WEBVTT - Why Do We Drink So Much Bottled Water?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff from how Stuff Works, Hey, brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren vocal bomb here. According to the Beverage Marketing Corporation,

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<v Speaker 1>bottled water was an eighteen point five billion dollar industry

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<v Speaker 1>in the United States in seen and by volume. The

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<v Speaker 1>bottled water industry grew by seven percent from six to seventeen,

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<v Speaker 1>going from twelve point eight billion gallons to thirteen point

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<v Speaker 1>seven billion gallons, helping bottled water surpass soda as Americans

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<v Speaker 1>favorite drink. But just one hundred years ago, bottled water

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<v Speaker 1>was hardly even a business. Water was just something we

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<v Speaker 1>got from our taps. So how did we get here?

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<v Speaker 1>How in the world did something we used to get

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<v Speaker 1>ford seemingly free turn into a billion dollar industry. Like

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<v Speaker 1>so many modern day products successes, marketing has played a

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<v Speaker 1>huge role, but so have some other factors. Let's explore.

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<v Speaker 1>Bottled water was a thriving industry early in United States history.

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<v Speaker 1>There are records of it being sold in the u

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<v Speaker 1>US as early as seventeen sixty seven, but business really

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<v Speaker 1>started flowing at the beginning of the nineteenth century as

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<v Speaker 1>dip mold glass technology made bottles more affordable and easier

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<v Speaker 1>to mass produce. Back then, two types of customers drove

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<v Speaker 1>bottled water sales, the rich and people who lived in cities.

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<v Speaker 1>The wealthy took trips to spas and resorts built around

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<v Speaker 1>natural springs, so mineral water bottled at the source was

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<v Speaker 1>away for them to continue enjoying those supposed therapeutic benefits.

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<v Speaker 1>Just for perspective, by eighteen fifty six, Saratoga Springs in

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<v Speaker 1>New York was producing seven million bottles of water a

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<v Speaker 1>year for the average city dweller. In the eighteenth and

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<v Speaker 1>nineteenth centuries, bottled water was the safest drinking option because

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<v Speaker 1>municipal water was often sickening. Literally, drinking bottled water helped

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<v Speaker 1>people avoid diseases like cholera, typhoid, and dysentery. By ninety

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<v Speaker 1>most U S. Cities offered free, filtered chlorinated water, which

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<v Speaker 1>dramatically improved public health. According to the National Bureau of

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<v Speaker 1>Economic Research, of the decreases in depths in major cities

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<v Speaker 1>was due to clean water. But what was a breakthrough

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<v Speaker 1>for public health was also a blow to the bottled

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<v Speaker 1>water industry. At the beginning of the twentieth century, with

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<v Speaker 1>free and safe public water, the bottled water industry had

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<v Speaker 1>adapted to markets it could serve primarily selling five gallon

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<v Speaker 1>that's about nineteen liter bottles too large operations that needed

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<v Speaker 1>water for employees. Even with mass produced glass, the bottles

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<v Speaker 1>were heavy to ship, and that cost weighed down the

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<v Speaker 1>bottled water business. The nineteen seventies and eighties were the

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<v Speaker 1>real turning point for the new bottled water industry thanks

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<v Speaker 1>to three major influences. First, that's when pet plastic bottles

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<v Speaker 1>were patented. Unlike heavy glass, pet bottles could stand the

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<v Speaker 1>pressure of carbonated drinks because they were lighter than glass.

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<v Speaker 1>Pet bottles helped propel the bottled water industry forward. Second,

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<v Speaker 1>these two decades are also when French sparkling water company

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<v Speaker 1>perry A launched its aggressive marketing campaign to get Americans

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<v Speaker 1>to spend money on water. In the seventies, perry A

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<v Speaker 1>hired or sin Well to do voiceover for its TV ads,

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<v Speaker 1>touting Perier as more quenching, more refreshing, and naturally sparkling

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<v Speaker 1>from the center of the earth. Perrier also began sponsoring

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<v Speaker 1>athletic events like the New York City Marathon to associate

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<v Speaker 1>its water with fitness and health. By night, Perrier was

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<v Speaker 1>predicting sales of seventy five million bottles that year alone.

