Clear divide: bottled water costs more than petrol

BOTTLED water is more expensive than orange juice, milk, fizzy drinks and even export lager, a new cost survey reveals.

And flavoured waters with ‘health’ or ‘diet’ claims can even be twice as expensive per litre than petrol or diesel.

The Consumers’ Association of Ireland (CAI) surveyed the price of 32 bottled waters on the market, finding prices per litre ranging from 22 cent to a whopping €2.18.

Yesterday the Irish Examiner found prices as low as 17.5p a litre and bottled water as high as €3.50 a litre.

The cheapest on the CAI’s survey tended to be two-litre bottles of plain sparkling water with Dunnes’ own brand the best value at 44c a bottle, or 22c a litre, and Kerry Spring the most expensive at €1.45 a bottle, or 73c a litre.

Still plain water ranged from 47c a litre (Crystal Spring) to €1.47 (Volvic) and even €1.52 for Tipperary Kidz.

However, prices rocketed for consumers opting for flavoured brands or water boasting ‘revitalising’ or ‘detox’ or even ‘weight-loss’ properties.

Dunnes Stores pear-flavour was the cheapest at 68c a litre but Coolwater blackberry ‘trim’ was the costliest at €2.18 a litre.

By comparison, Tesco is selling top-brand fizzy drinks for 91c a litre, milk for 90c a carton, orange juice for €1.39 per litre and strong Belgian export lager at €1.70 a litre.

Similarly, petrol currently retails at about €1.05 a litre, making water brands like Coolwater blackberry ‘boost’ twice as expensive as oil drilled in the Middle East, refined and then shipped to Ireland for car fuel.

Last night the Consumers’ Association of Ireland (CAI) said the price of bottled water was so high the public should think before buying the products.

“Bottled water is arguably not worth buying as it’s big business and big profit — and nothing else,” said CAI chief executive Dermott Jewell.”

Despite the cost, Irish consumers are drinking 160million litres a year in a market worth around €160m based on average cost of one euro a litre.

The CAI said consumers who prefer bottled water on taste grounds could save a fortune if they invested in jug-filters or filtration units for their tap water.

“There seems to have been an extraordinarily successful campaign over the years to suggest tap water is the last thing you should drink,” said Mr Jewell.

“But the reality is that it is not as bad as it is purported to be in most areas and is better for your pocket and the environment.”

Water came at an environmental cost as it came in plastic or glass bottles and had to be brought over land and sea before reaching the shops, said a report in this month’s Consumer Choice magazine, which is published by the CAI.

By contrast tap water is freely available and the quality is monitored by public hygiene authorities which put out alerts when problems like those in Galway happen.

Mr Jewell said consumers who wanted to buy bottled water should make the effort to find the best value products as prices and brands varied massively.

“It was only a relatively short time ago when you couldn’t even buy bottled water but now not only are people paying a lot for it but there are so many kinds,” he said.