Do you drink Tap Water or Bottled Water?

[Up2Late]

Poll question: Do you drink Tap Water or Bottled Water?

Simple question, Right? Wrong!

I'm sorry, but I'm just getting fed up with the way the MSM and some so-called "respected" Scientists, who I've heard in some recent interviews, who are painting this "issue" as Black or White!

You either Drink Bottled Water or you drink Tap Water. :eyes:NO! It's not that simple as you'll see in the Poll below. :mad:

I'm thinking about doing a video project that tests and debunks the "black and white" nature of this argument that anyone with a digital video camera (including you) can participate in.

Here are some questions I have. Where have all the "Public Drinking Fountains" gone? If, by some miracle, you still have a public Drinking Fountain that still works that you use daily, is that water still safe and clean? Is the water in the Office Water Cooler (if your office still has one) Tap water? Does your boss allow you to have a an open glass of Tap Water sitting on you desk, near you computer, at work?

Personally, I feel the "issue" is being whipped up by the Soft Drink Industry or some other industry who finds Bottled Water as an alternative to their product (like Coke and Pepsi) dangerous to their business.

Or by Local Governments, who don't want the General Public to learn how often, or how many cases of UN-SAFE Local Drinking Water there are around the country, like is the case of MY Home Town, Elkhart, Indiana.

Here are the EPA links, the top two are the ones that effected my Drinking water:

<http://www.epa.gov/R5Super/npl/indiana/IND980794358.htm>
<http://www.epa.gov/R5Super/npl/indiana/IND980500292.htm>
<http://www.epa.gov/region5superfund/npl/indiana/IND000715490.htm>

I grew up in Elkhart, Indiana and NEVER heard ANYTHING about problems with the local drinking water or local Well Water. It wasn't until about 20 years later, in about 2003, that I happened to check the EPA's Super-Fund Clean-up site, that said the Elkhart Main Street Well Field, which supplied 70% of the drinking water to my town of 45,000 people was a Super Fund Clean-up Site!!! And it was only one of THREE Super Fund sites in Elkhart! One of the others was less than a Mile from one of the two houses I had lived in there, where the HIMCO Dump Site had contaminated the Ground Water, the SAME Ground Water we were getting from our Well at that house!

Anyway, on to this poll:

[cynatnite]

1. Sometimes bottled and sometimes tap...

It's not consistent.

[Squatch]

14. Me too. I'm not too damned picky when it comes to potable H2O

unless it's the water I'm using for homebrewing. Then, I prefer mineral-rich spring waters for the nutrients they lend to fermentation.

[Dorian Gray]

65. Me too....

Home... always Tap. Restaurants... Tap. When I lived in Hong Kong... Tap. Florida visiting my parents? Bottled. (The tap there tastes gross.) When i go to the gym? I bring a bottle of water with me to work out. If I'm out, I'll buy a bottle to walk around with me. I don't have an aversion to either, though I'd rather not pay for bottled water if I don't have to.

[question everything]

78. Same here. I actually tried tap water at home

and it tasted funny.

Yet, at a restaurant whatever they give me - I don't drink soft drink - which is usually tap.

[supernova]

108. Same here, depends on the situation

At home I drink my well water from the tap, it's cold and sweet. :9

If I am out and about, bottled water is fine. It's a life saver for all day outdoor activities.

If I'm at a restaurant with a good health rating tap water is fine there too. Fast food joints, convenience stores? Bottled.

It's rather like using those antibacterial hand gels. You might be safer in the moment, but I don't think it's a good idea overall to always remove as much of a risk as possible. You downgrade your immunity simply because you are exposed to so little. Immunity is a use or lose it feature.

[maddiejoan]

2. I drink tap water at home

and fill a plastic canteen bottle to take with me.

[Tom Joad]

3. the soft drink corporations also encourage bottled water. They

produce it. coca-cola bottles water.

[Up2Late]

17. Yup, which is why I mainly suspect the various Governments are behind this mis-info campaign...

...but I'm trying to keep an open mind about it all.

[Critters2]

76. Both Coca-Cola and Pepsico sell bottled water.

Dasani is bottled by Coca-cola, and Aquafina is Pepsico's bottle water brand.

