In The Atlantic's new video series, "Economics in Plain English," business editor Derek Thompson addresses the question of why bottled water is so expensive. And in doing so, he pulls out a ton of facts that will make you question why you ever drank bottled water in the first place. Here are seven of the most thought-provoking:
1. Bottled water is 240 to 10,000 times more expensive than tap water.
2. A single half-liter of bottled water costs as much as an entire day's worth of cooking, washing, showering and toilet flushing with tap water.
3. If a family relied on bottled water instead of tap water each day, their monthly water bill would reach as much as $9,000.
4. Around 33 cents of every dollar spent on a bottle of water from abroad goes to transportation costs.
5. For every liter of bottled water you drink, the production process uses twice as much. So if you buy one liter of water, you are actually paying for three.
6. Most of the money bottled water companies spend is put towards not the water itself, but marketing and advertising.
7. Despite all that, Americans still spend $15 billion every year on bottled water.
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