I personally think the bottled water fad is ridiculous.Gee whiz! All those bottles in land fills,,,think of it!

Our water is bad,.sulphur,EXTREMELY HARD..in 20s.stinks,

I don't think bottled water is a fad - I think it is here to stay.

Iowa has a bottle/can deposit of .05 on soft drinks, beer, liquor. They don't have it on water bottles and sports drinks.

They are trying to get the deposit up to .10, but the Govenor said he would comprimise on the increase if they would also include the water bottles and sports drink bottles.

The deposit dramatically decreased the cans and bottles in the ditches and landfills - I think they should have the deposit on the water/sports drink also - nationwide!

You pay the .05 per bottle at purchase, but if you return the bottles - you get it back.

The tv program '20/20' (or one of those shows) did an investigation on bottled water and showed the bottlers filling those bottles with regular tap water and selling it as purified water. I never bought into it, except as a convenience, when we had the boat and took it out on the lake in a cooler.

Take what caroline and kayjones said and put it here.

Ron

City water has Fluoride. Well water and bottled water do not have fluoride. Without Fluoride children tend to get cavities.

Consider not giving children bottled water without fluoride.

Gayle

I remember my DH coming home from California a few years ago & telling me DS actually paid a DOLLAR for a bottle of "Designer Water!" He thought throwing money away like that was ridiculous & still does. I agree but do have filtered water in fridge door...he drinks that but it's plain ol' tap water for me.
Suzi

I have a question.

If you have "bad" water for whatever reason, would getting a filter(or what ever those things are that I see advertised) solve the problem? And be less expensive in the long run?

I've bought one bottle of water, and that was because I was on a tour bus and when we stopped for a break that was all there was in the machine.

I do think a lot of people have bought into this sales gimmick.

Sue

I have two or three bottles from "bottled water" that I reuse a lot. At some point, the bottles are yucky, and get tossed. I replace them with a new bottle purchased.

I drink water as a choice of beverage. No soda, pop or coke for me. But what I find interesting is: Water costs more than pop at most convenience stores.

I do buy a case of water once or twice a year, when I have a master gardeners or bike club meeting at my house. It's for the convenience, I can toss them all in a tub and dump ice on it. Everyone can serve themselves, without an ice dispenser or scoop, and cups and all.

Overall, I just drink what comes out of a faucet. I have however been in some parts of the states where the water tasted "kinda funky", but since I add a power drink powder during those times, which are mostly on bicycle trips, it doesn't really bother me than either. :)

I do get the funniest questionable faces from peeps when I ask for "just water please" when I am offered a pop.

Moni

Must be a common thrift with Monicas :)
I have about a dozen plastic bottles that originally held purchased bottled water. I refill them from the tap to about 2/3 and keep them in the freezer. When I take one out of the freezer, I add some water from the tap to start it melting. This way I always have a bottle of ice water handy.
Free.

It's obvious you folks don't live where i live!! Our water (city) not only tastes bad,it smells bad as well,chloriney.I've even sent back water and tea at restaurants because of the taste/smell.So i buy bottled water.We are able to recycle our bottles,so about once a month i go to the recycling center.
kathi

I never thought bottled water was healthier than water straight from the tap... but it is often more convenient; I can just grab a bottle and go, no dishes, already cold, etc.

The fact is, if I didn't have a bottled water to grab; I'd probably grab a soda instead...(not a cup of water from the faucet) and, so, well, I would guess bottled water is heathier than soda.

I drink a lot more water in general since bottled water has come in fashion so I think that's a good health benefit.

Heard a scientist speaking on water on a PBS station several months ago. He called bottled water "dead water" because all the filtration eliminates the healthful minerals.

City tap water is subject to more oversight by regulators than bottled water is. Most are just city tap water regardless. Dasani bottled water is a Coca Cola product and much of it is sourced from the city water supply of Calgary Alberta Canada, bottled and shipped via truck into the USA. They (Coke) do filter the water one more time before they bottle it to their credit. LOL

I'd prefer to put the petroleum (while we still have it) into my car.

Chlorine dissipates from an open jug in an hour or so.

So you drink more from a bottle than if you drew it from a tap, into a mug? Can we call you a "bottle babe"?

Sure costs a lot more!

They pull the water from a municipally-sourced tap (well, pipe, since they do it in large quantity).

Filter it.

Put it into an expensive (scarce petroleum + mfg. cost), disposable bottle. Fuel expense to haul it, full of heavy water, to store.

Sell it to you at a higher price than you pay for gasoline!

We bi!ch about the price of gas.

Not a squawk about the price of bottled water.

Then dump the bottles into a landfill. A landfill was bought by a major city a couple of years ago, a couple of miles from me ...

... for $220,000,000.00.

Many neighbours won't drink the water from their wells.

One hopes that, since the water costs you so much, that you're buying shares in the bottled water companies!

Humans are reasonable?

???