[cali]

4. Always tap

but then my tap is gravity fed from a Vermont spring. And I keep bottles of it in the fridge for when I go out.

[hlthe2b]

5. Well, not all tap water is equal: I filter mine...

religiously using PUR or Brita filters. I will drink the water served when out, buy bottled water when I run out of my own but I routinely carry around filtered tap water-filled Sigg bottles....

Like most people, I have a combination of habits. But missing out on the filtration issue is a problem, imo.

[Up2Late]

10. Me too, but as I said, this "simple black and white issue" needed more that 10 choices.

It's just infuriating how many time I've heard anti-bottled water "scientists" framing this issue as Bottled Water v. Tap Water.

[hlthe2b]

22. Yes.. or municipal water agencies pointing to tap water usage

as evidence of "contentment" or "confidence" in the safety of their tap water. Ignoring that many many people do filter is significant in terms of conclusions drawn and the failure to "up standards."

[Bill McBlueState]

120. did it really need ten choices?

I think you could have made your point about as well with three choices:

Bottled only
Tap only
Either, depending on the circumstances

[Up2Late]

126. No, looks like I needed 12 to 15 choices, based on the responses here...

...and the 16% who selected "Other."

Giving only 3 choices is exactly the wrong way to do it, as it is exactly what I'm trying to point out that's wrong with the current debate as presented by the so-called MSM.

Do the same poll your way and see what happens, I predict a lot of angry responses saying that "...it's not that simple."

[H2O Man]

6. Tap water.

I rarely leave my home. And I have the best water possible here.

[libbygurl]

7. Tap but filtered water at home, usually bottled outside, sometimes tap in restaurants. nt

[blondeatlast]

8. We have zero-waste RO in my home. I drink better than bottled and don't waste much plastic. nt

[uppityperson]

9. Well water at home, tap elsewhere unless all there is available is bottled.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

11. filtered tap water

That is very important. Filters take out stuff like aluminum and chemicals, etc. Besides filtering my tap water, I have a machine to oxygenate it as well. This is the water I take with me in a jug and drink wherever I am. Before I had this, I went to a natural spring and drank water only from it.

[Up2Late]

15. Don't forget the Lead! I started using the PUR filter that filters most stuff including Lead...

...after I read the warning on the NEW Moen Kitchen faucet that I installed a few years ago. It said the faucet had "Leaded Brass" fittings, so I should run the water for 10 to 30 seconds before drinking any of the water that come out of it.

So, they can remove the Lead water pipes, the Lead solder, but NOT the Leaded Brass?:wtf:

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

35. That too

My filter is British, and was recommended by my physician, who is very much concerned with water safety.

[BeatleBoot]

12. My dentist says tap water because of the Flouride.

But I still drink from the plastic hose that's been in the sun all day!

Just like when I was a kid and came back home from playing baseball for 11 straight hours at the ball park down the street during the summer.

Damn what a great memory.

[hlthe2b]

24. If you are using flouridated toothpaste (which you most surely are)

you are probably getting enough.... Young kids with developing teeth is more an issue, but even they might well be getting sufficient flouride through other sources.

[Up2Late]

37. Funny story, when I was a kid and had only un-fluoridated well water to drink...

...we got a full size tube of "Close-up Tooth cleaning Gel(at least 8oz, but it might have been even bigger) which, back in the 1970's, didn't have Fluoride added to it. My mom didn't want it, so I started using it myself.

Well, after finishing that big tube of Close-up, I had my next Dental visit (I can't remember if I had my mom get me a few more tubes of it after the first one, but I think I did) Anyway, after using the non-fluoridated Close-up Gel for a while (I was about 7 or 8 at the time) I went to the dentist a he found that ALL of my 8 fillings had tooth decay around them and they all had to be re-drilled and re-filled!

Man, did that suck.:-(

[whathappened]

38. plastic hoses

are full of lead , when i was a kid we had rubber hoses and drank from them , i don't no about todays hoses , i'm thinking there is lead in them

[BeatleBoot]

63. I meant rubber, not plastic, I just gone done posting about Mitt Romney

and "plastic" was on my mind.

Funny!

