Is bottled water really better than tap?

[The Dude]

Bottled water has no flavour and tastes like crapola!!!

I prefer tap water..

[Ancient Dragon]

I've read that most bottled water is tap water.

[lasher511]

Not sure what Coke's water is called in the US but that is just tap water.

Tap water is actually better for you then bottle water. At least it is here where they add things like flourine to the water.

[jwenting]

Depends on where you are of course...
If your tapwater is heavily contamminated bottled is the best option. In many western countries though tapwater is actually cleaner than is bottled water as the requirements it has to meet when it comes to chemical and biological contamminants are stricter.

There was a test done in London a few years ago which showed that something like 80% of all tested bottled water would not be allowed to come through the watermains.

[Infarction]

No wonder I always thought bottled water tasted gross...

Slightly more on-topic, I heard a discussion about this on the radio one time and here the bottled water is required to be "at least as <insert measurement of goodness> as tap water" which translates roughly into, "it's probably tap water, or the company's not making as much as they could be."

[jbennet]

There was a test done in London a few years ago which showed that something like 80% of all tested bottled water would not be allowed to come through the watermains.

the water here in the UK tastes crap, its got loads of chlorine in it and is stale

and yeah, coke bottled tab water and sold it for like £1 lol a few years ago but it was withdrawn because it found it was contaminated with some cancer causing stuff

[lasher511]

The stuff coke still sells in the US is tap water. Here its called Mt franklin spring water and is actually spring water. I would not be surprise though if their other brand PUMP was tap water.

[EnderX]

But of course!

Consider: In the US, one popular brand of bottled water goes by the name 'Evian'. Spell that backwards.

[InfiNate]

I prefer most brands of bottled water to tap water. That being said, aquafina is terrible!

[scarlettohara]

But of course!

Consider: In the US, one popular brand of bottled water goes by the name 'Evian'. Spell that backwards.

oh man, do you think that's on purpose? I keep bottled water in the car in case I get stranded somewhere, but otherwise, I drink the water that comes out of my refrigerator. :)

----------------------------
SH
http://www.talkism.com

[GrimJack]

I drink sparkling water (Talking Rain is the Brand); I drink it by the case. Lately I have realized that the amount of petroleum wasted drinking bottled water does not justify using it. The bottle is made from petroleum products and petroleum products are used to move it around. I am in the process of setting up my own carbination system: buying a CO2 tank, some hose, a 2-stage regulator and so on. The calculation is that a 20 pound tank of co2 will produce about 300 gallons of sparkling water and I can use tap water. Saving money, saving the environment and still getting what I want.

[jwenting]

Evian is actually French, not US, and is sold worldwide.
Only a naive American wouldn't know that ;)

[bumsfeld]

If you buy your bottled water in plastic bottles, expect one fair amount of chemical contamination! Even glass bottles have been found to be contaminated with benzene (does cause cancer) from the bottle's plastic cap seal.

[hbk619]

Doesn't bottled water have more salt than your average tap water?

The babys in the Evian advert are freaky..

[bumsfeld]

I agree, bottled water is handy when you are on the road. Some communities have switched from chlorination to ozonation to get rid of that awful bleach taste.

[jbennet]

The babys in the Evian advert are freaky..

They had to blur out the penises

[Lardmeister]

Evian is clear spring water from the French alps, We always have a case of it in the house.

[bobbyraw]

the big myth on bottled water guy, look into this, if there are so many company bottling water from the "source" poland spring, maine, evian, fuji, do u really beleive companies are paying that great import tarrif to import water into the usa or any countrry for that matter. bottled water is tap water that goes throught a process of reverse osmosis. with all the bottled water dont you thing the "sources" would be dried up by now. here is some thing u can try. get a brita filter or any water filter for that matter. boil tap water, let cool to room temp or put in you refrigerator to cool then filter it. bam u got bottle water quality. its all a hype and a money making thing.

[Lardmeister]

If the bottle says spring water, then it has to be spring water, at least in the US.

Come to think of it, most tap water has at least some spring water in it.

[jwenting]

but what you don't realise is that "spring" can mean just a pump and a pipe into an aquifer. It doesn't have to be some natural hole in the ground through which water bubbles up (and hardly ever is, those are generally located in nature preserves and can't be tapped into).

If you were to pump water from a river into the ground to clean it and later pump it up again you could claim to have "spring water" (and probably someone does, somewhere).

[prettyNpearls]

Kevin Trudeau - Natural Cures - Natural Cures.com says that most of our bottle water is full of toxins. The only water that he approves of is : Evian®
This is a upscale spring water comes from a source in the northern French Alps. The water is collected from an aquifer that is fed by snowmelt and rainfall. Other than filtration through the ground's sand and clay, no other purifying process is used to produce this bottled water. Also he says Fuji water is good too.
Anyway, I would not drink tap water because you all know what clorine does. However if you must drink tap water, if you will let it sit out in the sun for about 30 mins. the clorine will dissipate. cheers....

[jwenting]

or course Evian last year had to withdraw LOTS of water because of severe benzene contamination of their water, apparently introduced in the bottling plant where it's used as a solvent in the cleaning process...

In most places tapwater does not actually contain chlorine (and that's how you spell it).
When it does, the amount is usually so low it's utterly harmless when consumed in the quantities you get when drinking it.
The only times you really need to let it sit first is when you want to use it to for example fill an acquarium, which is a very sensitive environment where chlorine can kill the bacterial cultures which keep the fish and plants alive.

