I don’t think that San Jose California constitutes almost all of the developed world.
When these discussions come up I always think back to when I was a little kid. Every little kid would be out on the block playing and of course there’d be the inevitable cry, “Mommy I want some water,” and the mother would always be heard to yell back “Drink out of the hose.”
In those days in my suburb of Chicago, no good housewife, would dare to let her filthy kids in the house to have a drink of water out of a cup. 
No summers were for getting out of the house and staying out all day.
I wonder how many parents now-a-days still yell this at their kids “Drink out of the hose” 
He didn’t say all, he said almost all. Even if you are right about your water, you aren’t all of the developed world.
Our well water tests safe but has an unpleasant smell, like sewage. I think it’s extra iron or sulfur compounds but am not sure.
For $4 I can get a case of bottles that taste just fine, are likely also safe, and are very convenient. Likewise, stopping at a convenience store for some simple lunch, bottled water is the healthiest option.
The convenience is a compromise, as bottles do hurt the environment. We all make compromises like this every day. This element troubles me, but the tons of gasoline my little car uses every year are certainly a bigger problem. I don’t think I can buy anything to drink in a convenience store that is less harmful. Maybe we should be debating consumer lifestyle in general, but this one element of it doesn’t seem special.
I don’t think bottled water is healthier than tapwater except in unusual circumstances where something somewhere is just wrong and needs fixing, and I doubt that premium brands are better in any important way, but it certainly isn’t just a dumb wasteful product.
Wait-when you lose power (electricity?) you also lose your water service?
How very odd.
I don’t think these things are really a scam - they use a really good multistep filtration system. It’s overkill, but it produces very good tasting water. And more importantly you don’t generate waste this way since you refill your own water bottles. It’s absurd to me that often the same trendy hipsters that are so into the green movement are the same people who drink nothing but bottled water. Think of all the energy that goes into making the bottles, the energy required to ship water to where it’s going*, and the waste the bottle creates. It’s just… so ridiculously wasteful. Anyway, the fact that the grocery store stuff is basically just tap water run through very good filters is a plus - it’s not trucked anywhere, there’s no waste, and while it’s expensive compared to practically free tap water, the $.20-.25 per gallon it costs is small compared to buying individual bottles.
Better to get your own filter probably, but those machines are a million times better than buying disposable plastic bottles to drink from.
- If you look at the backs of certain bottles of Fiji water - water that has been shipped across the world from Fiji, there’s a blurb about how much they care about their environmental impact. Tip: shipping the most common substance on the planet to the other side of the world is not helping.
We live on a farm and use well water. When the electricity goes out, the pump for the well no longer works. No water.
City kid. 
Tap water = H2O
Bottled Water = H2O plus minute amounts of nasty-tasting stuff like: alkalies, iron, managanese, magnesium salts, radon!, all for $$$$
If your tap water has chlorine, run it through a Brita fiter.
The worst bottled water I have ever tasted was San pellegriono (Italy)-tasted like soap.
How can you “grren” folks jsutify the waste of energy, to ship water from Fiji to the USA? HUGE carbon footprint there!:eek:
I lived in Sunnyvale CA, about 15 miles up the peninsula from San Jose. The water varied over the course of a year, depending on whether we were getting mostly reservoir water or well water. I certainly wouldn’t have said I had to “chew it”, and we drank it for a few years, but we did eventually get a Brita-like filter pitcher for drinking water.
My Aunt’s water, down in LA (in “The Valley”) was worse, and they used bottled water, but I don’t think they ever tried a filter.
Here in Michigan, we don’t bother with the filter pitcher. Both Ann Arbor and Detroit water are good.
“It’s absurd to me that often the same trendy hipsters that are so into the green movement are the same people who drink nothing but bottled water.”
The thing is Ive seen my share of trendy hipsters with their environmentally friendly stainless steel bottles who merrily get in to their SUV’s at the end of the day while I ride home on my bike. It all depends what circles you move in.
