The INTODBP project published of a new study titled Social Life Cycle Assessment of Drinking Water: Tap Water, Bottled Mineral Water, and Tap Water Treated with Domestic Filters.” This research introduces a novel Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) framework to evaluate the social impacts of different drinking water options in Barcelona, Spain.

The study assessed four drinking water choices:

  1. Tap water
  2. Bottled mineral water (PET bottles)
  3. Tap water treated with activated carbon filters (countertop pitchers)
  4. Tap water treated with reverse osmosis

Five key impact categories were examined across multiple stakeholder groups, including health and safety, working conditions, human rights, governance, and socio-economic repercussions.

Key Findings

The results indicate that tap water demonstrates the best overall social performance, particularly in health and safety, transparency, and sustainability. It outperformed other options in areas such as worker safety, end-of-life responsibility, environmental management, and research and development collaborations. However, despite these advantages, social acceptance of tap water remains significantly lower than that of bottled mineral water.

Bottled mineral water, while socially accepted, does not offer superior social benefits compared to tap water. Additionally, the study found that domestic filtration devices improved consumer acceptance of tap water but did not significantly enhance its social performance.

These findings highlight the importance of public perception and trust in influencing sustainable drinking water choices. This aligns with INTODBP’s mission to develop innovative solutions that minimize human exposure to disinfection by-products (DBPs) while maintaining high water quality standards.

For more info, you can read the full study here.