You may have heard Santa Ana serves up one of the best tasting tap water in the world (see the article in this report about our awards), but did you know our water is one of the most affordable?  At an average monthly cost of $58.36, it rates as one of the lowest costing tap water in Orange County (#6 out of 30 agencies according to a survey conducted by the Municipal Water District of Orange County.)¹

So how does the cost of Santa Ana’s tap water compare to bottled water?

If you were to drink eight glasses of water a day from a Santa Ana tap, it would cost you only 66 cents a year.  However, you could spend an average 2,200 times as much, roughly $1,475 a year, by drinking that same amount in bottled water.  Besides cost there are other important reasons not to drink bottled water, like its safety and environmental impact.

Reasons not to drink bottled water

• Bottled water is expensive.  Americans spent $11.8 billion on bottled water in 20122 and paid up to 1,000 times the cost of tap water.
  
  
• No healthier than tap.  Tap water in the United States is subject to more stringent federal safety regulations than bottled water. Federal, state, and local environmental agencies require all municipal and private water agencies to rigorously test for bacteria and toxic chemicals, as well as provide consumers with a water quality report each year. According to Food & Water Watch, a 2010 survey revealed only 3 bottled water companies provide the public with the same level of information available for tap water.  Independent testing of 10 different brands of bottled water conducted in 2008 found 38 contaminants.3

• Bottled water = garbage. Bottled water produces up to 1.5 million tons of plastic waste per year. According to Food and Water Watch, that plastic requires up to 47 million gallons of oil per year to produce.

So as you get yourself a glass of water, think about where it comes from and at what cost to the environment. Our tap water is not only very affordable, it’s safe and we have the data to prove it!

1. Based on consumption of 25 billing units per month.
2. Source: International Bottled Water Association
3. Source: Environmental Working Group.  Conducted by the Environmental Working Group in 2008. 10 popular brands of bottled water, purchased from grocery stores and other retailers in 9 states and the District of Columbia, contained 38 chemical pollutants, with an average of 8 contaminants in each brand.