Not everyone is sure whether or not he or she should use bottled water. Some consider it a necessity while others remain unconvinced. Much will depend on what type of access a person has to water at home.

In times past, finding water that was prepackaged usually meant having a supplier deliver a five gallon bottle of it to the home or office on a weekly basis. These containers usually sat on their own metal stand and people would most generally use tiny paper cups to drink it. Many of these suppliers were local companies that obtained water from wells in more remote areas like the mountains. Some of these products where natural and came straight from the ground. Others were subject to filtration so that a consistent taste could be achieved. Other companies may have added minerals of some kind to change the taste. For years, this was basically the only way people got drinking water in many metropolitan areas. Some people debated the merits of bottled water vs tap water with arguments favoring both sides.

Central American immigrants are thought to have helped introduce this type of product to mainstream America. In many areas of Central America, there is no such thing as pure tap water. People who want to have drinking water must go to a place that sells it by the gallon in order to have fresh water. Their home water may be polluted with chemicals or have things like parasites in it. When these immigrants came to the United States, they had no reason to trust the water quality here. This helped create a demand for bottled water and more people began to use it.

People like the convenience of single serve bottles of water. This allows them to have something refreshing to drink without consuming extra calories like they would if they chose sodas. Water is always a better choice to quench thirst and helps the body to replenish moisture better than other items.

Bottled water facts show that more people are using this type of water but not as many bottles are being recycled as they could be. Despite efforts to recycle all of these containers, many still end up in the landfill where they will take at least 100 years to breakdown. Some alternatives to this practice are using products that are packaged in so called green bottles. These bottled water items are made from plant products instead of petroleum products and decompose naturally within a few months.