[bumsfeld]

One drop of lemon juice per glass of tap water will completely remove all chlorine taste in less than one minute.

In another note, Evian may have paid Mister Trudeau to recomment their brand.

[prettyNpearls]

I didn't know that about evian...Kevin Trudeau is not the type of person to be paid off or get kick backs. He is already wealthy. Anyway,Would you drink a cup of pesticides? What about a cup of chemical water? All your aquarium (And that's how you spell it) fish will die within a matter of minutes if you add tap water to your fish tank without also adding a de-chlorinator to remove the chlorine. Doesn’t that tell you something about the danger of drinking chlorine? Chlorine in tap water results in cancer and many other diseases, according to researchers worldwide. I just thought about it...Your remark about lemon juice...that totally makes since . That's probably why Rest. put a slice of lemon in their water so you won't taste the chlorine.

[bumsfeld]

City water is initially highly chlorinated to kill any bacteria, then filtered through a bed of charcoal to remove most of the chlorine so it can be consumed. However, charcoal and organic impurities react with the chlorine to produce amongst other things chloroform and carbon tetrachloride, both these chemicals are very well known carcinogens.

Yes, your city water contains some nasty chemicals in trace amounts, not necessarily any pesticides. Pesticides, particularly the polychlorinated ones, are added to your life by the pest control folks that you or your neighbour hires at great expense to kill a few spiders and termites.

Many bottled water makers purify their water using reverse osmosis and then ozonate it to keep bacterial contamination down.

[GrimJack]

All your aquarium (And that's how you spell it) fish will die within a matter of minutes if you add tap water to your fish tank without also adding a de-chlorinator to remove the chlorine. Doesn’t that tell you something about the danger of drinking chlorine? Chlorine in tap water results in cancer and many other diseases, according to researchers worldwide. I just thought about it...Your remark about lemon juice...that totally makes since . That's probably why Rest. put a slice of lemon in their water so you won't taste the chlorine.

I kept a buddies aquarium for 3 month while he was off in NYC; all I used was tap water that I poured into the tank. When the temp got up into the 90s in the tank, I floated ice cubes in it that were made from tap water. I lost 2 of his 17 fish even though I had never dealt with fish before. The chlorine is in the tap water to kill the things that normally would, if not kill you, at least make you really sick. lemon juice is acidic and chlorine is basic, they neutralize each other - acids have a low pH and bases have a high pH.

Some newer methods of sanitizing tap water include using ultra-violet light

[Dani]

Where I live, tap water is practically undrinkable. I know a couple of people who get sick on it, and it has a very bad bitter taste and lingering aftertaste. Not only that, but everytime I draw a bath, the water is very noticably green.

It's obviously not just me because most local restaurants (and even fast food chains) don't use tap water. Amazingly, I went into Taco Bell the other day and asked for a cup of water with my Crunchwrap Supreme and was told they didn't have anything but tap and refused to even serve it to me. Makes me suspicious what they use to cook the meals if they refuse to even pour it in a cup.

For most of my life, we've used Poland Spring through a water cooler for everything from drinking to boiling water to cook with.

[GrimJack]

Where I live, tap water is practically undrinkable. I know a couple of people who get sick on it, and it has a very bad bitter taste and lingering aftertaste. Not only that, but everytime I draw a bath, the water is very noticably green.

It's obviously not just me because most local restaurants (and even fast food chains) don't use tap water. Amazingly, I went into Taco Bell the other day and asked for a cup of water with my Crunchwrap Supreme and was told they didn't have anything but tap and refused to even serve it to me. Makes me suspicious what they use to cook the meals if they refuse to even pour it in a cup.

For most of my life, we've used Poland Spring through a water cooler for everything from drinking to boiling water to cook with.

While I lived in Tucson AZ - they introduced CAP water canaled across AZ - they promised us it was okay to drink but warned us not to water our plants with it or use it in our fish tanks - DUH! The fastest growing business was strip mall distillers; they would use reverse osmosis then double distill it. We did not drink tap water in Tuscon but bought distilled water. I was working as landscaping grunt so I kept 3 2-liter bottles of water in the freezer (there is nothing like pitching cactus into dumpsters in 113 degree heat to make you yearn for a nice job in an air conditioned office and - just to bring in anti-immigrant folks, this is a job for undocumented workers, not for someone like me - I'm a white guy who normally works in a computer room).

[jbennet]

tap water tastes okay to me, just a bit chloriney/peatey/green/saltyish

[prettyNpearls]

You probably have well water. There is a lot of heavy metals in that water, and that can taste pretty raunchy. It can really be bad for you. You need to have it tested at a lab. They usually don't charge especially because it is health related. There is a special whole house unit(filter) that you can get and it takes all those minerals and heavy metals out. Anyway, initially we were speaking about chlorine and its harmful affects. Did you know that if you weigh yourself, and then you shower, and then weigh yourself again you will have gained app. 2 lbs. Crazy huh? check it out. Supposedly it is because of the chlorine in the water.A study was conducted at the Termuende research farm managed by the Western Beef Development
Centre. The study was conducted in 1999 by Western Beef Development Centre, Prairie Farm
Rehabilitation Administration and Research Branch of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada to determine
the effect of various water quality types including simple water treatments on weight gains in cattle. The
four water types and treatments were: 1) direct access by livestock to the dugout; 2) water pumped
from the dugout to a trough; 3) water aerated and pumped to a trough; and, 4) coagulated and
chlorinated water pumped to a trough. I though you might be interested...