Watered-Down Information
http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Health/t/story?id=728070&page=1
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/02/0224_060224_bottled_water.html
We all know that bottled water is extremely convenient wether or not your at sports practice for washing down your lunch . It is clean, healthy, taste better, and provides many benefits over tap water. That’s why everyone else drinks bottle water… right?
It seems that millions of Americans are subjected to this information cascade. People buy bottled water as opposed to tap regardless of the information provided to them. The research on tap water vs bottled water is as clear as well… water. According to ABC News, scientist have found the nutritional beneifts of tap water to be equal to that of bottled water. In fact, most bottled water removes flouride found in tap water which improves the health of your teeth. As well adding health benefits, all water treatment plants must filter and treat water supplies according to strict goverment regulations. Bottled water on the other hand are under no such federal restrictions.
Maybe you buy bottled water for the natural glacier or spring mountain taste; however, it is a common misconception that bottled water comes from the natual spring mountains and pleasent mountain scenery printed on the bottles. If you look closely, most bottling companies just filter already filtered tap water from the local water treatment plant. The ABC news blind taste test even showed that New York City tap water tasted just as well as iceland springs and better than the more expensive Evian tap water.
Regardless of the immense amounts of research and information supporting tap water, “The report lists the U.S. as the world’s biggest drinker of bottled water, consuming 7 billion gallons (26 billion liters) annually.” This information cascade is contributed to two main factors: lack of awareness, and the influence of other bottled water drinkers. Individuals see other people paying money for bottled water and think that the drinker knows something about bottled water that the individual does not. This combined with the lack of awareness of the benefits of tap water causes an individual to also want to buy bottled water. So unless we raise awareness on the benefits of tap water, this unfortunate information cascade will continue and the bottled water companies will continue to profit on our ignorance.
-Water Bear