Bottled water

We're really lucky in that we have our water from a bore hole. It's regularly tested and is pure & tastes of water, not chlorine. DS lives a couple o miles away & has the local mains water, the taste of which is absolutely disgusting. They don't buy bottled water but don't drink it neat from the tap - always with squash or whatever. Normally, we have tap water at the table when dining out but I confess once when we were on holiday in the south west, we did resort to bottled water as the smell & taste of the local tap water was revolting.

missdeke our water in America smelled regularly of chlorine and wasn't nice.

Locals said to put it uncovered in the fridge one day for the next. It definitely improved like that. Chlorine is volatile in water and will disappear (evaporate I think).

Daddima we had very soft water in my hometown - the first time my husband visited and had a shower he said he didn't think he'd ever rinse the bubbles off his body!

The tap water in my area is so heavily chlorinated it's like drinking from a swimming pool. I can't even use it to boil veg. Very occasionally it tastes like TCP. I have spoken to the local water supplier who said that due to the continual housing developments they have a lot more waste water to treat. I don't use botteld water but I do use a heavy duty water purifier jug. Brita Max used to need the filter changing twice a week and there is only me living in the house.

amazonia

I'm always appalled at the amount of bottled water that my holiday cottage guests get through. The tap water here (Exmoor) is pretty good.
I buy bottled abroad when we're travelling - just in case!
For sparkling at home I have a soda stream which we all love.

I suspect they are like I am now[I wasnt until 1 year ago].
Scared to drink tap water when away. So err on the side of safety.

Tiley

Applegran

We have been advised to be ready for the unexpected and have bottled water in stock. How easy would it be to store tap water for an emergency? And what would you store it in? I too do not want to buy water in bottles. Advice welcome!

Maybe buy an old milk churn, often see them on Ebay. The gypsies use them a lot.

I would use glass bottles as plastic degrades over time and you may find yourself drinking tiny bits of plastic. Not nice.
We used to boil and store water when I was a child. We only had water out of the tap for 4hours every 4 days.
If there is a problem like the one in Devon I think you may need a lot of bottles and somewhere cool and dark.

I have never understood people drinking bottled water when ours, the majority of the time is perfectly safe. If you don't like the taste of it then you can boil it and let it cool before drinking.

I'm always appalled at the amount of bottled water that my holiday cottage guests get through. The tap water here (Exmoor) is pretty good.
I buy bottled abroad when we're travelling - just in case!
For sparkling at home I have a soda stream which we all love.

It's none of your business if people are drinking bottled water, nobody is asking you to pay for it.

www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/nov/28/forever-chemicals-found-in-drinking-water-sources-across-england

just saying

i drink tap water as i find the water in scotland fine to drink, if i am out all day and run out i usually buy pepsi or orange, these get washed and filled from the tap and kept in the fridge.

Applegran

We have been advised to be ready for the unexpected and have bottled water in stock. How easy would it be to store tap water for an emergency? And what would you store it in? I too do not want to buy water in bottles. Advice welcome!

Maybe buy an old milk churn, often see them on Ebay. The gypsies use them a lot.

sodapop

Water is my main drink of the day with one cup of coffee per day and the occasional G &T. I drink a specific brand of bottled water because it contains extra magnesium which helps with the cramp I suffer from.
I must admit to being concerned now about the plastic issue and may rethink things.

I simply take a low dose magnesium tablet with a meal during the day and this seems to have fixed my cramp.

We have been advised to be ready for the unexpected and have bottled water in stock. How easy would it be to store tap water for an emergency? And what would you store it in? I too do not want to buy water in bottles. Advice welcome!

I agree, we don't drink bottled water either, unless we are out and there is no option.
However our water often has a tang of chlorine and sometimes smells nasty too, so I have a chiller/filter in my fridge. The water tastes much cleaner and I only need to change the filter twice a year.
There is actually a version of the Brita filter which fits a glass carafe and just cleans up the water without tremoving the calcium. We often use this at the table, though my husband (who used to be a consultant specialising in water treatment) thinks it is totally unnecessary!

Our water comes from Loch Katrine, tastes fine, and is very soft. You can tell by the rerr sapple when washing.
( Rerr sapple means rich lather for Sassenachs!)

I remember my horror at the film on my bath water the first time I visited my brother in London, and the limescale in the kettle was something I had never seen before!

A sodastream is not very expensive and a more straightfowrad solution than a special tap. You do have to change the canisters, but you can exchange them for new ones so no disposal issues - I do this at my local hardware store. It takes up little space and is very simple to operate. If your main concern is elimnating waste and transport costs, but you love sparkling water, this is a good solution.

I have a Britta Jug as one lady said above and I also keep a small bottle that I can fill with water from the jug if I need to take some out with me. I don't like the taste of our tap water but the jug always helps.

I have a certain tap that has really cold water, carbonated water and hot water and boiling water through a small combi-boiler, all situated under my sink. We are a soft water area, so don’t need to replace the filter as often as hard water areas. No kettle here, all drinks are made through the tap.
I object to buying water in plastic bottles, expensive and bad for the environment. The tap was not cheap to buy but it is the best thing that we have bought for the kitchen.

Cabbie 21 You can have sparkling water from a tap but you do need one of those fancy and expensive taps that takes a cyclindet to add the "sparkle". Of course, there is then the cyclinder to be disposed of. Do wonder how we managed to drink just plain tap water before all the marketing and profit gathering from the bottled water companies.

I drink tap water but I don't like it. I find if I leave a glass of water out for a couple of hours it develops a taste like chemicals.

Our tap water is awful. I have a filter jug that I fill from the tap and then use reusable stainless steel bottles or glass bottles.. no plastic happening here!
I do buy San Pellegrino sparkling water though. In a glass bottle.

You can get a filter tap for around £200.

Ive always lived in the North West where the tap water tastes quite pleasant. However when I go to London the taste is vile so I drink bottled water.

Our fridge gives filtered tap water, would only buy bottled if water company messed up our water supply, hate the thought of all that plastic, and what an expense, someone is making a ridiculous profit. When we holiday in France, always drink tap water there, but all the supermarket trolleys are piled high with plastic bottles!