9 ms·

The ugly story of how corporate America convinced us to spend so much on water

69 points by SirLJ 4y ago

vinay427 4y ago
As a bit of a tangent, it’s amusing how differently purchasing packaged water in restaurants is seen in certain countries (e.g. Spain, Italy) compared to in the US/Canada where it’s generally the default, and to a lesser extent Switzerland and perhaps other tap-centric European countries where tap water is at least the norm outside of restaurants.
- tchaffee 4y ago
  It's not clear from your post what the restaurant norms are in any of those countries. Having lived in Italy, my experience is that Italians are pretty obsessed with bottled water. Well really bottled spring water to be exact. At restaurants especially. The exception would be in areas where you can get spring water from the source like a mountain resort. Spain is quite similar although I've only spent months at a time there so I'm less experienced in their views on water. In the US it varies, but it's still fairly easy to find restaurants that bring a glass of tap water without even asking you. Big city restaurants and upscale restaurants will try to sell you bottled water but asking for tap water is not frowned upon like it would be in Italy. I haven't spent enough time in Switzerland to comment on that, so maybe you could give more details on your experience there.
  - vinay427 4y ago
    > It's not clear from your post what the restaurant norms are in any of those countries. Sorry, that's my fault, I was editing my comment to make it more concise but managed to also extract its clarity. :) I would agree about Italy and Spain. At least in Italy, many restaurants provided some regional brand of mineral water from a local-ish spring, but I virtually never saw someone asking for tap water. In the US, I would even be surprised if I asked for water and was brought a bottle that I would be charged for, although I'm sure there are places that will try and up-sell bottled water. In Switzerland, there's something of a dichotomy in my experience. In homes and most public spaces, including self-serve restaurants that often have a filling station, tap water is almost always the expectation. It's also much more accepted to drink directly by putting one's mouth up to a tap, whereas in the US I imagine most people would find a dedicated water fountain, cup, bottle, etc. With waiter service, however, there seems to be at least a weak expectation in Switzerland that a patron will order some beverage. Asking for tap water didn't seem frowned upon, but I would get noticeably more hesitation for it than anywhere I've been in the US or Canada. EDIT: Minor rewording for clarity.
    - tchaffee 4y ago
      That was also my experience staying with a Swiss friend in both her city home and mountain home. Drinking tap water at home and then ordering bottled water at the restaurant literally next door to the house. I'll have to ask her about it next time.
quickthrower2 4y ago
Tap water tastes yuk to me. Happy to run that through an RO and chiller for a better taste. As a gourmet experience it is worth the money. Do I need it for survival? Not really. The slippery slope is if bottled water is a con, aren’t all bottled and canned drinks a con?
- gambiting 4y ago
  How is that a slippery slope? Last time I checked coca cola and Fanta don't come out of the ground - Water does though. And tap water taste depends heavily on location.
  - massysett 4y ago
    Opinion pieces like this one generally frame the choice as “bottled water” vs “water from tap.” For me, these don’t compete. I buy a bottle of water when I’m on the go and want a portable drink. There isn’t a faucet in my car, or in a park, or on the street. Indeed I know the bottle of water probably came from a faucet. If there weren’t bottled water I wouldn’t drink from the tap instead. I would buy a bottle of something less healthy, like Coke.
    - oarsinsync 4y ago
      > There isn’t a faucet in my car, or in a park, or on the street. The town I grew up in had plenty of public faucets, in the town centre and in parks. This was a solved problem. Then the taps got removed and now we’ve all lost that choice. The city I live in now has plenty of public water fountains in malls though, so we’re moving back in the right direction.
      - Tempest1981 4y ago
        I remember people putting bubble-gum in the public drinking fountains. You're right, now I rarely see any.
      - leereeves 4y ago
anacoluthe 4y ago
Nestlé CEO about water: https://youtu.be/TPY64EJcsG4 https://youtu.be/TPY64EJcsG4
- durnygbur 4y ago
  Water as a basic human right is... an extremist view. Wow. WOW. These people urgently need to fall off their jets and yachts. They can be "controversial" on the entire way down they'll be falling.
  - II2II 4y ago
    Statements like that leave me questioning the integrity of the video or its translation. I wouldn't be surprised that people hold such views. When you think about it, most people in developed nations drink water that has been tested, treated, and transported. There is no reason why a business couldn't handle that. We simply deal with that handling through public institutions, in part to ensure accessibility and in part to ensure safety. What does surprise me is that a CEO would make such a statement publicly. Such statements can easily be interpreted (or misinterpreted) as denying people fundamental human needs unless they can afford it.
  - Cockbrand 4y ago
    Peter Brabeck later tried to mitigate this statement by essentially saying that water for other uses than human consumption should not be considered a basic human right, see https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/nestle-ceo-water-not-human-right/ https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/nestle-ceo-water-not-human... That said, I find that a somewhat weak argument made under public pressure, and I carefully try to avoid buying Nestlé products for many reasons, one of which is the statement made in the video above.
adamiscool8 4y ago
There is probably need for water infrastructure upgrades, but that’s not the central reason for the consumer choice — they’re not “falling into a trap” when they buy water. There is value captured in the health, convenience, safety and satisfaction aspect of on-demand, portable, trustworthily quality-assured water access for a premium that this piece doesn’t really deal with. Does anywhere even do good public water infrastructure? I wouldn’t trust a public fountain or refill station in my city.
