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Pricey bottled water preferred by nearly half of Philadelphians, but at what cost? | Perspective

Too many Philadelphians - a staggering 43 percent - are not actually drinking the water that comes out of their home faucets.

3D render illustration of the row of plastic bottles with clear purified drink carbonated water isolated on white background with selective focus effect
3D render illustration of the row of plastic bottles with clear purified drink carbonated water isolated on white background with selective focus effectRead moreiStockphoto
    by Nina Hoe, For the Inquirer
    Published 

  1. Only 14 percent of Philadelphians who have a college degree or higher report drinking bottled water most often at home, compared with a whopping 54 percent of Philadelphians with a high school diploma or less.

  2. 15 percent of households with an income of more than $150,000 per year drink bottled water most often while at home, while 59 percent of households with an income of less than $20,000 do; a counterintuitive dynamic since tap water costs one cent per gallon.

  3. By race, 18 percent of white residents drink bottled water most often at home, while 63 percent of black and 71 percent of Latino residents do.

  4. There are significant differences by gender as well: 50 percent of females compared with 36 percent of males reported drinking bottled water most often at home.

Nina Hoe is the director of evaluation at the Fels Institute of Government at the University of Pennsylvania. ninahoe@upenn.edu