Not so you'd notice!

ole joyful

Much of the bottled water does not say " pure" but says "spring water" We used to live in the country and had a beautiful spring fed well. Because we had a lunch counter, had to have it tested every month and the results always came back pefectly. After a few years the man who owned the rest of the farm that our lot was on, moved there, dug a well just over the fence, tapped into the same sping. That was fine, but then he refused to put a fence around it and his cattle slept around it and did their business there. Quickly the well water did not pass tests. However it was still " spring water"

I used to buy the odd bottle of water and do as someone said, partially filled it and froze it. When I wanted to go someplace in the car, I took it out of the freezer, filled it up the rest of the way and I would have cold water for several hours. Then I heard the rumors about the plastic leeching harmful things into the water and I haven't done it since. Does anyone know if there is really truth in that, or is that just a sales pitch?

ivamae

We very rarely buy bottled water. The only times are when we travel. We drink tap water at home. We do have a filter because of the chlorine taste & smell. Same thing at our last house.

The leaching is minimal, and occurs when hot water is applied to the plastic.
I'm the only user of my bottles, and just rinse them out in cold water.

Where I grew up in N.Y.state,we only had spring water,up until I left there at 18 years of age.That water was so cold and crystal clear,even on the hottest summer days.We were also like jack and jill,we had to literally go up the hill to get a pail of water,only we got 2 pails at a time.

7+ year old thread should have been left in Davy Jones' locker.

I found this article interesting .. How Nestlé is using a Native American tribe's land to get away with draining California dry

Ahem... OJ, my friend, your hypocrisy is showing! ;) As I understand it, you're a "bottle babe" too, right? But you're a closet bottle babe. You drink bottled water as I recall. In fact you drink nothing but if memory serves correctly. And you're a water bottler too so all these companies and people you go at about bottling water is done by that guy in the mirror? Or have things changed? :D

I make no apology that I drink spring water. Can you carry 20-30 cups of tap water in your vehicle so you have it with you and available when needed and wanted? I think not. The cost? 7¢ to 9¢ a bottle is what I pay. Certainly not going to break me. And I'm not driving back and forth every day or two to get this water, burning gas, oil, tires and wear on the vehicle. :D (OK, end of the jabs!). Now to the "clubs". :D

I know it's become fashionable to vilify water. Complain about "all those bottles in the landfills!!!!" LOL People who do this, I have to wonder what's in your water? Interesting how pop, tea, juice, milk and other containers can go in the same landfills and no problem with that right? How about all those foam coffee cups and plastic dome lids on the coffee cups that people insist on buying at Starbucks, Tim Horton's, Caribou and the like? Where's the screaming about that? Dead silence. Perhaps that foam and plastic doesn't use petroleum products? Or maybe they're 100% recycled? Or is there another reason? What about the pod coffee drinkers? Nobody's bothered by that plastic going into the landfills. Those little plastic cups going into the garbage don't seem to offend people? Why? OH, it's not water! I forgot that water is the target.

I also have to ask, where's the same (manufactured) outrage over all the diapers that go into those landfills some are so concerned about? When's the last time anyone has recycled a diaper? 'Splain that one to me Lucy! Shall we talk about all the other stuff that goes in those beloved landfills? (Today they're "landfills". I remember when they were called "dumps"!) Light bulbs, batteries, packaging, greeting cards, expired gift cards, rotisserie chicken containers, fem hygiene products, toilet paper and paper towel rolls and wrappers, and so on and so on and so on. I realize that water has become a fashionable villain these days. Must be people having stock in Coke, Pepsi, Huggies and Starbucks.

I used to have great water here. I don't anymore. And I am not going to have a cow over spending a few dollars a month to buy spring water, have it handy and not buy soft drinks, coffee and the like while out and about. So go ahead and yell and scream about people like me who drink water rather than sugar-laden or aspartame-filled drinks. I recycle my bottles. Coffee drinkers don't recycle many of their cups, lids, stir sticks, creamer/sugar containers, lids, etc, I'm sure.

Every time there's a national disaster what's the first thing they ask for? Coffee pods? Diapers? Soft drinks? Nope. WATER! Perhaps we should never again send water to these people. Or the places with contaminated wells. They shouldn't drink bottled water. If tap water isn't good enough for you then you should go without? Hey, now THERE'S a possibility.

I'm going to go have a bottle of water right now. Might have a bottle of juice to go with it. At least juice doesn't seem to be a villain like poor innocent water is!

Proud to be a water drinker.

Just noticed how old this thread is, but it was a good response that didn't deserve to be deleted. And after thinking about it, compared to many of the "current topics" being posted, it's more interesting, more thought provoking and far better than many of those topics.

Moving on! :)

Is bottled water more healthier than you local supply? It depends on what is in, or not in, your normal water supply. For example, mother lived in Arkansas for the first 6 years of her life and then moved to Oklahoma. The family drank well water and some of those sources had naturally occurring fluoride. She was blessed with good teeth. Her first cavity came at age 40. (This was before anything was known about the interaction of fluoride and formation of teeth.)