Im sure there will be some minor environmental benefit, but in my view this issue is mostly a symbolic badge and ‘it stands to reason it will be better’ logic being used in regards to those fancy stainless steel bottles instead. They could simply reuse an old bottled water container after all and probably save much more resources in the long run. And you can see whether its manky with them as well.
Otara
It’s got what grease craves!
The tap water here in WV tastes very ‘mineral-y’ (yes, I know that’s not a real word; I just made it up; sue me.) But I don’t like the expense or environmental impact of bottled water. So I bought a water filtration pitcher (like a Brita, but I got a slightly cheaper brand). I always make sure it has plenty of water in it, and I got a compact size that fits in my fridge door. It’s amazing how much more water we’re all likely to drink when we have water that’s cold and tastes good.
To me, the filtration pitcher is a happy medium between tap water and bottled water.
Electrolytes?
It all depends.
For example - my home has a well for water. It is powered by electricity. No electricity = no water coming up the pipe. So when my power goes out so does my water. There is a small reserve tank for the building, but it can go fast. (this makes toilet flushing a problem, among other considerations like drinking water. Had a crazy upstairs tenant once empty the building reserve tank in under 5 minutes due to repeated flushing, then the twit starts screaming there’s no water coming out of the tap). In any circumstance where a pump is involved yes, you lose water when you lose power.
Out of the pipe, the well water here goes “clunk” into the sink. It’s just minerals, perfectly healthy, and in fact has less bacteria than nearby City of Chicago water according the the latest lab results (it’s tested at least once a year). I use a Britta filter for drinking/cooking water, out of the pipe for most everything else.
I seldom purchase bottled water - usually it’s on a long road trip or something of the sort. When I do feel a need to carry water with me I re-use bottles from home.
On construction worksites the guy I work for most often supplies bottled water - but in such places we often don’t have reliable, or even any, access to tap water. Bottled water also remains free of dirt and contamination until opened. That’s a circumstance where bottled water starts to make sense, but we buy the cheapest bottles findable, and on a hot day it all tastes just fine.
There was a long period of time when I drank no tap water as our water source was a river and I still insist it tasted and smelled like dead fish. However the system has been improved and our water tastes very good now.
According to municipal officials our water contains acceptable levels of contaminants. I wonder if the amount and types of contaminants change over time and whether they adjust the acceptability appropriately.
There was a time, a blink of an eye ago, when few had to worry about clean water. But that can be put into perspective by visiting an old pioneer graveyard near my home where lie a large group of children dead of water-bourne illness.
Although I realize that the tap water here is perfectly safe, I don’t like the taste of it. Some times it can have a distinct Algae taste. So, years ago, I installed a high-quality Reverse Osmosis water purifier. This provides water for drinking, making coffee, and making ice cubes. The quality of the water it makes is far superior to any bottled water - my wife has been known to make unprompted comments about how much better our water tastes compared to our friends and relatives.
The Story of Bottled Water. It’s just over eight minutes long. Good overview of bottled water.
Part of the story is probably that Nestle has been buying up the sources of drinking water around the world for quite a few years; check the label on your Poland Spring, Arrowhead, Perrier, Pellegrino, etc. I have no commentary, just the statement of fact.
An interesting exercise for those who buy bottled water might be to actually take the time to calculate how much water you can get out of your tap for the $4 you pay for a case of bottled water.
FYI - the average price of tap water in the US is $1.50 for 1000 gallons; average annual water bill is approximately $300, or about 82¢ a day. It’s almost free.
It depends on how picky you are about the taste of your water. I hate city water, any city. I grew up on well water and anything with chlorine. But most bottled water is crap too. Evian and Perrier have some wierd salt that that gives it a odd rotten sweet taste. And the coke and Pepsi waters are just too freakin bland. Most of the other ones are either too bland, still chlorinated, and just bad minerals. Where I live now the city water through an on tap filter, and then a fridge pitcher filter is not to bad. As long as it stays damn cold it’s pretty good and not chlorine gaggy. Denver water tasted like chlorine and rotten apples.
Arrowhead is damn good though. And Deep rock water is perfect, but doesn’t exist here.