Bottled water sales are soaring in the United States despite the exorbitant costs associated with purchasing water in plastic bottles. Consumers need clean water that is safe to drink, and unfortunately the water that comes out of our taps these days can contain a wide range of common drinking water contaminants that can either make water taste bad, or can cause serious health problems, or both. As a result, many consumers are turning to bottled water despite the additional expense they have to incur. Yet, opting for a good quality home water filtration system offers several benefits over bottled water, including significant cost savings.

Lets compare the cost associated with bottled water and filtered tap water provided by a high quality home water filter system, such as the Berkey.

Increasing Cost of Bottled Water

The cost of bottled water varies according to the type of water (filtered/purified water, mineral water, natural spring water, etc), the brand, and the region it is being sold in. But a bottle of purified drinking water will set you back more than a dollar per gallon, typically averaging around $1.25 a gallon. A bottle of purified alkaline water (purified water with pink Himalayan salt added) costs $2 a gallon on Amazon, while purified mountain spring water costs $44.30 for a pack of six gallon bottles ($7.38 per gallon). You may be able to save a bit by making bulk purchases, but it's still a very expensive way of quenching your thirst and rehydrating your body.

Unless otherwise specified, purified bottled water typically consists of tap water that has been undergone some form of filtration (typically reverse osmosis) to remove contaminants such as chlorine that are added by the water utility during the water treatment process. Bottled water costs much more than tap water due to all the additional costs along the supply chain. These include the production costs (costs of producing the water), packaging costs (cost of producing/purchasing the plastic bottles), staff costs, transportation costs, and advertising costs. The supplier needs to make a profit to stay in business, so this is added to the cost of water. Bottled water suppliers rarely, if ever, supply direct to the public, but rather sell their products through retail outlets that put their markup on the purchase price. So when you purchase a bottle of water, you are not just paying for the water you are about to enjoy, but all the additional costs that are added and accumulate along the supply chain.

The Environmental Costs of Bottled Water

The costs associated with bottled water are not limited to the cash you have to fork out. There are also significant environmental costs associated with each bottle of water purchased. Petroleum is the key ingredient used to produce plastic bottles. Every year 17 million barrels of crude oil are used to manufacture plastic bottles — enough to run 1 million vehicles for a year. A staggering 1.5 million tons of plastic is used to manufacture plastic bottles every year, a waste of fuel and energy that could be used to power 250,000 homes instead. Only a small percentage of plastic bottles are recycled, with the majority ending up on landfills, waterways, and ultimately the ocean, where it contributes to the growing scourge of marine plastic debris. Because plastic was designed to be durable, plastic water bottles can take anywhere between 400 to 1,000 years to break down in the environment. Investing in a good quality home water filtration system that is capable of delivering purified water will not only save you vast sums of money, it will also substantially reduce your environmental footprint.

Cost of Filtering Your Tap Water with a Home Water Filtration System

A good quality home water purifier such as the Berkey, will remove a a wide range of contaminants commonly found in tap water. The water that is produced not only tastes and smells better, it is far more healthier than water straight from the tap. In terms of water quality, water produced by a Berkey is on a par with bottled water, and in many cases, is of a higher quality (for example, contains no microplastics or BPA). So how does water filtered by a Berkey compare price wise?

Water utilities pump water from various sources such as rivers, lakes, reservoirs and underground aquifers, then treat it before distributing it to consumers who are billed for the volume of water that passes through their water meters. Tap water costs less than a $0.01 per gallon in the U.S., which is very cheap when one considers the cost associated with pumping, water treatment, water distribution, infrastructure maintenance, and billing.

Berkey water psystefilter s come in various sizes (and prices) starting from $327 for the Travel Berkey (Berkey's smallest system, which has a storage capacity of 1.5 gallons and caters for 1-3 people) up to $478 for the Crown Berkey (Berkey's largest system, which has a storage capacity of 6 gallons and caters for 8-12+ people). The Big Berkey (Berkey's most popular system), which has a storage capacity of 2.1 gallons and caters for 1-4 people, costs $367 including two Black Berkey filtration elements. The system can accommodate a maximum of four Black Berkey filter elements to double the flow rate and lifespan of the filters. Replacement elements cost $166 per set of 2. As each Black Berkey filtration element can filter approximately 3000 gallons before needing to be replaced, a set of two will deliver 6000 gallons of purified water before a replacement is needed. Therefore, water filtered by a Berkey costs just 4¢ per Gallon!

The beauty about Black Berkey purification elements is they can be cleaned and reused, extending the filter lifespan and alleviating the need to purchase costly disposable filter cartridges.

If you consume a gallon of water per day, a set of two Black Berkey filtration elements will continue to deliver purified water for 16 years! If you drink two gallons per day, they will provide you with purified water for eight years, and if your family consumers 4 gallons of water per day, they will last four years before needing to be replaced.

Cost Savings of Switching to a Berkey

Cost of purified bottled water = $1.25 per gallon (on average)

Cost of Berkey water = $0.04 (cost of filter element) + $0.01 (average cost of tap water) = $0.05 per gallon

By purchasing a Berkey, you will save $1.20 for every gallon of filtered water consumed. This equates to savings of between $33.60-37.20 a month, or $437.60 a year. Over 5 years (lifespan of the Black Berkey purification elements based on a consumption of 3 gallons per day) you will have saved a whopping $2,187!

If you drink a gallon of water per day, purchasing bottled water (at a cost of around $1.25 per gallon on average) you will invariably spend more than $37 per month, or $450 per year on water. Over 5 years this equates to a cost of $2,250 for bottled water. You could have purchased more than 5 Berkey's and still had change over. Switching from bottled water to a Berkey water filter will save you hundreds of dollars per year, and in the long-term will save you thousands, while also protecting the environment.

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