DH finds a big difference in all the bottled waters. To me they all taste the same. There's something to be said for having a bland palate!

I can tell the difference between one water and another.

The flavor in water comes from the dissolved minerals it does or doesn't contain. Distilled water, which is theoretically mineral free, has no taste or flavor. The companies behind many famous water brands, types like Perrier but there are dozens or hundreds of others, monitor and/or add minerals for each batch so that the taste is consistent.

Dasanta has the worst tasting water! Horrible stuff.

I agree, not all bottled water tastes the same. I like Kirkland (Costco) bottle water. I don't care for Arrowhead, but DD likes Arrowhead and thinks Kirklands is gross. Needless to say, I buy 2 different packs of water at Costco. For me, good bottled water can be drank at room temp and still taste good. That is Kirkland for me :-)

Jasdip, do you mean Dasani? That is the only one I literally cannot drink. It's bottled (or owned) by Coca Cola. Best soda. Absolute worst water. Worse than ANY tap water I've ever tasted and I don't have a problem with most tap water.

I like Figi water. And I have had Ozarka for years so I like it. But I tried Sparklets oh all I could taste was charcoal. Yuck. Our tap water here is pretty good and I have a filtration so I do drink our water a lot. When we were in the Dallas area our water smelled like swamp water I could barely stand to turn on the faucet. It was snakey smelling.

I tend to look for Arrowhead, which is supposed to be one of the better ones from a health standpoint. I do not buy any purified products as the purification causes plastics in the bottles to leach into the water.

Not on the bottled water band wagon at all. To me, it has no taste/flavor?? No problem drinking tap water, Sister has well water at WV place that not only tastes very nice but is ICE cold the minute you turn on the tap. I have a bit of a collection of bottles of water from various meetings and workshops. If traveling anywhere, especially if I have stuff in a cooler, will freeze as many of these bottles as I can fir in freezer. Then I pack them among stuff in cooler.

I, too, have a great tasting tapwater. Feel very fortunate

Donna, yes that's it! Dasani. Isn't it awful????

Thankfully, I drink water out of the tap, and carry a stainless steel water bottle everywhere I go. If I absolutely must buy a bottle of water, and the only choice is Dasani, I'll go without.

Jasdip, I just bought a cold bottle of Dasani a few days ago when I was caught without my home water. I must have been very thirsty and distracted because it is not one I would choose.

We are fortunate to have delciious deep well water. I usually fill a SS thermos sip bottle before running errands. Often I carefully re-wash a plastic bottle and keep cold well water in our fridge. I never drink any water that's been in a car and warmed.

I k ow people who spend money on some fortified booster water nonsense. I'd just soon eat some broccoli or yogurt.

Something so seemingly simple, like fresh clean water and a simple uncomplicated haircut can be challenging. I grew up with well water laden with iron, horrible to do anything with. I've never taken decent refreshing drinking water for granted.

What bottled water IS good?

BTW, in Concord, MA you cannot buy a personal-sized (plastic) bottle of water. Litter panic and visions of floating landmass-sized plastic detritus in the Pacific. I think they went a bit overboard. However, Massachusetts, has a very wimpy bottle bill (unlike Maine). Plastic liter soda bottles, five cent deposit. Juice, water, wine and hard liquor bottles. No deposit. So there is no incentive to collect them. Lots of litter.

We have great tasting Del-Co water, filtered by Water Chef.

Ever since my tap water became terrible I've been drinking spring water. I prefer the Glacier Mist from Menards but the spring water from Aldi is quite good too although it's usually more expensive or the same unless it's on sale. And both are much cheaper than Walmart, Sam's or anywhere else. Sam's has a purified that is OK and I'll occasionally get that but only when I'm short on water. Other than their 40 pack of Member's Mark, every other brand they carry is way more expensive. People think Walmart and Sam's are so cheap when they're not always. There's a big difference in the taste of waters and Aysta is the one I couldn't drink. Dasani is not good. For a purified water, Aquafina used to be good but too expensive for me to buy now.

I just hate to buy bottled water. I have a stainless sports bottle that goes everywhere with me. I have no problem filling it at any water fountain... but sometimes I can't drink the whole bottle because of the taste. I am glad, when I am in the next town, and can try their water. ;)

Moni

I have had bottled water that I like, Nestle makes a decent one. I'm thinking that just like in a recent thread where some people love and some people hate Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, that different bottled waters may be a matter of individual taste. (However, since Dasani got several poor reviews here, it also might be that some waters are actually not very good).

I like Ozarka.

