It seems like only yesterday that bottled water burst onto the scene, and millions were spent on evocative commercials and trendy brand imagery. The general public seemed to be split with regards to opinions on this new and rather expensive version of mans' most important mineral source.  Fast forward to 2014 and bottled h20 is part and parcel of every supermarket shopping list. But perhaps this staple fixture in domestic fridges has had its day in the sun, because home water coolers, under sink chillers, and hot & cold taps are arriving thick and fast, and they'll not take any prisoners!

Price Comparison

Whilst it may be true that bottled water can be bought for a reasonable price these days, it is still a considerable outlay that many shoppers would prefer to wave goodbye to. The UK bottled water market is said to be worth somewhere in the region of £1.5 billion on an annual basis, and in many households, the whole thing is seen as a scam. Although purchasing a cooler for the home may seem like an initial investment, the costs are soon recovered!

Chilled Tap Placements

Installing instant chilled water taps in homes is becoming a big growth area as well as home water coolers across the western world and the reasons are not too hard to fathom. These ingenious devices can offer the householder chilled filtered water in seconds. And the boiling water output is just as welcome, especially during the winter months. An indication of how these water systems are starting to become a more common fixture in our homes was noted back in 2013 in Australia. Quadrant Private Equity made a move for, and subsequently acquired, a large percentage share in Zip Industries. Zip developed the Hydro Tap, a device that delivers boiling/chilled water to domestic/commercial customers across more than 60 countries.

Wasteful Packaging

Plastic is never too far from the thoughts of environmentalists, and just imagine the millions of tons of packaging that we could soon see the back of, thanks to water cooling systems in our kitchens. The need to deal with wastage and production would disappear, along with the expense of paying for a product that already exists in most of our homes. You'll also see the disappearance of transport and storage requirements once the demand for bottled water starts to taper off.

Is Bottled Water Really That Good?

Of course, there are those who will tell you the difference between tap water and its bottled equivalent are like chalk and cheese, but is that really the case? If you need an expert opinion on this matter, the Drinking Water Inspectorate's recent report will testify to the fact that tap water in England and Wales has achieved a competence score of 99.6%. Coupled with a filtering system to take away any odours or bad tastes, this lovely mineral comes to you without adding any unnecessary strain on the oil industry, something that bottled water cannot add to their resume!

Healthy or Not?

Another, often overlooked, fact about bottled water is that these containers do have a ‘sell-by' date attached to them for safety reasons. But how do we know that the corner shop where we buy our water from really pays strict attention to these regulations? Apparently, if you take a gulp of water from a bottle that has exceeded its shelf life, it can pick up weird tastes that originate from the plastic packaging – nice! And we often fail to seal a bottle once we've opened it; this can lead to bacteria and micro-organisms growing happily away in the water. Neither of these issues will arise if you decide to switch back to tap water or the water chiller options we've previously described.

Save Your Own Energy!

On a parting note, it can often be a real pain when you discover that your bottled water supply has been exhausted. So you have to hot foot it down to your nearest retail outlet just to stock up once more. As well as the time that could be better spent actually enjoying yourselves, you have to factor the cost of petrol, parking, and even the wondrous carbon footprint comes into play. All this for something that already exists in your home? You do the maths!

To find out more about the range of domestic water solutions available from WaterCoolersDirect please browse our site.