- tonmoy 4y ago
  What makes you trust a company filling bottles more than a public entity? Just because one is for profit and another isn’t?
- grecy 4y ago
  > Does anywhere even do good public water infrastructure? Yep, developed countries do. It's impressive the logical hoops you'll jump through to justify terribly inadequate public services and then just wave it away saying "it's good to pay for better quality".
  - Cockbrand 4y ago
    +1 for this - Germany has excellent tap water pretty much everywhere. Water supply is a public service, and an extremely high quality standard is mandated by law. I can't vouch for all neighboring countries and Scandinavia, but from my travel experience, their tap water is at least very good, if not the same quality or even better.
    - Semaphor 4y ago
      As someone who has to use a water filter: The quality from a health-PoV is great, the taste-quality depends far more on location. The water where I live is very hard, and I can’t stand the taste, so I have to filter it before drinking.
    - tchaffee 4y ago
      > from my travel experience You can't taste many industrial chemicals or even biological contaminants. Tap water can taste great and be unsafe. And taste horrible due to minerals and be perfectly safe. You really need to see regular reports on water tests to understand if the local infrastructure provides safe drinking water.
Gatsky 4y ago
When I was a kid, you could buy 4 or so different soft drinks, a few juices and some flavoured milks. Now, the drink fridges take up a whole wall in the store, and there are multiple waters, flavoured waters, sparkling waters, non-sugar soft drinks, the usual big brand soft drinks but with many varieties, iced teas, energy drinks of all sorts, many juice permutations, multiple coffee drinks, protein shakes, kombucha, specialised kiddy drinks… the explosion in options is quite striking. I assume this is because selling drinks is a good business, essentially reselling people their tap water for a huge margin. I also think that the gargantuan marketing expenditure of Coke and friends has deeply implanted the idea of drinking from bottles into a whole generation, and other drink makers benefit from this advertising ‘penumbra’.
- olsgaarddk 4y ago
  Obviously there are many things going on here, and I am not saying this is the end all explanation to the whole thing, but an interesting part of the puzzle I came across during a project I did on the brewery industry during my bachelor, is that there exists a whole market segment of consumers who just wants to "try something new". When you ask yourself in the super market "Who in their right mind wants a snickers and mint flavored orea?" this is that segment. So, in my case, the beer industry was (is? This was a decade ago) losing sales to ready-mades (Barcadi Breezer, cans of rum and coke, etc.) and a way to hold on to consumers was simply to add new, limited run recipes. All classes of drinks are trying to hold on to consumers who are being stolen by other classes of drinks, by offering up new colors and strange flavor combinations. But at the same time I think you are right about companies training consumers to drink larger and larger portions sugared drinks. Like, 1.5 liter coca-cola isn't even the largest size drink in the cinema sometimes!
  - ezconnect 4y ago
    So that explain the different flavor of Korean Soju.
  - Gatsky 4y ago
    Right, yes this makes sense! I suspect that these short-lived new flavours actually increse sales of the original flavours, since the consumer desires to taste the original again.
refurb 4y ago
Companies have a litany of tactics — and cash — to get people to buy, buy, buy. They position bottled water as a healthier alternative to sodas (which it is) and to tap water (which it often is not). They try to entice people with sleek imagery and promises of purity, positioning the packaging as sporty or sexy or extra-healthy or whatever the brand’s schtick is. This is bizarre. Who thinks you can't drink tap water? Maybe, just maybe, someone things "hey, I like the taste of bottled water better, so I'll drink that because I don't mind the cost". The article stinks of some weird victimhood where corporations take away free will from consumers.
iwanttocomment 4y ago
A practical thing that I've had, for years and years, and of which I know literally zero other people who have such thing, is a water cooler. Yes, in my house, in the kitchen. Like in an office. A big 5 gallon bottle of purified water sitting on a little refrigerated tap. It's literally always good. I want a small glass? No problem, pure water nice and cold. Fill up a bottle to go? Also no problem. I get it, tap water doesn't always taste great. Also not a problem! I have a couple of giant 5 gallon plastic bottles, which I occasionally take to the local Glacier/Primo machine at the gas station (!) and fill for literally a couple of dollars. It tastes delicious. After moving across the country, we bought a new water cooler that has a button that automatically dispenses fresh water into a dog bowl next to the cooler. Like, how great is that? My dog can drink water as nice as I'm drinking. It's like, people don't even want to put in the minimum effort to drink water, which can easily be delicious with a Brita or a cooler or whatever. It's the foundation of life. Come on, people.
- uri4 4y ago
  Transparent jar full of water, sitting on sun for days maybe weeks. Perfect petri dish!
