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Welcome to brain Stuff from how Stuff Works,

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Hey, brain Stuff, Lauren vocal bomb here. According

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to the Beverage Marketing Corporation, bottled

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water was an eighteen point five billion

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dollar industry in the United States in seen

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and by volume. The bottled water industry

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grew by seven percent from six to

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seventeen, going from twelve point

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eight billion gallons to thirteen point

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seven billion gallons, helping bottled

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water surpass soda as Americans favorite

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drink. But just one hundred

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years ago, bottled water was hardly even a business.

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Water was just something we got from our taps. So

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how did we get here? How in the world

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did something we used to get ford seemingly free

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turn into a billion dollar industry. Like

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so many modern day products successes, marketing

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has played a huge role, but so

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have some other factors. Let's explore. Bottled

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water was a thriving industry early in United

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States history. There are records of it being

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sold in the u US as early as seventeen sixty

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seven, but business really started

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flowing at the beginning of the nineteenth century

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as dip mold glass technology made

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bottles more affordable and easier to mass

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produce. Back then, two

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types of customers drove bottled water sales,

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the rich and people who lived in cities.

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The wealthy took trips to spas and resorts

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built around natural springs, so mineral

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water bottled at the source was away for them

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to continue enjoying those supposed therapeutic

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benefits. Just for perspective,

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by eighteen fifty six, Saratoga

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Springs in New York was producing seven million

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bottles of water a year for

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the average city dweller. In the eighteenth and nineteenth

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centuries, bottled water was the safest

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drinking option because municipal water

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was often sickening. Literally, drinking

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bottled water helped people avoid diseases like

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cholera, typhoid, and dysentery.

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By ninety most U S. Cities

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offered free, filtered chlorinated

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water, which dramatically improved public

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health. According to the National Bureau

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of Economic Research, of the decreases

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in depths in major cities was due to clean

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water. But what was a breakthrough for

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public health was also a blow to the bottled

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water industry. At the beginning

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of the twentieth century, with free and safe public

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water, the bottled water industry had adapted

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to markets it could serve primarily

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selling five gallon that's about nineteen liter

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bottles too large operations that needed water

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for employees. Even with mass

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produced glass, the bottles were heavy to ship,

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and that cost weighed down the bottled water

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business. The nineteen

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seventies and eighties were the real turning point

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for the new bottled water industry thanks

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to three major influences. First,

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that's when pet plastic bottles

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were patented. Unlike heavy glass, pet

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bottles could stand the pressure of carbonated drinks

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because they were lighter than glass. Pet bottles

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helped propel the bottled water industry forward.

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Second, these two decades are also when French

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sparkling water company perry A launched

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its aggressive marketing campaign to get Americans

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to spend money on water. In

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the seventies, perry A hired or sin Well to

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do voiceover for its TV ads, touting Perier

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as more quenching, more refreshing,

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and naturally sparkling from the center of

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the earth. Perrier also

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began sponsoring athletic events like the New

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York City Marathon to associate its water

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with fitness and health. By night,

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Perrier was predicting sales of seventy

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five million bottles that year alone.

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By the eighties, Perris ads used the

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tagline Earth's first soft

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drink. But the final

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push to bottled water came in nineteen

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eighties six, when the Environmental Protection

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Agency released a report showing tap

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water used by thirty six million Americans

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contained high levels of lead. Even

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though cities rushed to fix these problems after

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congressional investigations, the distrust

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of municipal water lingered, making

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the switch from public water to bottled water a

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permanent one for many families. So

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the health halo that has graced bottled water

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since ancient times largely explains

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our spending habits, even when what we're

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buying is simply filtered tap water, such

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as pepsicos off affina and Coca Cola's

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Desani. These ad campaigns

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around health, purity and youth work

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so well because they appeal to our desire

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for immortality. Researchers

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at the University of Waterloo conducted a study

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in that tested this terror

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management theory, the idea that much

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of our thinking and behavior is driven by our

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fear of death, even in things like buying

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bottled water. The results

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found that a fear of dying does play a

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role in why people buy bottled water even

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though they know it may not be better for them or

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good for the planet. Stephanie

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Cote, one of the researchers on the study, set in

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a statement, bottled water advertisements

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play on our greatest fears in two important

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ways. Our mortality fears make us

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want to avoid risks, and for many

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people, bottled water seems safer,

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somehow purer or controlled.

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The other psychological, but real aspect

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that drives people to spend money on bottled water

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is the continued lack of trust in the government

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to provide clean, safe drinking water and

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maintain water systems. Consider

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the people of Flint, Michigan, who have relied on

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bottled water through the contamination crisis

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that's lasted years there, as have the

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First Nations people in Canada, where water

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too reserves has been under drinking advisories

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since January.

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Attempts by the Trump administration to repeal

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the Federal Clean Water Rule have deepened

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public distrust. We

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spoke via email with Dr Peter H. Galek,

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President Emeritus and Chief Scientists at

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the Pacific Institute for Studies in Development,

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Environment and Security. He

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said the use of bottled water in emergency

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situations is a perfectly good idea, but

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the challenge is rebuilding public trust

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after such emergencies so that private

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bottled water use can then be eliminated.

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Bottled water should never be a permanent solution

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to providing safe, affordable, reliable drinking

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water for people, also considering

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the environmental costs of bottled water a

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mass s which would help the planet. There

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is promise in campaigns that give people reusable

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bottles, laws that banned single use bottles,

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and the new incarnation of drinking fountains

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as bottle refillings nations, but

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the messages to change our habits need to match

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the power of those that drive sales of bottled

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water. Gleek explained.

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The other challenge, of course, is that private bottled

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water companies have large budgets for advertising

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their product, while municipal water agencies

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do not. This imbalance has produced

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a situation where it is easy to lose trust

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in a municipal water system and hard to

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regain it, even when the vast majority

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of our water systems are safe and far

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far cheaper than bottled water, and

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in places around the world where safe tap water

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isn't available. The answer is to make it available,

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not to give up and rely on costly private

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bottled water. Today's

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episode was written by Sean Chavis and produced

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by Tyler Clang. If you enjoy our show and

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want to support us directly, check out our online

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store at t public dot com, slash brain

6:51

stuff, and of course, for more on

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this and other environmental topics, visit

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our home planet, how stuff works dot com