Penn & Teller Bullshit Season 1

Same here. Bottled water (I always thought) sells for the convenience, not because it's bottled fairy piss. If I had a choice between bottled tap water and bottled fairy piss, I wouldn't pay 1 penny more for either one. I get the cheapest water they have. If it's possible, I bring my own water.

Isn't actual spring water supposed to have a greater chance of containing unhealthy impurities like lead and bacteria? Would that apply to Evian?

You're probably right, as that spring is flowing through bedrock before it comes up through the spring. Personally, depending on the minerals, I think most of it tastes better. Distilled water sucks. Boiled water sucks. The water from my well, tastes great. Although after watching Penn and Teller, maybe it's my imagination.

The only time I buy bottled water is on car trips, because I like having water to drink, and it's convenient.

The water can be totally clean but the taste can still suck. I read our annual report and everything is as it should be, too bad taste isn't a measureable quantity.

I don't think it's your imagination.
I'd suspect well water would taste very good, as does my Grandparents' well water in Oregon and, before that, their well water in Sacramento.

Of course, their water is hard, leaves deposits all over anything it touches, and is filled with impurities...the same reason it tastes so good. And makes me skeptical that any filter salesperson would claim any unfiltered water source is "99% pure."

When I filter my water for my reef tanks, I actually *need* it to be 99% pure. It tastes like shit, and in some cases isn't even healthy. I have to run pure water back through a carbon filter to try and add some taste back to it. Pure water destroys things rapidly, too.

Anyway, there is an indirect relationship between "taste good" and water "purity." The dirtier it is, the more it will taste. And often that taste is something good. Old/dangerous piping *will* affect both the taste and quality of your tap water, so home filters may make sense for some. If chloramines bother you, buy something to dechlorinate it and then leave a jug sit for 24 hours to evap the chlorine that breaks out from the chloramines.

Anyway, we have to buy bottled water in a lot of places because they [businesses] either won't give it out or won't let people carry around their own. But other than that, I don't and I rarely filter my drinking water at home even with my RO/DI unit.

Smooth, can you post pics of your reef tank (in the Pets forum). Would love to talk about it.

Sorry for the threadjack.

What I object to in tap water is CHLORINE, which can be removed with reverse osmosis, activated charcoal filtration, or distillation.

Right now theres a huge move against bottled water companies against Bottled water itself. Believe it or not, this opposition is not basing itself on the way the water tastes, fairy piss or not :oogle: The reason for this move is solely on the amounts of materials and processing involved to bottle, ship, and sell a service that is already in place all over America in the convenience of a bottle. All that work to bring you "tap water" in a bottle when its at the friggin tap to begin with seems silly when you think about all the polutants involved to do so.

The whole idea of marketing and actually having a huge demand now for bottled water is a huge mind fuck to begin with, imho. The water going thru a very simple filtering process, direct from thier main water source, which was always there, costs equalling just pennies, and then shipping it out across the country side in trucks and containers for a huge huge mark up at the stores.. And now, to ice the friggin cake these big fat cat water companies are preyin on the weak again with thier simple marketing tactic to add "tap water source" on thier label, as if its a new feature! All just to help trick thier consumers into thinking, hey, this is enviromentaly friendly water. ha!

The whole thing has nothing to do with taste, just a cheap gimmick to make it look like they care about the environment, when really its the all mighty dollar that runs the show. Nothing new there.

NYTimes.com editorial

Our student newspaper published an editorial today dealing with this topic:

People who buy bottled water by the case (or really at all) are fools... and you know what they say about fools and their money.

I would also take care using Nalgene bottles. The plastic they use to make those hard, transparent plastics leech some very nasty chemicals, including hormones like Estrogen.

Tap water is one of the most heavily regulated liquids there is. It may taste like dirt (like mine at home,) or like a swimming pool (like mine at work,) but under normal circumstances, it's guaranteed to be safe to drink and good for you.
If you leave a glass of water sitting out for a few hours, the chlorine will evaporate.
This is 100% myth.

I keep a gallon jug filled up with water from the tap in the refrigerator... the time it sits in there removes any remaining chlorine taste by the time I drink it (and I drink a lot of water). Grant you, my water doesn't taste too bad of chlorine to start with, so your mileage may vary on this, but I find the chlorine taste is totally gone just by putting the water in a jug and letting it sit in the fridge for a while.

You have to put the polycarbonate under extreme stress (typically chemical and heat) for it to start leeching compounds in the polycarbonate, and even then, the amount leeched is very insignificant because the amount of the compound (BPA) is very small, and is not present on the surface of the polycarbonate bottle. If you replace your Nalgene every six months as recommended, there is little to no chance of these compounds leeching into the water held in the bottle. Furthermore, Nalgene also sells HDPE plastic bottles that do not contain the questionable compounds in polycarbonate.

That said, I still use my polycarbonate Nalgene constantly, and will replace it in December, as suggested. The very small risk I take in possibly consuming inconsequential amounts of BPA is worth keeping other plastic water bottles out of landfills.

http://www.nalgenelabware.com/techda...phthalates.asp

So you're driving down the road and get thirsty. You fill your glass with tap water from a restroom and place it in your cup holder. You let it sit for several hours to evaporate the chlorine, and finally quench your thirst?

Works for me. Can be a problem while traveling, however. I try to buy purified water by the gallon while on the road. It's far cheaper and more environmentally sound. When one is not used to chlorine in drinking water at home, it can be overpowering when traveling. Chlorine in water can ruin fountain soft drinks as well.

Environmentally sound? It's in a plastic bottle that got trucked in from a distance.... that's not environmentally sound.

It maybe be your preference, but please don't lie to us and yourself with the convincing statement that it's "environmentally sound."

I heard somewhere that the cost per gigalitre of bottled water, from brands like Evian and the like, is astronomically greater than the cost per litre of your own tap water. It's common sense, and not very surprising, but you'd save a hell of a lot of money filtering your tap water, and putting it in a bottle ^_^

Which is more environmentally sound, buying 8 pints of bottles water or a single gallon?

Thanks for posting that, Cynthetiq! I haven't been able to catch Penn & Teller's show since they cut our Showtime.

I've been reusing my beat up Thermos flasks, filled with some nice, cool and cheap tap water. Sure it's clunky as hell, and I feel like a jerk carrying it around the market with me, but I haven't bought bottled water in forever. Recently I've been using a glass Voss bottle, but fear the inevitable shattering/public shrapnel disaster.

Don't forget about the hazards of Di-Hydrogen Monoxide!!!!

Di-Hydrogen Monoxide link

Dihydrogen Monoxide (DHMO) is a colorless and odorless chemical compound, also referred to by some as Dihydrogen Oxide, Hydrogen Hydroxide, Hydronium Hydroxide, or simply Hydric acid. Its basis is the unstable radical Hydroxide, the components of which are found in a number of caustic, explosive and poisonous compounds such as Sulfuric Acid, Nitroglycerine and Ethyl Alcohol.

Snopes DHMO

Snopes has disabled right clicking to copy. :(

I've always hated bottled water. I've never actually purchased any with my own money. I can't taste anything special about them. I just cup my hands under the faucet and chug! Orlando's tap water is delicious.

I live in Iceland and our water is really pure here, every one drinks tap water and there is basically no market for filters. There is bottled water sold at select shops most of which carry it for tourists that come from areas where drinking water from the tap probably is not that smart.

blah... who needs water.. I only drink Gin or Vodka....