Thanks for the recommendations. I didn't notice the Dasani tasting off the other day, but I was very thirsty. I rary buy bottled water, but sometimes I'm out and need a cold drink that I can take with me. I used to like peanut butter cups, but haven't had them in years.

I agree re the Dasani water. I am a Coca Cola drinker (now only in the small glass bottles since the reformulation) - but I will not drink Dasani water.

Water bottles are dated as well (as is Coke). I did buy some Fiji on sale that was stale dated as it turned out - it was truly awful.

Our dog's preference is for Toscana water from Italy - not happening! I bought it for me when I saw it on sale and I poured a bit into his empty water dish while I went to the basement for his regular brand of bottled water. And, yes, our dog drinks bottled water! White dog - clear eyes and face. It helps a lot in preventing the yellow staining - but then he is a standard size.

http://stopnestlewaters.org/about

We only buy bottled water to make coffee when we go camping. Otherwise it's a huge waste of money. I use a Britta water filter. And a reusable water bottle.

Not all bottled water is the same. Some is nothing more than filtered tap water. The taste depends on the local water supply.

When I was in high school and Coca Cola put their product in real glass bottles. we found that its flavor varied depending where it was bottled. (In those days, Coke was bottled in many locations, the bottler was chosen that best fit the distribution area.) We had attributed the taste difference to the local water supply; Don't know if this is true.

I've lived in four houses in my life (not counting a couple of short term rentals), and every house had good well water. I couldn't tell you the difference in bottled water. They all taste like absolutely nothing to me. It's a rare thing for me to buy water, other than we take a few gallons on the boat for coffee.

The next town over chlorinates the water so much that you can smell it. Most everyone I know who lives there either filters it or buys bottled. My friend who lives there doesn't like my well water, because it tastes funny. :)

Hmmm, all individual bottled waters taste plastic-y to me...

For you fans of well water, many private wells can contain high levels of various chemicals and even naturally occurring compounds in the ground that can be dangerous or may require treatment or filtering. Unless you get your water tested regularly, you may not know what you're drinking.

The benefit of municipal water systems and processed water products is that the water is subject to continual monitoring for safety.

The benefit of municipal water systems and processed water products is that the water is subject to continual monitoring for safety.

Right. And while they're at it, they'll probably throw in some chlorine and fluoride. Give me my well water any day--which was tested, by the way, when we had our tofu business, and found to be excellent.

I've read that private wells should be tested annually because a high percentage have water with unhealthful components. It's apparently not that expensive to get water tested and the chemical composition/contamination of wells is very changeable over time. Municipal/water district systems are tested weekly or more often. Isn't that a good thing?

Chlorine - a double check against bio-contamination. Flouride prevents tooth decay, there's no dispute about its effectiveness but opposition remains for some reason (reminds me of the anti-vaccination numbnuts). Again, aren't these prudent measures?

For those who find their water has a chemical taste they don't like, one can let it sit out awhile and/or use a Britta filter device for drinking water. Or buy bottled water, it isn't all that expensive. It's far cheaper per gallon than milk or all the soda stuff people drink.

The best Cokes I ever drank were in ? 8 or 10 oz green tinted glass bottles at our village general store -- in May or June with the scent of lilacs, the promise of summer and new love -- ice cold from a Coke machine. The soda in plastic bottles doesn't have the same fizz, bite or promise.

Alesande, municipalities must add chlorine. Boston has se of the best water. You hardly taste the chlorine. As for Flouride -- e acutely as Elmer F describes. Yes, the opposition to it is very like anti-vax ignorance.

I hope that families with young children have them vaccinated and treat their children's teeth with fluoride if they drink unfluoridated water. Science is your friend.

For adults that did not grow up drinking fluoridated water, there are excellent topically applied products such as Colgate PreviDent 5000 Boost that are worth every modest penny. Toothpaste form: floss, brush teeth with Pevident like toothpaste. Don't rinse, eat or drink for 30 minutes. Bedtime brushing is a great way to treat your teeth with this. The fluoride compound does something like fills the microporous tooth surface, and even makes it harder. You must use the product (or similar product daily. It is better than OTC (over the counter) fluoridated toothpastes. It often isn't cover by insurance, but for something like $25-28 is worth every penny.

Of course I have no connection to the company or any dental industry. But I have had a lifelong interest in dental education and dental health for all critters. I grew up in an area without fluoridated water and at a time when a lot of today's preventive measures were not widely available or understood.

