The survey says: tap water

We asked TaskSpotting users four questions about water

A water bottling plant in Ras Al Khaimah. Paulo Vecina / The National

We simply can’t live without water, but that essential commodity is hard to come by naturally in arid places such as the UAE.

Our tap water comes mostly from desalinated seawater, which is fine for washing ourselves and our clothes, but not everybody’s first choice when it comes to drinking.

It’s no surprise that we have a high consumption of bottled water, which is made available in shops at a low, fixed price. But is it really any better tasting or better for us?

With that in mind, we put four questions on the subject of water to 5,000 TaskSpotting users.

TaskSpotting describes itself as the region’s only advocate marketing platform and pitches our questions to its app community who typically engage with brands to create content, spread awareness and share feedback.

When it comes to the subject of water, the people are approaching unanimity.

Asked if they thought tap water was safe to drink, only 28 per cent of respondents said yes. Only 18 per cent of people said that they did drink it.

An overwhelming 96 per cent of respondents said that they bought bottled water, and 94 per cent said they believed it was better than tap water.