[KoKo]

13. I have a filter on my "local Tap Water" and I buy Jugs of Bottled Water to Drink

and sometimes to cook if the recipe calls for a lot of water...from my local state SPRING BOTTLED WATER.

[marlakay]

16. We have expensive filter system on our well for tap

and have additional filter on waterfall faucet upstairs bathroom. During the summer I bring a plastic bottle with my own water to work or elsewhere and during the winter I bring my own tea to work and use the hot water through filter at work. I work in small hotel and they purchased a good hot water filter system for the guests.

Now when I eat out I just have tap water thats the only time...i figure since its not that often it doesn't hurt me and I don't want to spend the money for bottled, besides I have heard some stories that bottled water isn't all its made out to be either.

And the plastic is a waste we don't need. I am also trying to be green, like take my own canvas bags to grocery store...

[Up2Late]

27. Those "...stories that bottled water isn't all its made out to be..." are exactly that, stories...

...or more correctly, rumors that nobody is ever asked to back up with good solid evidence by the interviewer.

I wish the interviewer would ask, "O.K., what's the alternative when you are miles away from home during your average day?"

Where's the working drinking fountain at the "Quick Trip" or "7-11" and is that water safe and what's that nasty metallic taste"

If I just buy a Coke or Diet Coke, don't those ALSO come in a plastic bottle or aluminum can with some unknown liner?

Should I drive the 10 miles home and back to get a glass of Tap water when I'm thirsty?

The MSM is so lame these day, they no longer protect us from corporation placed propaganda.

[Canuckistanian]

18. Why decide? Drink Dasani or Aquafina

Bottled tapwater.

Or, as I call it, "P.T. Barnum Water".

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

43. Right. Sold by Coke & Pepsi, respectively

which negates the OP's point that the soft drink industry campaigns against bottled water.

The soft drink industry has been replaced by the beverage industry, and they want to sell you every drop of every kind of fluid you drink. Even when it's the same tapwater you already pay for through local taxes.

[Richard Steele]

19. We got a home water filter and stopped buying bottled last year. Much cheaper. nm

[bigwillq]

20. Mostly bottled

because we always have bottled water in our house.

Our tap water doesn't taste so good.

[elifino]

21. Neither tap or bottled water

Well water only. We have poory managed water plants.

[baldguy]

23. Often bottled water *is* tap water - in a bottle.

[Up2Late]

31. Yes, but it's not straight out of the tap, it's highly filtered, just like the water some Beer...

...is made with. I have friends who run The Atlanta Brewery and they've told me they use Atlanta Tap Water, but it's highly filtered.

Any large corporation that distribute millions of bottles of water annually would be crazy (from a legal/Lawsuit stand point) to bottle Tap water straight out of the tap. The financial risk would be too great.

[Leopolds Ghost]

75. Everything that is bottled uses tap water -- it is the only source of water.

Whether you filter it or not. It is certainly no more filtered than a Brita filter. Tap water is already filtered and considered safe to drink by any reasonable standard.

Nobody bottles mass quantities from a "fresh mountain stream" except for very small, localized operations that depend on mineral wells or what-not.

[Withywindle]

25. Tap water's fine by me.

Unless I'm, like, on a long road trip or something. I'm not picky about the water I drink, I've never gotten sick from it or anything.

I AM picky about what I spend money on, though, and water isn't on the list if I can help it.

[Der Blaue Engel]

26. I'm slightly backward, I guess: Drink only bottled at home, but will drink tap water at restaurants

Dunno why exactly. It's just what I do.

I've been wanting to switch to a Britta filter at home for the sake of saving money and not adding plastic to the world, but I have concerns about "fridge taste." And for portability, reusable bottles also seem to taste bad to me after a few uses, no matter how well I think I've cleaned them.

[maxanne]

28. I drink tap water

wherever I can. At home, the high mineral content in the water makes it damned unpleasant tasting.

[Myrina]

29. ... bottled but at restaurants ... who knows where it comes from?

They could make ice cubes, soup etc. with toilet water for all I know.

Growing up in WI, I drank tap water and thought bottled water was an obnoxious elitist money-wasting yuppie habit.
Then I moved to IN and honest to God the tap water tastes and smells like dirty socks and rusty nails. :puke:

So I guess I'm an elitist yuppie now.