Despite what some recent news reports suggested a out the "unproven" worth of daily dental flossing (from it being dropped by government recommendations, blah, blah...), just ignore the lousy misinformation and continue to floss. Flossing isn't to just remove food debris from dental spaces, if done properly (see instructions on science-based dental sites), it removes the biofilm that tends to adhere between your teeth. Some dental surfaces are "self-cleaning" -- your lips and to gue, carrots and apples regularly mo e against them and thus remove the sticky biofilm. The spaces between teeth, cannot benefit from this sort of mechanical action. If the sticky biofilm (plaque) is not regularly and frequently removed (by the proper scaling with dental gloss), it becomes hard ("calculus") and like a coral reef attracts its own particular flora. Bacterial growth colonize the accumulating plaque and.... Okay, you can let your imagination wander. If your tooth structure is more resistant to acid and decay (fluoridation or fluoridated (Rx), it is more resistant to chemical erosion and breakdown.

If you eat a simple starch like rice, flour, cake, biscuit, within minutes the saliva in your mouth begins breaking it down into simple sugars, sort of like table sugar or candy. This intern can begin to attack the enamel of your teeth. (You can search for information about tooth structure - enamel, dentin, and so on.)

as we age, our tooth enamel becomes thinner. Our teeth can appear more yellowed or darker because of this thinned enamel. We might also (often) develops crazing or micro-cracking.

There are some products that can help a lot with the effects of this darkening and with staining from foodstuffs such as coffee, berries or red wine. Look for a mouth wash like Listerine or similar with a hydrogen peroxide (dilute) compound. Rinse (as per instructions) for 1 minute of sloshing. Then brush your teeth with something like the Rx PreviDent. Don't eat or drink s urging for 30 mins. Got that ? Floss, whitener rinse, boosted fluoride toothpaste brushing. Ba Da Bing!!

yuck that's nasty!! want great flavored water but not over-powering? look for ICE MOUNTAIN...wm carries it in large (a liter? or more) size in orange and lemon...fantastic...at Costco they carry a case of smaller size bottles that include 4 flavors...

I'm not even remotely like an anti-vaxer, and I'm not ignorant. It's a shame I have to defend myself with that statement after years of posting here.

I refused to give my children fluoride because a study at a Midwestern university found that administering fluoride to laboratory animals rendered a subsequent generation sterile. I think it was the third generation. That was many years ago. Today, further research has raised other concerns about fluoride.

It's been a long day; I'm tired, and have no desire to engage in a debate on fluoride or anything else.

I also drink tap water, I've done it all my life and haven't died yet.

alisande, when views are exchanged and the discussers disagree, there's usually no attack or personal message intended.

The experts who know more about the subject matter and all the research than all of us put together recommend fluoride be given to children to prevent tooth decay. If you decided that wasn't advice you wanted to follow, fine for you, but you see the vaccine parallel. In this case, the decision didn't affect anyone else's health, only potentially those in your family.

There's no debate to have.

I use my tap water. Since I'm on a well, I don't have to deal with that horrid chlorinated taste that the neighboring city has for water. I'm glad there is one place I can usually say no to in the ubiquitous plastic waste stream.

just be glad you're not in flint...the mayor is getting after the powers to be of getting the new water pipes from the city to the homes...construction starts up soon...

I feel sorry for the residents of Flint and what they've had to deal with because of the ineptness of their water board and local government.

However, having been to Flint myself, I have to say that my own list of why I'm glad to not be there wouldn't have water in the #1 spot. It's not a very nice place for many reasons, many existing long before the water problem became known.

I like Aquafina. I also like purified water. I can taste the difference in brands.

Let's walk way back in our minds. If you don't have an old mind, ask your elders.

Anyone remember how rivers often smelled before the Clean Water Act? I've had municipal water that tasted like that (in mid 1990's). Just swampy ugly. I think the taste was from old water mains.

Ineptness? Nope, it was greed, once again.

Greed? How's that? Who benefited personally?

There's an uproar in our area. We've had a drought all summer and have been told to conserve water.......not wash cars, lawns etc. And the water prices are going up on the property taxes.

Outside of town Nestle has a bottling plant and they're pulling in millions of litres of water from the water supply. Our generous Premier is charging them just $3.71 for every million litres of water drawn.

Bottled water is hardly a necessity, and getting that kind of a break, yet they charge a lot of money for a bottle of water.

To say that people are upset is an understatement

Elmer, do you forget that one of our Merc columnists nicknamed the water board The Golden Spigot?

I like Herhold (and have met and chatted with him several times), but his ongoing gripes about the Water District seemed overblown. I often agree with him, but not always. I like his writing. He's an old fashioned, unpretentious guy.

Flint is a sad, destitute Rust Belt city whose best days (for itself and its residents) are far behind it. Not unlike it's big cousin across the state, Detroit, mismanagement and incompetence have made many bad situations worse. Not least of which, water.