Later Mom marries and my sister and I appear on the scene. We are on a farm in a different state. Our well water was hard and we did not like the taste. Maybe it had a trace of magnesium in the water. We drank it only when we wanted something colder than our usual source. We drank water from a cistern. The water source for the cistern was rain water collected off the house roof. It was devoid of minerals but likely held dust particles from the air and dust from the roof. We had bad teeth - cavities galore - but the water was 'soft' and great for washing hair and laundry. Folks in our neighborhood supposed that hard water might cause kidney stones. They had no data; It was a guess, and with re-telling, this idea began to become accepted as fact.

It all depends. If the water is bad, don't drink it, but having a 'hard water' taste may or may not be harmful. It might supply useful trace elements.

Bottled water has it uses, but in my opinion, advertising has moved the business into the realm of a fad. I see people at the local grocery refilling their water jugs from a dispenser. If They looked behind the machine, they'd find plumbing connections to the local tap water. The water is forced through a filter to fill the customer's jug; And then, the water is sold at a very high markup.

It pays to "look behind the curtain".

I buy bottled. Water . I have well water but don't like the taste of it and when I go shopping I take along a bottle of water as before, I did not drink enough each day.....way too little I am sure. Remember, not all companies that bottle water are equal, so it's a good thing to do a little research on them.

I know for sure that in my county tap water is tested daily for bacteria,etc. I always have a pitcher of cold filtered rap water in my fridge. I drink it all day.

The topic is still "timely". Our city's water plant draws from Lake Michigan, and we have excellent tap water. Our fridge/freezer filters it further, but I drink that mostly because it is so handy and cool, right out of the dispenser on the freezer door.

I drink the tap water in South Maui, but prefer the filtered water from our fridge/freezer there. (Other parts of Maui have less tasty water.) I think the State of Hawaii still refuses to add fluoride to its' drinking water.

"Spring Water" on a bottle tells me as much as "Natural". (Nothing.) Don't you chuckIe when bottled water -- or an orange -- is advertised as having "Zero Calories From Fat"?

Our land and oceans are dying due to plastic of all kinds. If you can avoid buying any 'packaging', please do so.

The well that serves the house on the farm was dug too close to uncle's barnyard, and prior to the sale of the farm tested bad for eColi and coliform, and smelled. The cattle have been gone for a dozen years ... but the well water still smells when it's hot. Haven't had it tested lately ... sometimes use it when making boiled food, e.g. porridge, stew, mashed potatoes, etc.

I use it for washing body (including the meagre remaining ration of hair), clothing, floors, etc.

I haul water in more-or-less gallon jugs from taps in the city for drinking, and rarely drink water from a commercial bottle, but prefer to not. Rarely drink Coke, Pepsi or other such sodas.

So, though skating on the thin ice of approaching second childhood ... I deny the claim that I'm to be considered a "bottle baby"!

The other well on the farm, that serves the barn and landlord's shop, is from a well farther from the former barnyard, but downstream, near the stream bed (rarely carrying water) that ran past it. Twelve years ago it was O.K. for eColi ... but failed coliform test. Several years ago the landlord said that he'd drunk some of that water, without any difficulties ... and I said that I had, as well, on occasion, when watering the garden, with similar lack of negative results.

Our kids, having achieved fiftieth birthdays, were raised in cloth diapers, except for the occasional commercial one when travelling, etc.

Many family farmers can tell you that you can abuse the land for a while, believing that you can be its master ...

... but, eventually, it will rise up ...

... and bite you in the bum!

We have 7 billion people to feed, to be 10 billion in thirty years or so, they project ... and we've been wearing out a good portion of the land (and many use petroleum, products to power the cultivators, seeders and harvesters, plus as base for much of the fertilizers) ...

... and covering a good portion of it with cities, (including some palatial homes with a quarter of mile of grass between the house and the street), highways, etc. ...

... plus using a good portion of the corn crop to make ethanol.

Plus ... we've been busily fishing out the oceans.

How are we going to feed the people late in this century ... let alone the next one?

Furthermore ... in recent years, a substantial number of our farms, when sold, are being corporatized ... if you think that your grandkids will be enjoying the cheap food that we've been accustomed to ...

... think again!

ole joyfuelled

Let me tell you about Poland Springs water. At our lake house in Maine, every day the most enormous trucks pull up and suck up the water from Moose pond to be taken to their establishment and be cleansed. There's nothing "spring" about that water, there are tons of boats and fuel fumes and all sorts of "stuff" in the water yet they sell it as genuine spring water and people believe it. My son is a biologist and they had a P.S. water dispenser in the area of work. Mind you, the water is exposed to air each time someone pours a drink so they decided to do some tests on the quality of the water. It passed but just barely, the tap water passed way better so out with the Poland Springs.
Also, on a trip to Italy, all our fellow travelers were drinking bottled but we chose to use regular, my husband is from Italy so it's no big deal to him. Long story short, they all got sick and we found out the water was from a second rate place that was letting it sit around and grow microorganisms. We never had any problems with the faucet water. At home her we use a filter and the water tastes great.