The use of bottled water around the globe has been rapidly increasing in recent years. With the belief that drinking bottled water is better for your health, many spend money on 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 involved in the making and use of water bottles, and the water contained. The Pros of using bottle water dispensers are fairly obvious, but let's take a more detailed look:

• You are given the choice of which water brand to use since most of them today provide the 5 gallon standard bottles and home delivery services.
• Freedom in placing the dispenser anywhere you want, like tables, desks, room corners, in between furniture.
• No dealing with problems in public water supply systems, such as rust, shear, corrosion, cracks, leaks and so on.
• Independent source of water in the cases when a water regime or malfunction is present in your area, such as shortage of water supply, lack of pressure or clogged main pipes.
• Easy to replace or upgrade a dispenser without doing tedious installation work and dealing with water supply systems, pipes, wrenches and drilling holes.

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

• Nearly half of the brands claiming to be selling pristine, purified, natural, healthy water sell nothing more than tap water, sometimes treated additionally, at a hundreds of times higher cost per gallon.
• While tap municipal tap water is regularly tested by Environmental Protection Agency and cover its standards, bottled water is not as these institutes have no authority over private water distribution.
• Around 90 % of the used water bottles are thrown into regular trash bins at the expense of greater costs for the environment.
• The material (oil derived Polyethylene Therephthalate, a.k.a. PET), used to make a water bottle, wastes up nearly 3 times more water to make than will ever go into the bottle!
• PET production and the truck delivery of bottled water end up in air emissions that poison the air as well as adding to the overall cost because of the fuel used.

As you can see it really is a matter of accessibility and saving time, versus environmental care and awareness. With the increasing popularity of glass-made water bottles some of the issues are being resolved. Although heavier than plastic ones, 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 to each one of us and something that would continue to create debates in the future.