Donal Hickey: Troubled bottled waters

One of the most notable marketing success stories — not to mention changes in consumer habits — in recent decades has been the large-scale consumption of bottled water by Irish people, writes Donal Hickey

It’s almost 40 years since leading brand Ballygowan was launched from Newcastlewest, Co Limerick.

Initially, many people dismissed its commercial chances, given the availability of plentiful supplies of tap water.

But, the majority of us are now sipping bottled water, with grocery analyst Kantar’s 2017 Republic of Ireland TGI study showing that 63% of all adults, or 2.4 million of us, drink it.

Picodi.com, a discount shopping website, has been doing research into the phenomenon, drawing from manufacturers’ reports, information from carriers and data gleaned from other websites.

One of its key findings is that the actual cost of water in the bottle you purchase is less than 1% of the total production cost.

We’re told more people are giving up bottled water and opting for tap water.

They don’t want to pay for something they can get basically for free, also believing tap water is as healthy, or even healthier, as that wrapped in plastic.

But, Picodi emphasises that doesn’t mean the bottled water market in Ireland is trembling with fear.

“It’s quite the opposite,” the website adds. “With the recent healthy living craze, we buy even more water than ever. It’s one of the most basic products in Irish homes.

"Every year we spend over €76.5m on bottled water.”

Sales of bottled water are growing faster than sales of soft drinks.

In pubs, bottled water is a star performer in the non-alcoholic shelves.

This could be down to a clear marketing focus on health, which promotes bottled water as an alternative to sugar-laced, soft drinks rather than an alternative to good tap water.

Not that long ago, jugs of tap water could be found on pub counters, usually for whiskey drinkers diluting their ‘half-ones’.

Now, in the average pub, a great many customers are prepared to pay for bottled water rather than ask for free tap water, as if drink isn’t dear enough. Personally, I always point to the tap.

The irony here, of course, is that people who were totally opposed to paying charges for good quality, cheap tap water, when such were mooted a few years ago, have no difficulty in forking out every day for quite expensive bottled water.

The number of people who drink bottled water more than once a day has increased from 18% to 22% in two years, amounting to over 800,000 people, according to Kantar.

The debate about the health qualities of bottled water versus tap water continues.

In some American cities and entertainment venues, plastic water bottles have been banned for environmental and waste disposal reasons, while there are ongoing concerns about risks from contaminated water sources.