:hide:

[Up2Late]

42. It's the same way in Santa Barbara, CA and Destin FL...

...in both places, the un-filtered Tap water is completely un-drinkable, or at least they were the last time I lived/visited there.

I can't remember what the Santa Barbara water (back in the 1980's) tasted like, I just remember that it was really nasty. I do remember the Destin water though, it tastes like it has a LOT of salt and even more sulfur in it. Really ruins the coffee too.

I remember in Orlando too, at night, when they watered the grass, it was really stinky water, smelled like rotten eggs. :puke:

[lame54]

30. Where's the box for "I drink tap water sold to me in a bottle"?

[bicentennial_baby]

32. I drink Brita filtered at home, and Evian away from home...

And if I could get it, I'd drink nothing other than Vittel:

http://www.springwater.nl/download/vittel_1,5.jpg

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

33. I Almost Exclusively Drink Tap Water, If I Drink Water At All. Mainly Though? Coke. Morning, Noon

and night.

[MissDeeds]

34. Bottled, for a good reason

We live in a Victorian house that was built in 1901. The pipes are very old and we're not sure how safe they are. When we moved in 15 years ago, we had some of the cast iron pipes replaced with copper, but still don't know the condition of the remaining pipes. We have six 5 gallon bottles delivered on a monthly basis, but we do recycle them.

[Leopolds Ghost]

74. Whass wrong with old cast iron pipes?

Iron is good for you. It's lead you should worry about. Cast iron pipes are perfectly sanitary.....


The reason they don't make cast iron pipes anymore is America no longer has an industrial base, so we use expensive, imported, environmentally unfriendly copper or petroleum-based, environmentally unfriendly PVC pipe instead.

[MissDeeds]

92. Thanks, I didn't know that

I'm not sure what kind of pipes they have coming into the house, but sometimes the water looks kind of rusty, and it tastes funny. We don't have a problem drinking tap water in the restaurants in town, though.

[Snarkturian Clone]

94. My house was built in 1813

and I drink tap water only.

[buzzard]

36. I drink the water my husband filters for his aquarium. He uses a reverse osmosis

system because the saltwater corals in his tank are fussy. He just fills a jug for our cooler and that is what we usually drink.

[Lance_Boyle]

118. That RO filter wastes 3 gallons for every 1 "clean" gallon

For delicate marine aquariums, it's necessary (if extremely wasteful). For drinking water, it's unnecessary and bad.

[NOLALady]

39. I drink both at home.

[Raine]

40. I drink both

what I never drink is soda cause most of it is made with corn syrup and taste horrible. :puke:

[juajen]

41. I have Chron's Disease. So, I only drink distilled water, period.

I recommend this highly for people who have IBS or Chron's, or any autoimmune disease.

[Up2Late]

44. The times I've drank distilled water it had a stale sort of taste...

...what's that from? Lack of minerals that most water has in it?:shrug:

[northzax]

117. it often has less oxygenation

which makes it taste stale. that can easily be fixed.

[Up2Late]

123. What do ya do, just give the bottle a good shake or something?

Not really that critical an issue, I'm just curious.

[northzax]

125. use a glass

and pour it over ice will work. or yeah, just shake it (if there is enough air in the bottle) or get a tap system. (this is why your tap on your faucet has an oxygenating filter on the end, so the water doesn't come out in a clear stream, but is roughed up a bit.

distilled water should, in all reality, taste like nothing at all, since water has no taste, only that of things dissolved in it.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

45. Home and at restaurants I drink tap.

If I'm out and about and there's no other choice I will drink bottled.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

46. I drink tap water heavily flavored by French Roast coffee or Russian Tea bags.

I guess you could call it Caffeine Fortified Water.

[Kucinich4America]

72. They actually DO make caffeine fortified water!

And the state I found it in would be the very state you would think would ban it.

Yep, that's right.... UTAH, where caffeine is considered every bit as bad as heroin.

Stopped at a grocery store in SLC on a road trip. Couldn't stop laughing when I read the label, but I figured it would be helpful in maintaining focus on the road. So I grabbed two big bottles, one for lunch, and the other for later. Tasted alright cold, but damn that stuff was nasty when I opened the second bottle 4 hours later or so.