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<v Speaker 1>By the eighties, Perris ads used the tagline Earth's first

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<v Speaker 1>soft drink. But the final push to bottled water came

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<v Speaker 1>in nineteen eighties six, when the Environmental Protection Agency released

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<v Speaker 1>a report showing tap water used by thirty six million

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<v Speaker 1>Americans contained high levels of lead. Even though cities rushed

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<v Speaker 1>to fix these problems after congressional investigations, the distrust of

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<v Speaker 1>municipal water lingered, making the switch from public water to

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<v Speaker 1>bottled water a permanent one for many families. So the

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<v Speaker 1>health halo that has graced bottled water since ancient times

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<v Speaker 1>largely explains our spending habits, even when what we're buying

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<v Speaker 1>is simply filtered tap water, such as pepsicos off affina

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<v Speaker 1>and Coca Cola's Desani. These ad campaigns around health, purity

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<v Speaker 1>and youth work so well because they appeal to our

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<v Speaker 1>desire for immortality. Researchers at the University of Waterloo conducted

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<v Speaker 1>a study in that tested this terror management theory, the

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<v Speaker 1>idea that much of our thinking and behavior is driven

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<v Speaker 1>by our fear of death, even in things like buying

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<v Speaker 1>bottled water. The results found that a fear of dying

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<v Speaker 1>does play a role in why people buy bottled water

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<v Speaker 1>even though they know it may not be better for

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<v Speaker 1>them or good for the planet. Stephanie Cote, one of

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<v Speaker 1>the researchers on the study, set in a statement, bottled

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<v Speaker 1>water advertisements play on our greatest fears in two important ways.

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<v Speaker 1>Our mortality fears make us want to avoid risks, and

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<v Speaker 1>for many people, bottled water seems safer, somehow purer or controlled.

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<v Speaker 1>The other psychological, but real aspect that drives people to

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<v Speaker 1>spend money on bottled water is the continued lack of

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<v Speaker 1>trust in the government to provide clean, safe drinking water

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<v Speaker 1>and maintain water systems. Consider the people of Flint, Michigan,

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<v Speaker 1>who have relied on bottled water through the contamination crisis

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<v Speaker 1>that's lasted years there, as have the First Nations people

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<v Speaker 1>in Canada, where water too reserves has been under drinking

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<v Speaker 1>advisories since January. Attempts by the Trump administration to repeal

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<v Speaker 1>the Federal Clean Water Rule have deepened public distrust. We

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<v Speaker 1>spoke via email with Dr Peter H. Galek, President Emeritus

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<v Speaker 1>and Chief Scientists at the Pacific Institute for Studies in Development,

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<v Speaker 1>Environment and Security. He said the use of bottled water

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<v Speaker 1>in emergency situations is a perfectly good idea, but the

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<v Speaker 1>challenge is rebuilding public trust after such emergencies so that

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<v Speaker 1>private bottled water use can then be eliminated. Bottled water

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<v Speaker 1>should never be a permanent solution to providing safe, affordable,

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<v Speaker 1>reliable drinking water for people, also considering the environmental costs

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<v Speaker 1>of bottled water a mass s which would help the planet.

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<v Speaker 1>There is promise in campaigns that give people reusable bottles,

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<v Speaker 1>laws that banned single use bottles, and the new incarnation

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<v Speaker 1>of drinking fountains as bottle refillings nations, but the messages

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<v Speaker 1>to change our habits need to match the power of

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<v Speaker 1>those that drive sales of bottled water. Gleek explained. The

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<v Speaker 1>other challenge, of course, is that private bottled water companies

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<v Speaker 1>have large budgets for advertising their product, while municipal water

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<v Speaker 1>agencies do not. This imbalance has produced a situation where

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<v Speaker 1>it is easy to lose trust in a municipal water

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<v Speaker 1>system and hard to regain it, even when the vast

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<v Speaker 1>majority of our water systems are safe and far far

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<v Speaker 1>cheaper than bottled water, and in places around the world

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<v Speaker 1>where safe tap water isn't available. The answer is to

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<v Speaker 1>make it available, not to give up and rely on

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<v Speaker 1>costly private bottled water. Today's episode was written by Sean

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<v Speaker 1>Chavis and produced by Tyler Clang. If you enjoy our

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<v Speaker 1>show and want to support us directly, check out our

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<v Speaker 1>online store at t public dot com, slash brain stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>and of course, for more on this and other environmental topics,

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<v Speaker 1>visit our home planet, how stuff works dot com