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Apart from signalling that you have too much money and don't give a crap about the environment, why would anyone drinking just water buy bottled water every day

Apart from signalling that you have too much money and don't give a crap about the environment, why would anyone drinking just water buy bottled water every day instead of a Camelbak or Nalgene or Bobble bottle once a decade, and then drink tap water? Or even a Bkr if you're very fashion conscious? Is US water quality really that bad? Edit: and if you need sparkling water, why not get a Sodastream or equivalent?

TylerE 10y ago
Yeah, in many places, it's pretty bad.
- AlexandrB 10y ago
  I love that the American solution is not to try to bring the municipal water up to standard but to spend 10x-100x on bottled water.
  - rbjorklin 10y ago
    The government is evil and companies can do no wrong ;)
  - phil21 10y ago
    It's already up to standard, people are largely just not rational. My home city ranks near the top of any "best tasting drinking water" poll I've seen, and people still complain and buy bottled water. It's ridiculous. The vast majority of citizens in the US are served by perfectly serviceable potable water they just turn their noses up at it.
    - TylerE 10y ago
      The standards regulate things that will actually hurt you, not things that will make the taste go off.
  - djloche 10y ago
    The reason is that you can buy a case of clean bottled water for ~$1-2, providing you clean, good tasting drinking water for a month. This is something even people at or below poverty level income can afford and dramatically increases quality of life. The individual has little to no control over the water or pipes that runs the water to their home. It is a take it or leave it situation. If you own your home, then you might be able to install a water filtration system. This might be at the very least $200+. Okay. That doesn't compete with the price of bottled water. What about just a water filter pitcher? $30+. Well, now that's far more reasonable, but still represents 20-30 cases of water. Bottled water IS the cheap, easy option. Should people fight and vote for infrastructure improvements so that they have clean, good tasting water? absolutely. But while we're working on that, we'll drink bottled water.
    - amalag 10y ago
      $1 for enough bottled water for a month? Where did you get that number from? We were living away from our home (and water filter) for a few months and bought the cheapest bottled water we could. It was $1 per gallon. Where is this magical bottled water plant that 60 gallons of water for $1.
      - djloche 10y ago
        I'm going to concede on the particulars of how low the price was because it must have been just a killer loss leader in-store sale at walmart - the cheapest I can find now online is ~$7 for the same flat of 35 17oz bottles. I am, however, going to disagree with how much water. 2 gallons of water for a single person each day seems to be more than just excessive for drinking water. Even if I was drinking 17oz each primary meal and another upon waking and upon going to sleep, that still leaves 171 oz remaining to reach 2 gallons.
        amalag 10y ago
        Actually me and my wife went through approx 1 gallon per day, not 1 gallon per person, so approx 0.5 gal per day per person. We use an RO filter, provides amazing taste.
  - sosuke 10y ago
    When you're thirsty the bottle of water is a pretty good solution. Bringing the municipal water up to standard feels like it would be a multi-year project from investigation, lobbying, running for office to make the changes if no other candidate will, giving up all the time that takes as well. I'll buy a bottle of water and vote. Where I live it happens to taste fine but my relatives live off well water and I always pack a case of water when visiting.
  - amalag 10y ago
    Makes a whole lot more sense to maintain separate filters for drinking water. How can we expect our toilet and shower water to be the same quality as drinking water. A filter for drinking water makes a lot more sense.
- AlexandrB 10y ago
  > Yeah, in many places, it's pretty bad. Can you please quantify that, because I'm still convinced it's mostly marketing [1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drinking_water_quality_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drinking_water_quality_in_the_...
  - maxerickson 10y ago
    It's quite safe to drink, there's just not really any standard for flavor. So if a town gets water from a well, they may not be doing a lot to remove an off mineral flavor or whatever.
  - sp332 10y ago