I've never seen it anywhere else, and I hit 6 or 7 states on that trip.

[terryg11]

47. Tap water through a Brita system

is that just tapwater?

[CTyankee]

48. When I travel in Italy, it is always bottled. Just "aqua naturale" at restaurants when they ask, but

they only ask if I want "naturale" or "con gas."

At home I have a filter in my refrigerator whence I get chilled water. The filters cost a fortune and I have to travel 1/2 hour just to get to the hardware store that sells them!

Here in New Haven there is a bit of a rebellion at restaurants with people saying they will have "New Haven tap" when asked which water they prefer! It's the latest new thing!

[Lone_Star_Dem]

113. Here's a little tip on how to filter water cheaper in your refrigerator

Most of the filters that are built into refrigerators are way over priced. It's a very simple process to install an inline filter in the supply line behind the refrigerator and the filters cost a fraction of the cost to replace.

You do have to pull the refrigerator out to chance the filter, but I just do it when I clean back there so the refrigerator's already out.

[CTyankee]

115. Where can I get inline filters? Are there directions on putting them in?

I'm afraid that I am too clueless when it comes to these things. But I have a handyman who could do it. I just need toknow what to buy!

Thanks for the tip!

[Lone_Star_Dem]

119. Big hardware stores and smaller ones too pretty much all carry them

I've even seen them before at Target.

They connect via 1/4" quick connect fittings and it's not that difficult, but it's also something your handyman shouldn't charge much to do if you prefer him handling it. In order to by-pass the in-the-refrigerator filter you have two choices. One is to install a by-pass where the current filter screws in. You may have to ask the manufacturer about where to purchase one. The other is to take that tube, and cut it, and attach it to the water valve. So the water line goes up into the refrigerator, and down to the valve. Locate the plastic water line that goes to the valve from the filter and that is where you will put your incoming water line. It sounds more difficult than it is and makes more sense when you're looking at it.

The one I use is a taste/odor/scale filter and I buy them at ACE Hardware.

Call around where you are and ask for a refrigerator inline filter. Just make sure they understand you need a low volume filter.

[CTyankee]

122. Thanks! I printed out your response so my handyman could have

the reference. I appreciate your help!

[tsuki]

49. Well water. nt

[Lydia Leftcoast]

50. I drink filtered tap water at home and buy bottled water only when

I'm somewhere that doesn't offer tap water or when I want sparkling water.

[Fleshdancer]

51. old habit: tap at home, bottled when I'm out and about....

new habit: I purchased a few reusable bottles to take with me when I'm out and about in order to reduce the amount of bottled water I drink. So far it's working out very well.

[WheelWalker]

52. Only artesian spring water which I bottle myself.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

53. Mostly tap water

Some filtered, some not.

I drink bottled water if I'm away from a tap, like working out or riding a bike. But I refill the bottle at the tap.

[DavidMS]

54. There isn't an option for first tap,

then bottled water if tap water is not available or looks unhealthy.

David

[DeepBlueC]

55. there are so few public drinking fountains left

that one has to resort to bottled water. When I was a kid every business had one in the lobby and one on every floor, stores had one on every floor (or two). If you were thirsty on the street all you had to do was pop into any building. If you get dehydrated these days in the city without a buck on you, you will need the fire department to resuscitate you before you can help yourself out of trouble. That's my gripe.

[Up2Late]

61. Yeah, I noticed that too, seems there's no money in giving away water for free.

My dehydration horror story is this. Back in 1992 I went to see the "Beastie Boys" at a big club in Orlando, FL where they sold small cups of Tap Water for $1.00 each. No $1.00, No Water. And the Bartenders actually expected a TIP on top of that!

Well, at this Beastie Boys concert (before they took the stage), I ran out of money after paying $25.00 for the T-Shirt and a few drinks, well I was getting serious cotton-mouth and ended up having to leave the club and walk about 6 blocks and back to get to an ATM so that I could buy more of these tiny cups of water. Thankfully, I got back before the Beastie Boys took the stage.

