Buying bottled water...

[SckizoBoy]

I'm not one to judge people for the contents of their shopping trolleys, but I really wonder at the wisdom of those who buy bottled water. Not those 500ml bottles that you buy either more for the bottle or just on the fly because you're thirsty and its cheaper than anything else. I mean those two litre bottles that are about 50p each.

A part of me wonders: I have a tap with running water... I have a kettle... I have a jug to let the water cool down (UK has some very hard water, so I boil it)... so why would I want to lug however many litres of water back from Sainsbury's?

Or am I missing something here?

*shrug*

 

[Rednog]

I buy bottled water because I prefer my water with CO2, but for regular non gas water I just take it from the tap (only in the US though, when I'm in Poland never because the water is pretty bad).

 

[mad825]

People think that the furthered filtered water is "healthier" even though tap water is monitored very carefully and the health risks associated with is so minuscule that it's beyond belief.

 

[Metzeten]

Some places you either have the option of using water softening filters or just buying bottles of the stuff because tapwater tastes awful.

I can also safely testify that it is IMPOSSIBLE to make a decent cup of tea in manchester because the water tastes different to home (which is about 50 miles away... go figure)

So If I was so inclined I'd probably see what its like with bottled, but meh, I'll just make do.

 

[darth.pixie]

I only buy bottled water. The one on the tap tastes awful, as do some brands. Maybe I'm insane but I can actually taste it and thus only pick what I like. Also I am rarely home and have very little time so boiling water would take too much time and mess up my whole schedule.

Plus, my horrible cooking skills/small attention span would make me boil the water completely. It happened before. So all things considered I prefer buying it.

 

[spartan231490]

I know a lot of college students that get the big bottled water because they don't have taps in their dorms. Also, they can come in real handy if you're going camping. As a side note, hard water is water with a lot of mineral deposits in it right? If that's the case, then why does boiling help at all?

 

[higgs20]

unless you live in Morocco and your tap water comes straight from a stream or river or something, just drink tap water, you already pay for that so you might as well use it.

 

[Togs]

meh I sometimes buy the big bottles when Im abotu to go a long journey or spend a day in lectures

 

[standokan]

Only on vacation, but that's just because on the camping it's more convenient to have huge bottles of water, so you don't have to walk to the nearest water point every 5 minutes.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

I just filter my tap water, it's quite hard so it tends to get most of that crap out of it that leaves that nasty 'skin' floating on a good cup of tea.

 

[SnootyEnglishman]

I'll drink from tap a lot. except in the more rural areas near me as the water out there tends to have sulfur in it and the smell is just awful.

 

[B2kCyclops]

People think that the furthered filtered water is "healthier" even though tap water is monitored very carefully and the health risks associated with is so minuscule that it's beyond belief.

Exactly.
Here in germany it is especially ridiculous.
We have (afaik) the highes standart for tap water in the world, while the bottled/carbonated water has WAY lower restrictions for potentially hazardous substances like caesium, led, copper, sulfur, etc...
And still poeple think tap water is "unclean", because it used to be after WW2 up into to sixties.
Why?
Advertising...

 

[Scarim Coral]

It because there is "taste" in the bottle water compares to tab water (I guessing it?s the minerals). While I do drink tab water but my parent keep insist on buying bottle water. While I don't necessary believe that tab water is bad but there had been some cases I had gotten ill which I think the tap water is the cause of it (well ok if probably something else). So ok in this case boild water should do but they just taste "blank". Yeah I know I sound ridicules that there are taste in water but I can genuine can taste bottle, tab and boiled (it not like I can describe the taste, it more like if it take more refreshing or not).

 

[El Poncho]

It's easier to carry is why I use bottled water. When the bottles done I just re-use it with tap water(and since I'm in Scotland I don't have to heat it up! mwuahaha)

 

[WrongSprite]

Only buy it when I'm out and about for the day, so I obviously don't have a tap with me.

 

[emeraldrafael]

I dont get why people buy PLAIN bottled water. I kinda get flavoured water (though they make those little powder package things for that), cause thats, well... flavoured. But really water is water (at least in America). In the county where I live we have the second best water purification facility state wide and one of the top ten in the tri state area. And as weird as it is to say, I rather like the taste of tap water.

Now if its well water... thats a different story.

 

[Ganthrinor]

For those people that regularly purchase bottled water, I have three words for you:

Brita. Water. Filter.



You can even replace the "Brita" with whatever brand water filter you want. In the future when we're all up to our asscheeks in plastic bottles and there's not enough fuel left to make recycling or manufacturing more bottles or mass-purifying water, those people that know how to purify thier own water of have been using filters to stockpile water are going to be KINGS.

Or torn apart by the raving masses whom have been driven insane by water-borne illnesses. I haven't decided which fits my daydream better.

 

[halfeclipse]

Two Words. Lead. Pipes.

 

[SckizoBoy]

I know a lot of college students that get the big bottled water because they don't have taps in their dorms. Also, they can come in real handy if you're going camping. As a side note, hard water is water with a lot of mineral deposits in it right? If that's the case, then why does boiling help at all?

True it has a lot of mineral content, but most of it comes in a form that's useless to us. Either that, or there's too much of it. Drink too much hard water you get kidney stones (not pleasant at all). Boil it to get rid of the temporary hardness (don't think anyone honestly would want to consume the crap that accumulates at the bottom of their kettles, calcium carbonate, if memory serves me correctly). Permanent hardness does little, if anything, to you.

 

[similar.squirrel]

Some people have pretty dodgy tap-water, even in Ireland. And those bottles are useful for filling up with water from a spring and whatnot.
It's mostly a scam, though. Especially 'gourmet' water.