Karby

http://www.reuters.com/article/healt...0070726?rpc=92

heh. big business suckers the general public once again.
seriously though, people, just get a water filter. with this info out, what now is the difference? the brita one works wonders.
i quit with the whole 'pristine bottled water' crap the minute i got one, and that was quite some time ago. because i don't care how you look at it, straight non-filtered DC tap water still tastes like ass.

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The_Jazz

Meh, I like my Chicago tap water. It's downright tasty.

Pebble Beach/Monterey tap water, however, tastes like ass, as does Charleston, SC tap water. I have a hard time brushing my teeth with that stuff, let alone drinking it. Filters are definitely the way to go in some spots.

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Sultana

I've always said that Aquafina tastes like it was filtered through...another person. but I still prefer to cook with and drink from the filter I had installed in my sink.

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samcol

Fuji and Evian are the only ones I know of that aren't just glorified tap water. Oh, and Ill take country well water of city chemicalized water any day. If I'm in a city however it's Evian or Fuji only.

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maleficent

Why is this even newsworthy?

-Dasani is the same thing.. it never claims to be spring water... it's only drinkable ice cold.

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liquidlight

The only reasons I've ever had for drinking bottled water - I'm traveling and staying in hotels and the tap water is intolerable, or I'm stuck in the car for hours on end and it's simply a convenient container. One more down in the snob department

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snowy

Yeah, I thought that most people knew this...

A lot of the water companies use artesian well sources that are also used for public water sources--though that can be a huge step up depending on where your tap water comes from. For instance, a water company uses an artesian source in Central Oregon that is also used for public water, but I guarantee that bottled water tastes far better than any tap water in the Southwest.

Dasani and Aquafina are reverse-osmosis filtered, so they can taste better than tap water--but that's relative.

A few years ago, when my parents moved back to a rural area where they have their own well, I did a highly unscientific taste test comparing Arrowhead water to my folks' well water. Every person surveyed in the taste test (about 10) thought that the well water was the Arrowhead, because it tasted better.

Really, it all comes down to how your water tastes.

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ngdawg

I drink bottled water, mostly Aquafina-the label doesn't state it's anything but purified (read: filtered) tap water.
I don't like Poland Spring and Dasani is passable, but I can get a 12 pack of Aquafina for $5 or less-beats getting it out of a machine or at the convenience store.
Bottled water is a convenience and anyone who wants to glorify it otherwise is fooling themselves. I will state, though, that our tap water here tastes disgusting and smells of chlorine-I use a Brita filter pitcher at home.

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stevie667

You should have seen the furore that happened when that became public in the UK, IIRC they claimed to be mineral water, and quickly had to withdraw from the shelves. That and despite using a public water source they managed to increase the levels of carcinogens.

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SecretMethod70

Chicago tap water is great (not sarcasm). Only time I bother with bottled water is when I want something to carry with me. Hopefully this will encourage others to waste less money on it.

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kutulu

ZOMG its teh tap wtr!11

Why do people care if it is tap water? The water goes through a multi-step purification process so the taste is much better. Brita filters suck, plain and simple. We had those years ago and it did next to nothing to improve the taste.

We use 5 gallon jugs and fill them from either the machines outside a grocery store or at a water store. The taste is better than prepackaged bottled water.

The real problem with bottled water like Aquafina, Arrowhead, etc. is all the waste created by the bottles. It is irresponsible for people to be buying cases of 24 oz bottles when they could just use reusable 5 gallon or 2.5 gallon bottles.

Bill O'Rights

My parents live, and I grew up in, rural Pennsylvania. Our water supply is a well that taps into an underground mountain spring (found in 1961 by an old guy with a divining rod, I shit you not). Growing up, I took for granted getting "ice water" straight from the faucet. It took me awhile, after leaving home, to realize that kitchen and bathroom faucets aren't supposed to frost over when you leave the water run.

A few years ago, Dad had a filter salesman call on him and offered to test the water to determine his filtering needs. He tested it. Threw it out and tested it again. He did this four times, then packed up his kit and informed Dad that there was nothing that he could do for him as his water was 99.9% pure. His equipment couldn't test higher than that.

I've told Dad to buy a trailer load of empty plastic bottles, and fill them at the kitchen sink. He's retired...what else does he have to do? He'd make a fortune off of his tap water.

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krwlz

See, I live in the sticks. We have a well. The water is perfect.

liquidlight

Have him send a few my way

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kurty[B]

I rejoice in living at the top of the watershed. I also rejoice in the fact that I can hike 20 miles and pee on both sides of the mountain and know that it will either go to the Gulf of Mexico, or the Gulf of California.

The two most refreshing creeks I have drank from are East Cross Creek and Snowmass Creek. Mmmmm.

Glory's Sun

I thought everyone knew this already.. I guess people just don't read labels and are too assuming.

I do however drink Evian.. that stuff is tasty.

Mister Coaster

Yeah, if it doesn't say "100% pure mountain spring water" than it is just filtered water. This is not a news story.

Way to go, sensationalistic US media! You have manufactured yet another public outcry that never needed to happen. In other news... water causes rust!

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World's King

Yep... right there with ya.


The only reason we have a filter on our sink is because the pipes in my house are really old and make the water taste a little funny.

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xepherys

I agree with the water filter. I use a Pur and it works great. I've used one for the vast majority of the last several years.

As for city water, I grew up using Detroit water which is, oddly enough, one of the best rated city waters for quality and taste. Who'd'a thunk?

