Thursday, Oct. 02, 2008

Keep your wallet above water

After pinching and reorganizing their household budgets, people still often overpay for commercially bottled water.

The typical American con-sumer spends annually $1,400 on bottled water vs. 49 cents for the same amount of water from our kitchen faucet, according to the Center for a New American Dream, a nonprofit consumer group.

To help you calculate how much more you may be spending for bottled water, New American Dream provides a cost calculator at www.newdream.org/water.

Consider these numbers: -.002 of a cent — The average prices for a gallon of water from your kitchen sink. -$1 — The average price for a 20-ounce bottle of water.

What’s more, about 40 percent of the bottled water sold in stores is tap water, according to New American Dream. Columbia’s water supply is used by Aquafina.

Fortunately, there are cheaper alternatives: -For the home, there are filtering systems that include simple counter-top pitchers (for less than $20). There also are elaborate filters for the faucet.

-A local water safety report can help you decide what type of filter is best for your home. Ask your local water company for a Con-sumer Confidence Report, which measures contaminants.

-Stay chilled. To avoid impulse or emergency purchases of water bottles, keep a stock of cold water in reusable, nontoxic bottles in your refrigerator.

-Away from home, portable and reusable bottle filters enable you to filter water from faucets and drinking fountains.

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