How much money will filtered tap water save you?

Dubai: The UAE isn’t like Europe, India or North America when it comes to tap water. It’s not a common occurrence to drink straight from the tap. Even filtering your taps isn’t prevalent behaviour. People just like bottled water.

According to an earlier Gulf News report, the Abu Dhabi Distribution Company stated that the national average water consumption rate, including personal, residential, commercial and agriculture use, stands at 550 litres per day in the UAE, as compared to 170-300 litres per day per capita internationally. This means that the UAE consumes water three times more than the international sustainable water consumption index. It is considered one of the highest across the world.

The dependency of UAE residents on bottled water is an expensive habit that started decades ago. Having grown up in the UAE, I was always told by my parents, teachers and literally anyone, not to drink from the tap. No one exactly explained why, all I was told was that it was “not clean”.

Turns out that UAE tap water is 100 per cent clean. A fact that’s been confirmed to Gulf News multiple times over the years by the local municipalities. There are special steps that must, however, be taken.

Dubai Municipality explained to Gulf News: “Tap water can be consumed as drinking water if the following steps are taken: Water tanks and pipes system should be well maintained, cleaning and flushing should be done by a company approved by the Emirates International Accreditation Centre. Samples should be collected and tested for drinking water parameters in a laboratory approved by the Emirates International Accreditation Centre and should be found satisfactory.”

A further note said, “Water tank cleaning requirements have been there since 14 years and there is nothing new. The Food Code says that if the hotel/restaurant is providing filtered tap water, it must be safe. This is not a new requirement either. The code says that the water must be potable whether it is for bottles or ice. Don’t forget that ice is produced in machines that run on tap water.”

Or you could just set up a filtration system and drink water that way.

Before we delve into the math of things, let’s first determine how much water we will be drinking a day.

According to the Mayo clinic, an average man should drink 3.7 litres a day, while a woman should drink 2.3 litres a day. However reality is different and most people end up usually consuming just 1 -2 litres a day, and that is being generous.

Therefore, in all calculations, we will be doing the math based on 1.5 litres a day of drinking water.

So how much money will you save, if you use filtered water instead of bottled water?

Cost of a filtration system

Water purification company, Waterclub.ae for example is one of the filtration systems that is featured on DEWA’s app, so we used them as the example in this case study. If you want a permanent filtration system in your kitchen, the entire kit will cost you Dh1,499. This includes a one year free warranty, which you will need, since you have to replace the filters every six months. Once the first year is complete, you will then pay Dh500 a year that will cover you in case of any damage and include free filter replacements every six months.

For a simpler filter, you can install the faucet one. We found a highly rated one on Amazon for Dh176.02, which was the PUR Advanced Faucet Water Filter with LED Filter Status Indicator. However, this needs to be replaced every three months.

The yearly cost of this filtration system would be Dh704.

In the long run, the permanent system would be a better investment. Yes, it costs more at first but after five years, you would have paid Dh3,499 for the permanent system vs. Dh3,520 for the three-month-long faucet system. By 10 years, it would cost Dh5,999 for the permanent system and Dh7,040 for the three-month system.

Dubai Electricity and Water (Dewa) cost: It is important to note that it only costs Dh0.035 for 4.5 litres of water coming out of the tap in the UAE. So in all calculations, please add an additional Dh0.011 (the cost of 1.5 litres of water from the tap a day).

- Drinking 1.5 litres of tap water a day for one year = Dh1,499
- Second year, it would cost = Dh500
- Third year, it would cost = Dh492

Cost of buying bottled water

A pack of 12 branded bottled drinking water at 500mL per bottle costs an average of Dh12 from affordable grocery stores in the UAE (Lulu, Carrefour, Union Co-op). That’s Dh1 per bottle. If you drink your water through bottles, then your day will cost you an average of Dh3, which in a month costs around Dh90 a month.

Note: For these calculations to remain accurate, you need to make sure that you don’t spend more than Dh1 on a 500mL bottle of water.

- Drinking bottled water for 1 year at 1.5 litres a day = Dh1,080

Buying 5 gallon water bottles

The most common way of consuming water in many UAE households and offices is through a water dispenser with a 5 gallon water bottle. The 5-gallon water bottle requires some investment at first, including the dispenser itself. It costs an average of Dh450 per dispenser.

Once you have the dispenser, you’ve got options to choose your water company. One of the most affordable mainstream choices was Al Noor. They will give you a coupon booklet of 10 bottles for Dh80 or 25 bottles for Dh200, the more you buy, the more you save.

5 gallons are 22 litres. If you are one person and you drink 1.5 litres a day, a 5 gallon bottle should last you around two weeks.

For the sake of this calculation, let’s say you order 10 coupons for Dh80. One bottle will cost you Dh8, which will last you two weeks. Your monthly spend on a dispenser will cost Dh16.

- Drinking 1.5 litres a day from a dispenser for 1 month = Dh16
- Drinking 1.5 litres a day from a dispenser for 1 year = Dh192

Comparison

1) Filtration system water cost for the first year: Dh1,499
Filtration system after 5 years: Dh3,499

2) Bottled water cost for the first year: Dh1,080
Bottled water after 5 years: Dh5,400

3) Water dispenser first year: Dh1,530
Water dispenser after 5 years: Dh1,410