The cost of filtered drinking water

“Water, water everywhere, / Nor any drop to drink” laments the becalmed sailor in Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”.

Nearly 70% of the Earth is covered in water but only 2.5% of it is fresh, and only 1% is accessible. [1] Even then most of that 1% requires purifying to make it safe enough to drink. That purification process comes at a cost. In Australia water costs ratepayers between $1.50 and $5.20 per kilolitre, which is between 0.15 and 0.52 cent per litre. [2]

However, as discussed in previous blogs, the water that comes out of our taps isn’t always perfectly safe, and mostly also contains additives like chlorine and fluoride that we don’t want to drink or changes the taste or smell to something less than palatable for many of us.

The solution to the issues of safety and additives in the tap water is a simple tap water filter like the EZEK EZ-AQUA 250B benchtop filter system or the 250BU under sink system, but it comes at an added cost to our “almost free” tap water. How much does it cost and is it worth it?

The cost of filtered water

First let’s work out what it actually costs. If we use the EZ-AQUA 250BU as our benchmark, it comes in at a retail price of $328.00. If we use the average family of four drinking the recommended 8 glasses of water per day (2L) and then double it to allow for water used in cooking and food preparation, we come to a figure of 5840L per year. (Note that the 4L per day per person figure does not include other water usage, e.g. cleaning, toilet flushing, clothes washing, showering, gardening, etc., and is only a general estimate.)

Add in the cost of replacing the filters at the recommended intervals over a 5 year period and we come to a figure of just under 5 cents per litre.

$290.80 ÷ 5840L = 4.98 cents/L.

Comparison with Bottled Water

If we compare the cost per litre of filtered water on EZ-AQUA 250BU to buying bottled water, we could be paying anything from 40 cents per litre right up to around $7.50 per litre, and that’s at supermarket prices! [3] Not to mention that the water inside that bottle could be no different to tap water and may even be less safe. Australian tap water goes through much tighter quality control checks than bottled water does, and bottled water producers have been found to engage in rather dubious tactics such as selling product that doesn’t match labels, contains unsafe particles or is marketed using completely unscientific mumbo jumbo. [4]

There is a much bigger problem with bottled water though – plastic pollution, as shown in the pictures below and frequent news reports. Recently typhoon Mangkhut hit Hong Kong and in the aftermath the beaches were full of rubbish including a large proportion of plastic bottles. Some people commented that nature seems to have taken revenge on us.

Therefore, the cost of 4.2 cents per litre for the drinking water through EZEK AQUA-250BU is easily justifiable. Not only that you and your family will have access to clean and safe drinking water, you will also be doing your bit to cut down the global pollution of plastic bottles.

Call us today on (02) 8840 5177, or email us at sales@ilanwater.com.au, to discuss our range of water filtration systems to provide clean and great tasting drinking water at your home or office.
Australia-wide delivery available!

References

1. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/freshwater/freshwater-crisis/
2. https://www.teampoly.com.au/2018/06/15/water-prices-in-australia/
3. https://shop.coles.com.au/a/a-national/everything/search/water?orderBy=UP&personaliseSort=false&pageNumber=1
4. https://www.choice.com.au/food-and-drink/drinks/water/articles/is-bottled-water-safer-than-tap-water