CONSUMER PERCEPTION AND PREFERENCE OF BOTTLED AND TAP WATER (original) (raw)

Consumer Perception and Preference of Drinking Water Sources

Introduction: Understanding consumer perception of drinking water can contribute to improvements in water management and consumer satisfaction. The aim of this study was to assess the consumer perception of tap water quality and other drinking water sources in Gonabad as a small semiarid city. Methods: This study was performed in autumn and winter 2013. For collection data a researcher-made a questionnaire consisting of nine questions, based on demographic information prepared. Questions were asked for participants to provide information regarding household drinking water usage and patterns, opinion about tap water safety, taste and reasons for purchasing bottled water. For statistical analysis, analysis of variance (ANOVA) using SPSS version 16 was applied in this study. Results: Results showed that demographic variables had a significant relationship with consumer satisfaction (p < 0.05). Office employees, women and poor families had the most satisfaction from tap water quality. Peoples' preferences for tap water, commercial softener, domestic softener, ghanat (a type of underground cistern) and bottled water were 27.8, 19, 27.8, 40.4 and 3.5% respectively. Dissatisfaction from production of foam, unsuitable taste, unacceptable appearance and other problems in tap water was 11.1, 95.6, 27.8 and 0.4% respectively. Consumer reasons for using domestic water softeners are: suitable taste (80%), easy availability (71%), economical (56%) and low health side effects (34%). Conclusion: According to these results it was clear that each consumer group, based on self-condition, prefers using a specific drinking water source.

Determining consumption preferences of consumers considering quality attributes of drinking water

Italian Journal of Food Science

The aim of the study was to determine the main factors affecting the consumption preferences of consumers by considering the quality characteristics of drinking water according to the regions where they reside. For this pur-pose, the data obtained from 400 consumers living in the central districts of Iğdır province were used for Factor Analysis and Two-Step Clustering Analysis. Research results reported that physiological needs of the consumers residing in region I were based on the physiological and physical quality of the water in their drinking water consumption preference, consumers in region II relied on the chemical quality of the tap water, and consumers in region III focused on the cost advantages of tap water depending on the chemical quality of tap water. Therefore, supplying differentiated bottled drinking water in hygienic conditions according to physical and physiological quality standards of drinking water for consumers in region I, ensuring the protection and access o...

Training of panellists for the sensory control of bottled natural mineral water in connection with water chemical properties

Food Chemistry, 2013

As bottled mineral water market is increasing in the world (especially in emergent and developed countries), the development of a simple protocol to train a panel to evaluate sensory properties would be a useful tool for natural drinking water industry. A sensory protocol was developed to evaluate bottled natural mineral water (17 still and 10 carbonated trademarks). The tasting questionnaire included 13 attributes for still water plus overall impression and they were sorted by: colour hues, transparency and brightness, odour/aroma and taste/flavour/texture and 2 more for carbonated waters (bubbles and effervescence). The training lasted two months with, at least, 10 sessions, was adequate to evaluate bottled natural mineral water. To confirm the efficiency of the sensory training procedure two sensory groups formed the whole panel. One trained panel (6 persons) and one professional panel (6 sommeliers) and both participated simultaneously in the water tasting evaluation of 3 sample lots. Similar average scores obtained from trained and professional judges, with the same water trademarks, confirmed the usefulness of the training protocol. The differences obtained for trained panel in the first lot confirm the necessity to train always before a sensory procedure. A sensory water wheel is proposed to guide the training in bottled mineral water used for drinking, in connection with their chemical mineral content.

Customer’s Perception and Preference towards Packaged Drinking Water

The Scientific World Journal

Two hundred customers were purposively selected from two study areas (market, residence) in Addis Ababa to assess customer’s behavior and perception towards packaged water. The sampling and data collection process of the study followed systematic analysis of Theory Planned Behavior. The average monthly income of respondents of this study lay between 5000 ($175) and 10000 ($350) Eth Birr. The primary customer information sources were television and radio. Residence place customers were more concerned about health as compared to market place customers. Market place customers primarily gave emphasis to the price of packaged water. Almost all (97%) customers were not sentient to packaged water standards. However, only few, 86 (43%), customers checked labeled chemical composition, of which 74 (85%) did not understand it. Customer’s sex, education level, and health status showed significant relationship with choice of packaged water quality, −1.42 (p<0.05); price, −2.45 (p<0.01); an...

