5 Gallon Water Dispenser – Pros and Cons

The use of bottled water around the world has increased rapidly in recent years. Believing that drinking bottled water is better for your health, many spend money installing a 5-gallon water dispenser in their homes or offices. Before you decide whether or not you should do the same, make sure you are aware of the many factors that go into making and using water bottles, and the water contained.

The advantages of using bottled water dispensers are pretty obvious, but let’s take a closer look:

• You have the option to choose which brand of water to use as most of them nowadays offer standard 5 gallon bottles and home delivery services.
• Freedom to place the dispenser anywhere you want, such as tables, desks, room corners, between furniture.
• It is not about problems in public water supply systems, such as rust, shearing, corrosion, cracks, leaks, etc.
• Independent water source in cases where a water regime or malfunction occurs in your area, such as a shortage of water supply, lack of pressure or clogged mains.
• Easy to replace or upgrade a dispenser without tedious installation work and dealing with water supply systems, pipes, faucets and drilling.

The disadvantages mainly have to do with the safety, health and environmental considerations that come with the use of bottles:

• Nearly half of the brands that claim to sell pristine, purified, natural, healthy water sell nothing more than tap water, sometimes additionally treated, at hundreds of times higher cost per gallon.
• While municipal tap water is regularly tested by the Environmental Protection Agency and meets their standards, bottled water is not, as these institutes have no authority over private water distribution.
• About 90% of used water bottles are thrown into common landfills at the expense of higher costs to the environment.
• The material (petroleum-derived polyethylene terephthalate, also known as PET), which is used to make a water bottle, wastes almost 3 times more water to make than will go into the bottle!
• The production of PET and the truckload delivery of bottled water end up in air emissions that poison the air and increase the total cost due to the fuel used.

As you can see, it is really a question of accessibility and saving time, versus care and environmental awareness. With the increasing popularity of glass water bottles, some of the problems are being solved. Although than heavier plastics, they are 100% safe and cost much less to produce. In the end, whether or not to use a 5 gallon water dispenser is a personal choice for each of us and something that will continue to create debates in the future.