More recently, water, like air, was considered one of the most accessible, and besides, free natural resources. Today, you have to pay for water, although in some countries water is still very cheap. In the USA, for example, a gallon of water (about 4 liters) costs less than $0.01. In Turkmenistan, drinking water is generally distributed free of charge. But in European countries, for example in Denmark, its cost can reach almost $12 per cubic meter (Megatrends).
Clean drinking water is becoming more expensive — this is noticeable by the example of the growing demand for bottled water. Only (alone) Russians drink about 5.8 billion liters of water per year, that is, about 40 liters per capita. In Europe, this figure is higher and amounts to 140 liters per year per person. In the USA, it is even higher — about 205 liters, moreover, over the period from 2010 to 2020, the consumption of bottled water in this country increased by more than 30%.
Of course, this trend is influenced by effective marketing and the desire of people, especially in developed countries, for a healthy lifestyle. But the point is also that bottled water is considered — and in many cases quite justifiably — safer than tap water. Although it's not so simple here either.
A few years ago, an independent Swiss organization decided to make a comparative analysis of the quality of tap and bottled water. It turned out that in many parts of the country, in particular in the canton of Geneva, the quality of tap water surpasses, including in mineral composition, the quality of water sold by such well-known manufacturers as Evian. Perhaps, after all, marketing and prestige? Anyway, in many countries of the world, because of the dilapidation of water supply and water treatment systems, tap water is really not quite suitable, and sometimes not at all suitable for drinking.
The growing demand for safe drinking water inevitably leads to an increase in prices for bottled water. Over the past two decades, the sale of bottled water has become the fastest growing segment of the global beverage market.
In 2021, the volume of the global bottled water market was estimated at $240 billion. According to Megatrends forecasts, it will increase with an average annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.1% and will reach $505 billion by 2028.
The fastest growing and largest segment of this market at the moment is the Asia-Pacific region (33% of the total world market). According to analysts' forecasts, due to the deterioration of the water supply infrastructure and the insufficient number of treatment facilities, a rapid growth in demand for bottled water is expected in Latin America, the Middle East and Africa.
Who could have guessed quite recently that water, plain water, would cost more than "black gold". As of January 2020, the average price of a liter of 14 varieties of bottled water sold in Russia many times exceeded the cost of gasoline and diesel fuel, and the price of one liter of Antipodes water (New Zealand) exceeded the cost of a liter of gasoline by 21 times.