objects attached to the lips of many Americans as they move from place to place. Some are simple and inexpensive, while others come in fancy packaging with labels that hint at making you smarter, faster and healthier. Americans spend at least $4 billion each year on bottled water, and that number has been steadily increasing for the past couple of decades [source: FDA]. At a cost of about a dollar per bottle, it amounts to 4 billion bottles being discarded or, with any luck, recycled in the U.S. each year. That's a lot of plastic. It also takes a lot of energy and effort to produce that much bottled water, with shipping and handling charges making up a large percentage of the cost of each bottle. All things considered, bottled water has a carbon footprint that would make your tree-hugging friends cringe.

So, what's behind the love affair Americans have with bottled water? Its popularity isn't surprising when you consider the sophisticated marketing efforts of the bottled water producers, using everything from the names of artesian wells in tropical paradises to images of polar bears frolicking along river banks surrounded by unspoiled wilderness. It's very hard for the metal tap in your sink to compete with that.

Almost any health information resource has the same recommendation about water: You should drink about eight glasses (64 ounces) per day [source: Mayo Clinic]. That adds up to 2 gallons per day for a family of four. When your water comes from 12-ounce plastic bottles, the cost can be exorbitant. Let's assume you pay approximately $6 per case of water (and remember, fancy imported waters can be much more), which is equal to $0.40 per bottle. For a family of four, that amounts to an annual cost of:

$0.40 per bottle x 5.3 bottles per person = $2.13 x 4 people = $8.53 x 365 (days in a year) = $3,114.67

Now let's compare that to the cost of using a water filter. There are many different types of water filters, but for simplicity, we'll use the basic pitcher-style system, which retails for about $20 and requires a new filter every 40 gallons [source: Brita]. A family of four will need to replace its water filter 18.25 times per year at a cost of about $6.50 per filter, which amounts to $119. A couple of $12 water bottles for each member of the family will run $96 per year. There is also the cost of water from the tap to consider, which runs about $1.50 per 1,000 gallons in the U.S. A family of four consumes about 730 gallons of water per year (2 gallons/day, 365 days/year), which amounts to $1.10. So, the total cost of using a pitcher-style water filtration system per year for a family of four is:

$119 (filters) + $96 (water bottles) + $20 (pitcher) + $1.10 (water from the tap) = $236.10

That means a family of four can potentially save $3,114.67- $236.10 = $2,878.57 each year by switching from bottled water to a water filter. And when you consider that most tap water is safe to drink in the U.S., you can save an additional $235 per year by skipping bottles and filters entirely, bringing the total annual drinking water cost for a family of four down to just $1.10. However, differences in water may occur when you consider that some municipal supplies do not meet standards of safety and quality, and others may contain foul odors and smells while still testing at safe levels for consumption. In that case, filtering your water is a good idea. Read on to learn about the various types of water filter systems.