Understanding the drivers of water consumption patterns in Europe: A cross-sectional study of household water choices in Barcelona, Cyprus, and Ireland

Bottled water consumption has sharply increased worldwide. However, systematic international knowledge about different water consumption habits and underlying factors is limited. We describe drinking water habits and tap water perception in Barcelona (Spain), various cities in Cyprus and Ireland and evaluate the association with socio-demographics and lifestyle markers to identify key determinants of water consumption choice. A cross-sectional study (N = 1944) was conducted in 2023–2024 to ascertain data on socio-demographics, lifestyle markers, type of water consumed (tap, bottled, filtered, other), and tap water perception in a representative sample. We used multivariate logistic regression to estimate the association between the type of water consumed at home adjusting for socio-demographics, lifestyle markers, and tap water perception. Median age of participants ranged from 38/39 (Cyprus/Ireland) to 45 years (Barcelona), with 50–53 % women. Bottled water was consumed to drink at home (and outside home) among 56 % participants (80 %) in Barcelona, 41 % (85 %) in Cyprus and 35 % (66 %) in Ireland. The most frequent water to cook was unfiltered tap water in Barcelona (57 %) and Ireland (50 %), and filtered tap water in Cyprus (43 %). Tap water perception differed between study areas, with Cyprus showing the worst perception in most of the dimensions. Drinking water consumed at home was consistently associated with tap water perception in all study areas. Age, education, ethnicity, or household size were associated in some instances, with no consistent pattern across countries. Water consumption habits are influenced by a complex interplay of subjective factors and context-specific factors that should be considered in future actions to effectively influence consumer's behavior given the environmental costs of bottled water use.