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BadNick

My plumbed-in water from Phila Suburban Water Co. is very good so I have little motivation to buy water; but at home we have a filter on the line that feeds the frig water and ice maker and most of the family drinks that. Now in work in a different Philly suburb, the water tastes like crap with high mineral and iron tastes, so it's bottled or highly filtered water only in work.

What about some of these water bottling companies who are drawing off the ground water from aquafirs at such high rates that it is compromising the availability to the general public. That seems like abuse of public resources to me.

Anybody here from NYC? Everytime I drink NYC water I'm surprised how good it is.

Willravel

Get a reverse osmosis system at home and bottle your own. It's cheaper and it's really clean.

jorgelito

Actually, I thought this article was quite useful and informative. I always suspected bottled water was complete bull shit but was never really sure and now I have the confirmation. It's good to know this. No need to buy bottled water ever now.

ziadel

Yupp, that stuff comes straight from the Mohawk river.

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snowy

If you have good tap water or a Brita pitcher at home, Nalgenes are great for carrying around water, instead of a bottle. I have a BRIGHT PINK Nalgene I take everywhere--I specifically checked to see it would fit in the pocket of the backpack I bought not long ago. I love it.

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krwlz

I gotta ask. What the fuck did you think was in bottled water? Something other than water? I mean, water is a pretty standard thing. If it isn't clean (or relatively thus) you filter it. Making it filtered water. Is anyone really surprised that anything other than water and plastic go into making bottled water?

Xazy

NYC tap is awesome!

ngdawg

I buy the cases so I can have water at work available to me(the tap water there isn't very good), but, if I don't have a full bottle, I will refill it with the tap water, so it's half and half. Keeping it in the fridge tends to lessen the aftertaste.
I'll buy that on the road over the regular bottled waters...I think it's tasty because of the added minerals.
I used to be a Perrier drinker until I figured a club soda with a slice of lime was just as good.

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kutulu

Sorry, I was more referring to people (like my mother in law) who buy cases and drink them at home.

Karby

read my post again.

1. you missed the quip about big business, followed by the words "seriously
though, people..."

2. this article didn't have a damn thing to do with the CONTENTS of bottled water, but rather, the SOURCE of bottled water.

3. i said absolutely NOTHING about the contents of bottled water, but rather about the QUALITY of water in general. around here, a lot of people buy bottled water because they believe the quality is supposedly at a higher standard than public water. if you live in a big metropolitan area, like i do, and nowhere near a well, spring, underground source, etc., just buy a filter.


4. i don't buy bottled water. as stated the first time, i filter.

the whole point of my comment was: that there is very minimal difference between the quality of bottled water and filtered tap water.

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flat5

..

Jetée

I had no idea that PepsiCo owned the Aquafina division, nor the fact that Dasani is part of Coca-Cola's market. A filter is a good option as well.

It goes to show that water is water is H2O.
Obtain it drinkably by whatever means and it equates to a whole of a necessary liquid that is essential to your well-being.

Why give it a name and a label that seek to falsify the incontestable essence of its being?

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Push-Pull

x2. I have zero troubles with taste on our 3 share well.....

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analog

I've tried lots of bottled water. I hate Dasani and aquafina. I've tried that "Fiji" water, and all kinds of name- and non-name-brand waters of differerent kinds.

I hate to say it, but I can still pick out my favorite, the one that tastes the best to me, from a blind line-up... Evian. I don't care where it comes from. I don't care if everything they say about it is total shit. I don't care if "filtered through the alps mountains" actually means "there's a hose dropped in a river somewhere" or "right from the taps of _____ town".

I like Evian's taste the best, and that's all that matters.

krwlz

I was less referring to you specifically, and more referring to all the people out there who might have been surprised that that's all that was in tap water. Pepsi shouldn't have to disclose anything, it should be obvious that the ingredients to bottled water are... water. I'd be rather concerned if they added something else.

Cynthetiq

What do you people know about your own municipal water supply?

NYC Metropolitan Water Quality 2006

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snowy

I read our water quality report when it comes in the mail, always. I participated in a project during my senior year of high school surveying parts of the Tualatin River valley (I oversaw our survey team)--the Student Watershed Research Project. It opened my eyes to the bigger picture of whole watersheds, and taught me a lot about how the western suburbs of Portland get their water, and I continue to use the knowledge I gained then to make sure I know where my water comes from now--Corvallis acquires its water from both the Rock Creek and Willamette watersheds. They have a reservoir in the Coast Range that collects water from Rock Creek (40% of the city's water), and they pump 60% of the city's water directly from the Willamette.

http://www.ci.corvallis.or.us/downloads/pw/wqreport.pdf

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albania

The only thing I really like about bottled water is the fact that it's portable. I don't really care about where it comes from, unless it's someplace unsanitary. In fact, I probably wouldn't even drink bottled water if it wasn't for the fact that most of the water fountains at my college seem dirty. As an aside, is it some sort of prerequisite that if a water fountain is in a public place it must have some nasty green shit growing on it or something? I don't know if maybe I'm just harping on it or whatnot, but it seems rare to find a clean public water fountain.

biznatch

I wish there were good and affordable sparkling water here in the US.
In France, I really liked Salvetat, Badoit, and Quezac.
It's nothing like club soda.

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flstf

When we were building a plant outside of Tucson, Arizona we hired a water cooler company to provide water coolers and keep them replenished. The local tap water was light brown in color. Some of the workers there actually preferred the tap water because it was what they were used to.

Menoman

They never said it wasn't a public source.

I thought it was common knowledge that these 'filtered waters' were just some tap water run through some processing.

I drink Fiji anyway its the best yummmy

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