    Edit: Regulators have started to take lead testing more seriously during the Flint crisis. Stricter testing is starting to show a lot of problems. This is about 20 miles south of where I live http://nhpr.org/post/manchester-schools-shut-drinking-fountains-after-high-lead-levels-found http://nhpr.org/post/manchester-schools-shut-drinking-founta... and this about and a bunch more, with actual numbers at the bottom http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2016/03/17/drinking-water-lead-schools-day-cares/81220916/ http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2016/03/17/drinkin...
    - cmdrfred 10y ago
      What does condensation have to do with the public water supply?
      - sp332 10y ago
        Eh, I don't feel like defending my anecdotes. Edited to stick to the numbers.
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AlexB138 10y ago
It's quite bad, but consumer water filtration devices are cheap and plentiful. I personally use a water filter at home and work, and carry a decent quality bottle everywhere with me, so I'm not sure why others don't go that route. I have to assume it's just another example of rampant American consumerism.
- rconti 10y ago
  Is it? I drink tap water in the SF Bay Area. It's excellent. (Hetch Hetchy). But even in the south bay, it's quite good. San Diego water is also very drinkable, as is Los Angeles. Most recently I was in Vegas and Ohio, and in both places, while the water was not as good as it is at my house, it was perfectly fine.
  - Johnny555 10y ago
    SF water is clean and good tasting, but many of the 70+ year old buildings have corroded water pipes that can add foul tastes and sediment to the water.
  - azinman2 10y ago
    I would disagree about so cal. Their water tastes bad. Not Michigan lead-contaminated bad, but SF water blows it away.
azinman2 10y ago
Because la croix tastes amazing, their bubble size is different (and better) from soda stream with no work, and I can put an entire case in the fridge to be ready and cold on demand.
- FreeFull 10y ago
  What changes bubble size?
  - noonespecial 10y ago
    Water "hardness" ie the amount of minerals dissolved in the water if I'm not mistaken. I've got a modded out soda-stream that uses large paint-ball CO2 tanks and I've tried lots of different things. Water run through a "softener" is very different than not and distilled is much more different than both of those.
wott 10y ago
I don't understand either, I am not American. Perhaps their water is swimming-pool ready and not human consumption ready as in civilised countries? Everyone has his own priorities.
- mhluongo 10y ago
  With a couple high-profile exceptions, it's all human-ready. We all just have different preferences, and complain when we move somewhere where the water doesn't taste like "home".
nilkn 10y ago
La Croix is sparkling water with very subtle natural flavoring. As for Sodastream, I've seen lots of folks say that they did the math and found that it wasn't any cheaper in the long run -- or was just barely so -- once you take the cost of the CO2 into account. There are still environmental reasons to get a Sodastream, of course. But if it's not any cheaper and requires learning to use a new contraption and making sure you don't run out of CO2, I think it's easy to see why many people just continue to buy the cans. Plus a Sodastream is a much larger up-front investment, and what if you end up not even liking the flavors? For what it's worth, La Croix is roughly the same price as name-brand soda like Coke where I live.
- HelloMcFly 10y ago
  I had a Sodastream, but I just didn't like it as much a La Croix. The cost difference isn't large either (I pay about $6.75 for a case of 24 La Croix at Costco). The biggest decider for me is simply counter space. The Sodastream crowds my counter, and I don't have a convenient place for it in the cupboards.
- cozzyd 10y ago
  It's much more convenient though. Hauling liquids isn't fun, even though I live just a block from a grocery store.
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tobltobs 10y ago
LaCroix is the methadone for the soda addicted.
JackFr 10y ago
Sodastream vs. seltzer is not cost efficient. https://www.sodastreamusa.com/60L-Carbonators-C38.aspx https://www.sodastreamusa.com/60L-Carbonators-C38.aspx 60L for $29.99 (ignoring fixed cost of hardware and marginal cost of tap water) https://shop.fairwaymarket.com/product/vintage-sltzr-1lt-plain.html https://shop.fairwaymarket.com/product/vintage-sltzr-1lt-pla... 1L for $0.50 (in Manhattan) Possibly more environmentally friendly, though that's not obvious.
- Johnny555 10y ago
  CO2 is cheap, but not when Sodastream sells it. People that want cheap carbonated water have modified their sodastreams to accept larger beverage-store CO2 bottles: http://www.frugalwoods.com/2014/08/11/how-to-cheap-homemade-seltzer-with-a-modified-sodastream/ http://www.frugalwoods.com/2014/08/11/how-to-cheap-homemade-... Higher fixed costs, but if you drink a lot of carbonated water, you quickly recoup it.
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deleted 10y ago
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TylerE 10y ago

Yeah, in many places, it's pretty bad.