Tap water consumers differ from non-consumers in chlorine flavor acceptability but not sensitivity

Water Research, 2010

Unpleasant taste and especially chlorine flavor is one of the most common reasons advocated for choosing tap water alternatives as drinking water. As a consequence, the putative link between sensitivity to chlorine flavor and tap water consumption is an issue in drinking water habits studies. In the present study, we set out to examine such a link following a strategy in which we measured chlorine flavor perception at threshold and supra-threshold level for two groups of participants selected on their drinking water consumption habits. The first group included exclusive tap water consumers and the second group included exclusive bottled water consumers. In a first experiment, we used the constant stimuli procedure to evaluate the chlorine flavor detection threshold of a group of 20 tap water consumers and a group of 20 non-consumers. In a second experiment, a group of 18 tap water consumers and a group of 17 non-consumers evaluated supra-threshold flavor intensity, liking and acceptability for eight chlorinated solutions (0-10 mg/L Cl 2). The results revealed no significant difference in chlorine flavor detection threshold and supra-threshold sensitivity between tap water consumers and nonconsumers. Nevertheless, tap water consumers showed a higher liking score for chlorinated solutions and were found to be more inclined to accept these solutions as drinking water. Taken together these findings suggested that consumers may disparage chlorine flavor in drinking water on the basis of their tap water cognitive representation.

Preference for tap, bottled, and recycled water: Relations to PTC taste sensitivity and personality

Appetite, 2018

This study investigated people's preferences for different water sources and factors that predict such preferences using a blind taste test. Water preferences of 143 participants for one name-brand bottled water, one groundwater-sourced tap water, and one indirect potable reuse (IDR) water were assessed. For predictors of water preference, we measured each participant's PTC taste sensitivity and assessed two personality traits (Neuroticism, Openness to Experience). We also explored participants' descriptions of each water source. Results indicate a preference for water treated with Reverse Osmosis (RO) (bottled and IDR water) over groundwater-sourced water, which had higher pH levels and lower concentrations of Ca and HCO. PTC taste sensitivity did not predict preferences, while Openness to Experience and Neuroticism predicted preference for IDR water. Positive relations between Openness to Experience and preferences for bottled and IDR water were moderated by gender and...

Sensory methodologies and the taste of water

Food Quality and Preference, 2010

ABSTRACT Describing the taste of water is a challenge since drinking water is supposed to have almost no taste. In this study, different classical sensory methodologies have been applied in order to assess sensory characteristics of water and have been compared: sensory profiling, Temporal Dominance of Sensations and free sorting task. These methodologies present drawbacks: sensory profile and TDS do not provide an effective discrimination of the taste of water and the free sorting task is efficient but does not enable data aggregation. A new methodology based on comparison with a set of references and named “Polarized Sensory Positioning” (PSP) has been developed enabling to easily define the sensory characteristics of water without presenting too many samples. Finally, this method provides a new type of sensory data requesting dedicated data analysis.

A randomized, double-blind water taste test to evaluate the equivalence of taste between tap water and filtered water in the Taipei metropolis

Scientific Reports

High water quality and sufficient water availability are the main concerns of water users. Promoting the efficient use of tap water can contribute to sustainable drinking water management and progress towards Sustainable Development Goals. In many metropolises, water suppliers treat municipal water with appropriate treatment processes and well-maintained distribution infrastructure. Under this circumstance, it is acceptable that municipal water can be a source of drinking water. The presence of residual chlorine in tap water, connected to municipal water supply, inactivates pathogenic microorganisms and prevents recontamination. However, adding chlorine to tap water may affect the organoleptic properties of drinking water. On the other hand, the use of point-of-use (POU) water dispensers, which provides an additional treatment step on tap water, is not energy-efficient. A randomized, double-blind water taste test was conducted in the Taipei metropolis to assess whether tap water fro...