When Did Bottled Water Get Popular?
If you’re wondering when did bottled water become popular, there are a few key factors to consider. The first is that bottled water began to grow in popularity as early as the 1800s, when people began to realize the health benefits of drinking mineral water. Other factors include the development of new glass technologies that made bottles affordable. In addition, more materials, such as aluminum, plastic, and stainless steel, became readily available.
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Some of the earliest bottled waters were sold at Jackson’s Spa in Boston. Another important early source was Saratoga Springs, which produced 7 million bottles of water a year by 1856. These water sources also served as a way for the wealthy to indulge in the healing properties of a natural spring.
However, there was a gap in the market that bottlers were eager to fill. By the 1980s, Perrier had a 45 percent global market share in bottled water. But when the company was recalled in 1990 for contaminating U.S. water with trace amounts of benzene, it saw a slowdown in the sales of its product. Despite its poor reputation, the company was able to rebound.
After World War II, plastic became more prevalent. This meant that more and more water bottles could be produced, and consumers were able to purchase them in stores and restaurants. Plastic was also lighter, reducing the weight of the bottle. It was also cheaper than glass, making it easy to produce more bottles.
There was another factor that contributed to the growth of bottled water: the use of chlorination. Chlorination is a process that kills bacteria and other pathogens that can be found in municipal water supplies. When chlorination was introduced to some parts of the USA in 1908, the public had a more reliable source of clean water.
As a result, the bottled water industry grew rapidly. New glass technologies and a dip-molding process enabled companies to create more bottles at a lower cost.
While bottled water has been a fixture in the American and European markets, there are still places in the world where water is not clean enough to drink. According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, one-half of all deaths worldwide are attributed to the lack of safe water. Thankfully, bottled water is available in these areas, and people have started to rely on it as an alternative to tap water.
Today, bottled water companies offer both still and sparkling flavored waters. Most are marketed as a healthy alternative to sodas, and some are marketed as cleaner or crisper. Bottled water is still a major beverage in the United States, with drinkers consuming nine billion gallons of bottled water in 2008. That’s more than five times as much as they consume of sodas.
Today, bottled water is an important part of a growing industry, which is estimated to be more than $20 billion in the United States. Moreover, bottled water is healthier than tap water, and many of the bottled waters are marketed as being crisper and tastier.