AlexandrB 10y ago
I love that the American solution is not to try to bring the municipal water up to standard but to spend 10x-100x on bottled water.
- rbjorklin 10y ago
  The government is evil and companies can do no wrong ;)
- phil21 10y ago
  It's already up to standard, people are largely just not rational. My home city ranks near the top of any "best tasting drinking water" poll I've seen, and people still complain and buy bottled water. It's ridiculous. The vast majority of citizens in the US are served by perfectly serviceable potable water they just turn their noses up at it.
  - TylerE 10y ago
    The standards regulate things that will actually hurt you, not things that will make the taste go off.
- djloche 10y ago
  The reason is that you can buy a case of clean bottled water for ~$1-2, providing you clean, good tasting drinking water for a month. This is something even people at or below poverty level income can afford and dramatically increases quality of life. The individual has little to no control over the water or pipes that runs the water to their home. It is a take it or leave it situation. If you own your home, then you might be able to install a water filtration system. This might be at the very least $200+. Okay. That doesn't compete with the price of bottled water. What about just a water filter pitcher? $30+. Well, now that's far more reasonable, but still represents 20-30 cases of water. Bottled water IS the cheap, easy option. Should people fight and vote for infrastructure improvements so that they have clean, good tasting water? absolutely. But while we're working on that, we'll drink bottled water.
  - amalag 10y ago
    $1 for enough bottled water for a month? Where did you get that number from? We were living away from our home (and water filter) for a few months and bought the cheapest bottled water we could. It was $1 per gallon. Where is this magical bottled water plant that 60 gallons of water for $1.
    - djloche 10y ago
      I'm going to concede on the particulars of how low the price was because it must have been just a killer loss leader in-store sale at walmart - the cheapest I can find now online is ~$7 for the same flat of 35 17oz bottles. I am, however, going to disagree with how much water. 2 gallons of water for a single person each day seems to be more than just excessive for drinking water. Even if I was drinking 17oz each primary meal and another upon waking and upon going to sleep, that still leaves 171 oz remaining to reach 2 gallons.
      - amalag 10y ago
        Actually me and my wife went through approx 1 gallon per day, not 1 gallon per person, so approx 0.5 gal per day per person. We use an RO filter, provides amazing taste.
- sosuke 10y ago
  When you're thirsty the bottle of water is a pretty good solution. Bringing the municipal water up to standard feels like it would be a multi-year project from investigation, lobbying, running for office to make the changes if no other candidate will, giving up all the time that takes as well. I'll buy a bottle of water and vote. Where I live it happens to taste fine but my relatives live off well water and I always pack a case of water when visiting.
- amalag 10y ago
  Makes a whole lot more sense to maintain separate filters for drinking water. How can we expect our toilet and shower water to be the same quality as drinking water. A filter for drinking water makes a lot more sense.
AlexandrB 10y ago
> Yeah, in many places, it's pretty bad. Can you please quantify that, because I'm still convinced it's mostly marketing [1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drinking_water_quality_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drinking_water_quality_in_the_...
- maxerickson 10y ago
  It's quite safe to drink, there's just not really any standard for flavor. So if a town gets water from a well, they may not be doing a lot to remove an off mineral flavor or whatever.
- sp332 10y ago
  Edit: Regulators have started to take lead testing more seriously during the Flint crisis. Stricter testing is starting to show a lot of problems. This is about 20 miles south of where I live http://nhpr.org/post/manchester-schools-shut-drinking-fountains-after-high-lead-levels-found http://nhpr.org/post/manchester-schools-shut-drinking-founta... and this about and a bunch more, with actual numbers at the bottom http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2016/03/17/drinking-water-lead-schools-day-cares/81220916/ http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2016/03/17/drinkin...
  - cmdrfred 10y ago
    What does condensation have to do with the public water supply?
    - sp332 10y ago
      Eh, I don't feel like defending my anecdotes. Edited to stick to the numbers.
- deleted 10y ago
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AlexB138 10y ago