[Leopolds Ghost]

71. It's against business for soft drink and water vendors to have fountains. Also public clocks

Are done away with because people are expected to (a) purchase cell phones and (b) waste more time in the store. It is an engineered society every bit as repressive as the Puritan capitalist society of 17th century Britain and Holland.

[Hellenic_Pagan]

56. I drink

tap at home, and i buy a bottle for going around.

But i refill the bottle multiple times from the tap or fountain, till i lose the bottle.

[FloridaJudy]

81. I do the same

Drink tap at home, buy a bottle of water once in a while, and then refill it from the tap. Unfortunately, I recently read an article in the NYT that suggested reusing the plastic bottles causes them to leak carcinogens. I'd suspect that was a ruse by the bottling plants to make us buy more bottled water, but for the information that the bottles contained carcinogens in the first place.

I do like my occasional Perrier fix though. The stuff that comes out of my tap doesn't fizz - and I'd probably be alarmed if it did.

[Up2Late]

88. I've heard that thing about re-using the bottles too, but I think you can see...

...when it's time to trash them, the plastic starts to get a "crackling" effect in it (lots of tiny little micro cracks), who can say if it's true or not though.

[Initech]

57. I refuse to pay for bottled water.

I'll drink it if it's free but I wont go out of my way to get it. I'll make an exception if I'm some place where the water is really shitty, like Tijuana, Mexico.

[MissB]

58. I know our water system intimately.

I actually once inspected it during the course of my career. I know where it comes from. I know how it gets here.

I drink it from the tap, all over town. When I leave town, I drink bottled water. I've inspected other places, and I'm quite content with my system. :)

[LWolf]

59. Other: I'm not sure how to answer.

I drink copious amounts of well water, from my own well.

Away from home I drink bottled water and water in restaurants, which is probably tap water.

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

60. I used to drink from public fountains until I noticed how others use them

My aging immune system is too compromised to risk it. I drink tap water at home and try to remember to bring a tap-filled bottle when I'm out.

[Zorra]

62. I use bulk purified water and a reusable container. n/t

[trackfan]

64. I drink tap water, except when given free bottled water. n/t

[Feron]

66. Other

I drink mainly tap water, but bottled water when I exercise. However that will change on Monday when the water bottle that I ordered arrives and my motivation for getting it is to reduce waste. Commercial bottled water, in most cases, is just tap water anyway.

Whether or not I drink bottled water outside of the home really depends on availability and my mood. I'm more inclined to drink soft drinks than water when I'm out.

[Kucinich4America]

67. Brita-filtered water at home

I can't drink chlorine bleach, so I gotta have the filter. Never buy bottled water at home. Trying to avoid any soft drinks with High Fructose Corn Syrup, or any in plastic bottles. Fortunately Mexican Coke still comes in glass bottles and has real sugar. If you can find it. Probably drink more tea than anything these days. Black, green, and various herbals.

The only time I really drink bottled water is if I'm on a road trip, especially if I'm driving through desert country (which a lot of the West is)

[leftofthedial]

68. I filter my tap water

almost never bottled water

[Leopolds Ghost]

69. I only drink 100% pure GRAIN ALCOHOL because FLOURIDATION IS A COMMUNIST PLOT.

Bottled Water? What d'you think I am, French?

You're not French, are you Mandrake?

[Up2Late]

79. You know, I found a website the other day that the guy who runs it actually had that...

...as one of the conspiracy theories that he wrote about a few years ago, it's amazing that that one is still floating around, especially since it's 40+ years since Dr. Strangelove came out.

I didn't bookmark it and I definitely wouldn't post a link to it here, because there are a bunch of anti-Jewish rants on it, but Google "Rothschild" and maybe "Alfred" too, and you'll find it, It's in the scroll list on the right side of the page near the bottom. What's amazing is that some of what he wrote about in other articles he was dead on right, but there were just as many that were full on wacko, believing anything written there is probably unwise.

[EFerrari]

70. I'm lucky we have great tap water here. When we lived in HelLA

the tap water made us all sick, dogs and cats and all.

I don't buy bottled water.

[upi402]

73. I have worked on sites adding chemicals in water to reduce pipe decay

Huge tanks add small ppm amounts on chemical into municipal water supplies in an attempt to reduce pipe corrosion.

