Bottled Water and Snake Oil

The Economist wonders why people buy bottled water. "To many, all this is the ultimate proof that consumers are daft and easily manipulated by retailers to buy things they don’t need." and "The success of bottled water is in many ways one of capitalism’s greatest mysteries. Studies show consistently that tap water is purer than many bottled waters—not including those that contain only tap water, which by some estimates is 40% of the total by volume."

We wonder as well, and do not agree with their conclusion that "maybe it is testimony to the good job that capitalism, in the form of bottled-water producers, has done in developing quality controls and safety protections that are more reassuring than those put in place by our governments and regulated utilities." It is as they called it in the title: Snake oil. ::Economist

Read also "Some reasons I don’t let plastic bottles cloud my water" by ::No Impact Man