It's quite bad, but consumer water filtration devices are cheap and plentiful. I personally use a water filter at home and work, and carry a decent quality bottle everywhere with me, so I'm not sure why others don't go that route. I have to assume it's just another example of rampant American consumerism.

rconti 10y ago
Is it? I drink tap water in the SF Bay Area. It's excellent. (Hetch Hetchy). But even in the south bay, it's quite good. San Diego water is also very drinkable, as is Los Angeles. Most recently I was in Vegas and Ohio, and in both places, while the water was not as good as it is at my house, it was perfectly fine.
- Johnny555 10y ago
  SF water is clean and good tasting, but many of the 70+ year old buildings have corroded water pipes that can add foul tastes and sediment to the water.
- azinman2 10y ago
  I would disagree about so cal. Their water tastes bad. Not Michigan lead-contaminated bad, but SF water blows it away.

azinman2 10y ago

Because la croix tastes amazing, their bubble size is different (and better) from soda stream with no work, and I can put an entire case in the fridge to be ready and cold on demand.

FreeFull 10y ago
What changes bubble size?
- noonespecial 10y ago
  Water "hardness" ie the amount of minerals dissolved in the water if I'm not mistaken. I've got a modded out soda-stream that uses large paint-ball CO2 tanks and I've tried lots of different things. Water run through a "softener" is very different than not and distilled is much more different than both of those.

wott 10y ago

I don't understand either, I am not American. Perhaps their water is swimming-pool ready and not human consumption ready as in civilised countries? Everyone has his own priorities.

mhluongo 10y ago
With a couple high-profile exceptions, it's all human-ready. We all just have different preferences, and complain when we move somewhere where the water doesn't taste like "home".

nilkn 10y ago

La Croix is sparkling water with very subtle natural flavoring. As for Sodastream, I've seen lots of folks say that they did the math and found that it wasn't any cheaper in the long run -- or was just barely so -- once you take the cost of the CO2 into account. There are still environmental reasons to get a Sodastream, of course. But if it's not any cheaper and requires learning to use a new contraption and making sure you don't run out of CO2, I think it's easy to see why many people just continue to buy the cans. Plus a Sodastream is a much larger up-front investment, and what if you end up not even liking the flavors? For what it's worth, La Croix is roughly the same price as name-brand soda like Coke where I live.

HelloMcFly 10y ago
I had a Sodastream, but I just didn't like it as much a La Croix. The cost difference isn't large either (I pay about $6.75 for a case of 24 La Croix at Costco). The biggest decider for me is simply counter space. The Sodastream crowds my counter, and I don't have a convenient place for it in the cupboards.
cozzyd 10y ago
It's much more convenient though. Hauling liquids isn't fun, even though I live just a block from a grocery store.
- deleted 10y ago
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tobltobs 10y ago

LaCroix is the methadone for the soda addicted.

JackFr 10y ago

Sodastream vs. seltzer is not cost efficient. https://www.sodastreamusa.com/60L-Carbonators-C38.aspx https://www.sodastreamusa.com/60L-Carbonators-C38.aspx 60L for $29.99 (ignoring fixed cost of hardware and marginal cost of tap water) https://shop.fairwaymarket.com/product/vintage-sltzr-1lt-plain.html https://shop.fairwaymarket.com/product/vintage-sltzr-1lt-pla... 1L for $0.50 (in Manhattan) Possibly more environmentally friendly, though that's not obvious.

Johnny555 10y ago
CO2 is cheap, but not when Sodastream sells it. People that want cheap carbonated water have modified their sodastreams to accept larger beverage-store CO2 bottles: http://www.frugalwoods.com/2014/08/11/how-to-cheap-homemade-seltzer-with-a-modified-sodastream/ http://www.frugalwoods.com/2014/08/11/how-to-cheap-homemade-... Higher fixed costs, but if you drink a lot of carbonated water, you quickly recoup it.
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