[Kat45]

77. Coke and Pepsi make Dasani and Aquafina

THe soft drink companies are covering all their bases.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

80. I drink tap water at home, and in restaurants...

Although I do keep some bottled water by my computer, for convenience...

And I keep some bottled water in my car, for the same reason...

That's about it...

NO soft drinks, ever...

It sucks about your contaminated water, and the SuperFund business...

[Breeze54]

82. I drink tap water.

I've only bought bottled water on very hot days when I was
absolutely parched and HAD to have some water right away.
Like when out shopping and very thirsty.
Otherwise, I drink tap. It's the same as bottled.

[tammywammy]

83. Mostly filtered tap water

At home, it's Brita filtered water. At work, we have water fountains and I fill up my water bottle with that.

At a restaurant I'm usually drinking an adult beverage or iced tea.

[donheld]

84. I drink tap water. Denver has some of the best water in the land.

I only worry about one thing being in my water is...yo mama!

[Hatchling]

85. I never have water at restaurants.

Nor will I drink sodas or cold tea, having worked in several restaurants and seeing the crud that develops on the nozzles from the soda fountains, I cringe at the thought. Plus the ice is usually contaminated. (shudder!) I will drink hot coffee or tea in the hope that the water is hot enough to cope with the growing crud, or bring in a bottle of water that I've filled at home from a filtered tap.

[Seabiscuit]

90. I shared some pitchers of margaritas in Mazatlan back in 1991 -

The restaurant's ice cubes came from their tap water, which was contaminated - we were all sick for days.

[Xithras]

86. There is uranium, arsenic, and cancer causing pesticides in my tap water.

The EPA assures us that the threshholds are below the dangerous level, but still....

I'll only drink tap water if it's heavily filtered. If I'm not sure of the filtering used on the tap, I'll stick to bottled. The California Central Valley is NOT a healthy place to drink from the tap.

[B Calm]

87. I drink well water. Did you know Evian spelled backwards is naive!

[Up2Late]

91. No, I never noticed that, did you know that PUR spelled backwards is RUP?

:P

[Seabiscuit]

89. Our tap water is full of greyish-white gundge.

[annabanana]

93. There are parts of this country where tap water tastes really really bad..

If you're there, you know.

[Up2Late]

101. Exactly! I've been to several of those places, why haven't the anti-bottled water "scientists?"

I wish they would say where they live that they never buy bottled water, because I want to live there.:silly:

The funny thing is, I was one of those people growing up, I thought bottle water was a silly idea, and the funny thing is, that was when I was drinking the water contaminated with trichloroethylene (TCE)! I guess that means (TCE) are colorless and tasteless, so I guess "taste great" in NOT the best way to judge if your water quality is good, why don't these so-called "respected scientists" know that, or do they?

O.K., I guess there is nothing funny about it

[Craftsman]

95. I live on the TX gulf coast.

Every year I buy 10 case of bottled water to keep as emergency water in case of a hurricane. I use it up at the end of the year and repeat. I do have a filter on my tap.

[Phoonzang]

96. I drink bottled water then refill

the bottle with tap water several times.

[mainegreen]

97. I'm from Maine, so my tap water is in fact your bottled water.

I drink tap water.

[lapislzi]

98. Tap water whenever possible. I request it.

When tap water is unavailable, I'll drink bottled, save the containers, refill them at home and keep in the fridge for carrying in the car, to the gym, etc. I'll try to get several uses out of a container before recycling it. They also make good ice blocks (cylinders, really) for tossing in the cooler for a trip to the beach.

I almost never drink bottled soda or other flavored drinks. Wine's a different story, though :D
But I always recycle the wine bottles!

[KansDem]

99. Well, since I brew coffee and ice tea to drink at home and at work...

I guess I drink my home tap water. But I also drink seltzer so I in essence drink canned water.

I rarely drink water from a plastic bottle and mostly buy it to put in my scotches and martinis...:9

[annonymous]

100. Filtered tap water at home, bottled water on vacation

We have a Brita pitcher we use for making coffee, juice from concentrate, and Kool-aid. When we are on vacation, we sometimes drink bottled water if the tap water tastes bad. My husband and son got sick from the tap water in Orlando, FL.

