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Bottled water

(71 Posts)
TiggyW Sat 08-Mar-25 20:01:44

Why do people buy huge amounts of bottled water? I’m just curious. It’s a waste of plastic and energy.

Jaxjacky Mon 10-Mar-25 13:41:55

Witzend 2014 - 2018

missdeke Mon 10-Mar-25 13:46:04

I used to buy bottles but now I use a filter jug simply because the water we get through the taps is like drinking or cooking with swimming bath water and tastes awful. Not everyone can drink water from the tap.

meddijess Mon 10-Mar-25 14:29:56

winterwhite

Our tap water tastes foul. I filter it but makes no difference tho I do use filtered water for the kettle. So I’m afraid we buy bottled water for household use for drinking water. Sorry.

Our tap water is the same - really vile. I am not going to apologise for it!

AuntieE Mon 10-Mar-25 14:43:57

I only wish I had thought up bottled water, back when it first became really, really popular. I would be a multi-millionaire at least, if I had.

Joking aside, I live in a country were tap water is perfectly safe to drink and does not taste of floride. If you are worried about the quality of your mains water, I suggest buying a filter jug,

Plastic is one of the big threats to marine life and the environment generally, and is bottled water itself not a threat to the world's limited supply of drinking water?

polnan Mon 10-Mar-25 15:25:34

of course our water is safe to drink it is full of "chemicals" whatever they use to purify it.

I grew up in Birmingham, lovely water from the Welsh Mountains..

never bought bottled water, until very recently and a friend told me about it.. I had a drank a bottle, went to the tap, automatically and the smell!!! and we are all told to drink more water...

to each his own... there are much worse wastage etc than bottled water... and as for plastic strewn around,, it is not only water bottles, people are ........ no comment!

Granmarderby10 Mon 10-Mar-25 15:44:24

Our tap water first thing in the morning gives off an actual vapour - like at the swimming pool, I have got a very good sense of smell but partner with “ problem nose” doesn’t notice most smells.
There is a water tower close by on this Estate.

jocork Mon 10-Mar-25 15:57:54

I used to buy it when I lived in Oxfordshire as we had a problem when the local reservoir got contaminated and people became ill, so I didn't trust the tap water. I boiled and cooled water for my kids' squash but didn't like the taste to drink as just water. After we moved I moved onto tap water as it tastes ok where I live now.
I'd be more worried about microplastics in bottled water now but we didn't hear about those back in the 90s! I have a reusable steel bottle and only drink bottled water on rare occasions, usually if travelling if I run out and have to buy extra.

Junglebub Mon 10-Mar-25 16:00:27

Because our tap water tastes metallic - even a cup of tea after boiling. However I always make sure I buy water in glass bottles not plastic since reading that particles of plastic have been found embedded in the human brain.

wibblywobblywobblebottom Mon 10-Mar-25 16:08:25

It's a rip off. Paying money for something you can get from the tap for free is idiotic. Unless you live somewhere the water quality is poor.

Paperbackwriter Mon 10-Mar-25 16:11:29

The water supply to our cottage is by way of a spring. We have some kind of filter system but we are on farmland. So - I'd rather drink bottled water than something that may have nitrates in it. I do sometimes drink our spring water when it's boiled and cooled but really - do please try not to judge those who buy large amounts of the bottled stuff. You aren't familiar with their reasons.

TiggyW Mon 10-Mar-25 17:17:07

Paperbackwriter
As I said, I’m just curious. Perhaps we’re luck to have decent tasting water. I’m pretty sure that the people I saw in the supermarket with a trolley load were town dwellers. (Same town as me, so same water).

grannybuy Mon 10-Mar-25 19:13:36

I sometimes wonder if people are carrying drinks around needlessly. I know that we need ‘ enough ‘ fluid, but if it’s not hot, or we’re not doing anything that makes us sweat, or are unable for some reason to have drinks at regular intervals, as in meal and break times, then we probably don’t need constant top ups. Of course, there are medical conditions which dictate for more than average amounts of fluid.

Nibbles44 Mon 10-Mar-25 19:20:53

It's foreigners & others who don't trust or know that Britains tap water is safe to drink. Had some tenants who moved out leaving lots of water bottles, they used it for drinking & cooking. Tap water for them was only for baths & showers & washing things.
When I worked in Bavarian mountains, the water to the premises was pumped up from an underground well. It wasn't 100% safe, but after 1-2 days with the trots (getting used to it) I was ok with drinking it for the rest of the entire year.

crazyH Mon 10-Mar-25 19:21:53

Interestingly, I have just been for a wee, and literally, it was like water (in the pan). I googled and it said I probably have been drinking more water than I need 😂

crazyH Mon 10-Mar-25 19:32:45

Nibbles - love the fact that you worked in the Bavarian mountains - I pictured you as Julie Andrews. Is that where the Sound of Music was filmed. Btw I just about had pass marks for Geography at school.😂

GrannyBeek Mon 10-Mar-25 22:50:31

I run a food bank. My husband is the loo attendant - he sorts the recycling while making sure the visitors don’t steal the loo rolls. One day someone came in asking for a drink of water. DH gave him a cup and pointed to the tap (lovely water, we’re in Birmingham). Oh no, he only drank bottled water. DH gave him a bottle of Tesco’s finest in a glass bottle. Oh no, he said, this is out of date. DH was struck dumb, but managed to find an in-date bottle. He waved him off and collapsed in a state of shock. (We keep bottled water for our street sleepers.)

Allira Mon 10-Mar-25 23:07:35

missdeke

I used to buy bottles but now I use a filter jug simply because the water we get through the taps is like drinking or cooking with swimming bath water and tastes awful. Not everyone can drink water from the tap.

Our tap water has been better lately but there was a time when at least once a week the smell of chlorine coming from the tap water was really strong.

Vintagegirl Tue 11-Mar-25 15:55:30

I have two filters on our main tap in house. I would be concerned about plastic residue in bottles.

Shirls52000 Tue 11-Mar-25 16:55:43

Have to say I rarely buy bottled water but today I ve just bought a giant one as I m on holiday in the middle of nowhere and there is only a tiny tricky of water coming from the tap so have had to go against my own principles and make sure we re hydrated …..sorry 🤷‍♀️

Witzend Wed 12-Mar-25 11:35:26

Nibbles44

It's foreigners & others who don't trust or know that Britains tap water is safe to drink. Had some tenants who moved out leaving lots of water bottles, they used it for drinking & cooking. Tap water for them was only for baths & showers & washing things.
When I worked in Bavarian mountains, the water to the premises was pumped up from an underground well. It wasn't 100% safe, but after 1-2 days with the trots (getting used to it) I was ok with drinking it for the rest of the entire year.

A Chinese (mainland) girl, a new arrival at a niece’s boarding school, had ordered so many cartons of bottled water before she arrived, that the entrance was blocked!

It transpired that she believed that tap water made your hair fall out. And maybe it did in the part of China she came from, but the school staff soon put her straight about U.K. tap water.