Posted: April 05 2007

A new cost survey, carried out by the Consumer’s Association of Ireland (CAI) found that bottled water is more expensive than orange juice, milk, fizzy drinks and even export lager.

The survey which looked at the price of 32 bottled waters in the market, found that prices ranged from 22 cents a litre to €2.18. It found that flavoured waters with any health benefits such as less fat or sugar can be twice as expensive per litre than petrol or diesel.

It found that the cheapest water were more often the two-litre bottles of plain sparkling water. Dunnes came in top with the best value for its own brand at 44c a bottle or 22c per litre. In comparison Kerry Spring was the most expensive at €1.45 a bottle – 73c per litre.

When it came to water that claimed health benefit properties, the prices soared. Dunnes Stores again came in top with their pear-flavour found to be the cheapest at 68c a litre compared to Coolwater blackberry ‘trim’ at €2.18 a litre.

Compare these costs of water to fizzy drinks, milk and orange juice. Tesco’s sells these items so 91 a litre, 90c a carton and €1.39 per litre respectively.

The cost of petrol is currently approximately€1.05 a litre. This means that water brands like Coolwater blackberry ‘boost’ is twice as expensive as oil.

The CAI has said that warned the public that with the price of bottled water being so high they should think twice about buying the products and that they should make an effort to find the best value products as prices and brands widely varied.