[Up2Late]

102. I lived in Orlando for 5 years, you definitely do NOT drink the tap water there...

...or in Destin, FL or in Santa Barbara, CA and judging from what people posted above, the same goes for MOST of Southern California and the California Central Vally.

[LTR]

103. I refill with filtered water at the store

I keep a few plastic gallon jugs around for that purpose. $.39 refills.

I don't like drinking local tap water, and ours is better than most places.

[in_cog_ni_to]

104. Bottled ONLY. You couldn't pay me enough money to ever drink tap water. Our water delivery guy

was telling me a story about a dentist down the street from me. I order small bottles of water with NO Fluoride, and I guess this dentist does too. Well, Hinckley Springs didn't have the bottles with no fluoride so the dentist did a chemical test on the water that had the fluoride and found the amount to be negligible and nothing to be concerned about, BUT he also tested for other CRAP in our tap water. The water delivery guy AND the dentist say the same thing I say....YOU COULDN'T PAY ME TO DRINK THIS WATER.:puke:

I stopped drinking tap water YEARS ago after I found out a company was illegally dumping chemicals at a site not far from our home....I lived in an area with a very high water level because of its sandy soil and we had WELL WATER! That was it for me. You CANNOT trust corporations and companies that deal with dangerous/TOXIC chemicals to do the right thing if it hurts their bottom line. They will do whatever is the easiest thing to do or the most profitable. Erin Brockovich anyone?

[countryjake]

105. My tap water is what they fill those bottles with...

big ole tanker truck pulls up to a water hydrant in town, fills up, hauls it down to the bottled water plant and sells it to the rest of youse.

[Blue_In_AK]

106. I drink tap water except when we're traveling

or camping. We have some of the best tap water in the country. It tastes good and it's really cold right out of the tap.

[Up2Late]

124. Be careful about depending on taste to judge of how good it is, water in Elkhart tasted great too

...but it was full of toxic, tasteless chemicals. Thankfully, my County (Cobb) mails everyone in the county a water quality report every year. Some of the data might be a year or two old, but you can definitely get a good idea if they suddenly have a problem.

I'd much rather get the report 2 years too late rather that 30 years after the exposure. Now all our Cats dying at ages 5 to 11 years from stomach cancer and my Mother's total Hysterectomy at age 42 due to Uterine Cancer all back sense suddenly.

My rule now is, if your State is controlled by Republicans, be careful.

[Locrian]

107. heavily filtered

heavily filtered reverse osmosis tap water.

http://www.fluoridealert.org/fluoride-deception.htm

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2886269353175462948

[Javaman]

109. I fight for a spot at the toilet with my dog. nt

[Labors of Hercules]

110. I fill the same bottles with tap water when we go out and about. nt.

[RoadRage]

111. I drink Tap out of a bottle.. LOL

I usually buy a 6 pack of bottled water about once every couple of months, because I try to always have some with me. But, I hate that plastic bottles just go to the dumpster most of the time. We have cold filtered water in a dispenser on our fridge.. so as soon as my bottle is empty, I just fill it back up with our cold water - throw it in the fridge.. and keep those 6 bottles going until they start to get gross or lost. :)

[chaska]

112. I hope you aren't suggesting that bottled water is even defensible. It's an environmental disaster.

I drive a truck. I used to haul loads of bottled water from southern CA (where they have little water) to Seattle (where they're up to their necks in it most of the year).

The carbon footprint of bottled water is an obscenity.



"Personally, I feel the "issue" is being whipped up by the Soft Drink Industry or some other industry who finds Bottled Water as an alternative to their product (like Coke and Pepsi) dangerous to their business."

Well, there's your problem right there: Stop "feeling" and start thinking. Too paranoid by half.

[focusfan]

114. But I prefer DR.Pepper

[mnhtnbb]

116. I drink tap water at home and local restaurants. Any tap water

that tastes funny when out of town, I switch to bottled water.

[nosmokes]

121. My tap water is Mountain spring water. I put it in a bottle and drink it.

after it goes through a UVA filter.Great stuff.One of the joys of rural life.