  - iwanttocomment 4y ago
    Wow, lots of anti-water people coming out in the comments. Bizarre. Our family goes through a 5 gallon jug in less than a week. I have a few jugs, which I'll refill a few times, and then the local grocery store or Walmart has a thing where you can drop off old jugs to replace with new ones, sterilized and pre-filled with fresh water. (Clearly this is a thing many other people are doing since the infrastructure exists, even though it's never advertised and I never see other people doing it.) There is literally no health risk involved here. Yes, I go to refill or replace jugs every two weeks or so. Not a big deal. Easier than buying soda or smaller bottles of water, IMO. Edit: We used to use Britas but that was honestly more hassle than just dealing with the jugs.
    - criddell 4y ago
      Is you tap water not drinkable?
uri4 4y ago
Chlorine in tap water will kill your gut microflora with long term use. Some more sensitive bacteria (reuteri) are most important for immune system! At least leave tap water stand still for couple of hours, so the chlorine gets out!
- nobody9999 4y ago
  >Chlorine in tap water will kill your gut microflora with long term use. Some more sensitive bacteria (reuteri) are most important for immune system! That doesn't appear to be the case[0], but I'm no expert on these things. What I do know is that water chlorination can provide safe drinking water for millions who don't (or didn't, until their water was chlorinated) have safe drinking water. >At least leave tap water stand still for couple of hours, so the chlorine gets out! That was my first thought and it's a good one, if such things concern you. [0] https://engineering.berkeley.edu/news/2022/04/examining-the-effects-of-chlorinated-drinking-water-on-the-gut-microbiome/ https://engineering.berkeley.edu/news/2022/04/examining-the-...
  - uri4 4y ago
    > are commonly treated with antibiotics
    - ImPostingOnHN 4y ago
      ?
  - autoexec 4y ago
    I grew up basically expecting clean drinkable water every single time I turned the tap. It's pretty sad to see that isn't the case anymore, assuming it ever was in the first place. Nobody in a nation with as much wealth as we have in the US should have to plan a glass of water hours in advance to make sure they aren't being harmed or have to buy and maintain expensive filters for their home. We really need to start demanding better.
  - yakak 4y ago
    For leaving water out to sit, I've heard from fish owners that you have to be careful that it is a chlorine system and not chloramine which doesn't so simply evaporate out: https://www.epa.gov/dwreginfo/chloramines-drinking-water https://www.epa.gov/dwreginfo/chloramines-drinking-water
autoexec 4y ago
> chances are that the water coming from your faucet is perfectly fine to drink (though there are, of course, some exceptions) The article lists only two areas with unsafe water that have had a lot of media attention, but there are so many places under water boil orders that I can't even keep track of them all. Every single state I've checked shows they've had some problem with their water in the last year or two (caused by things like contamination, infrastructure failures, storm damage, power outages etc) that caused them to issue warnings not to drink the water without boiling it first. I found one boil order just two towns over from me that had already been lifted by the time I heard about it! Because these types of issues are constant and everywhere it makes drinking the water while traveling very risky and since I don't obsessively monitor the sites and social media profiles for my own town/city/county I can't be sure I'd always know about one issued for the water in my own home! Nobody seems to have much confidence in their local water quality and after seeing how in flint MI they worked to hide the danger from the public and faced no meaningful consequences for their actions it's not hard to imagine why. What can we do but get a good filter for our homes and watch for notices like a hawk? Seems like when outside of the home, water bottles are the only way to be sure the water won't poison you. When it comes to bottled water I strongly prefer spring water over the salted tap water soda companies push on us, but I wonder what the PFAS content of spring water is. Now that even rain water is contaminated and unfit for humans and animals is natural filtration good enough to keep spring water non-toxic?
- scotty79 4y ago
  I just boil water now as a rule. When I make tea I usually boil little more and just pour the rest into a glass pitcher. When it cools I have water for drinking. I know it wouldn't help for what happened in Flint but those events are rare. Never heard of single one outside US. Funny thing is that I drank a lot of tap water as a child and it was perfect. But then I started buying sparklig water and tapwater never tasted good to me again.
  - autoexec 4y ago
    Are you still living in the same area you were as a child? The taste of tap water changes a lot from place to place. There are some places where I still like the tap water, but in others I won't even drink it. In some places it even has a gross smell!
esskay 4y ago
It baffles me that a modern developed country has people even needing to question if tap water is safe. In the UK (and I dare say much of Europe) its not at all uncommon to ask for a tap water at a restaurant. I drink around 2 litres of tap water a day, have done all my life. Having been to a fair few places in the US I can see why people dont want to drink it, it stinks and tastes pretty awful. How you manage to take pure natural water and make it taste like feet is beyond me.
- nullcipher 4y ago
  In germany, you have to buy water in all restaurants. This results in purchasing plastic mineral water bottles. Sad state of things.
  - danpalmer 4y ago
    This was a minor point of culture shock coming from the UK. The idea that water is free (at least at the amounts we drink) is so culturally ingrained. It was very noticeable when I passed through Dubai airport and tried to fill up a water bottle. I tried several cafes and all told me they don't do that, I'd have to buy bottled water. I've never been refused that in the UK when asking politely. Ended up finding the water fountains, but I think there was only 1 fountain per terminal, and 2/3 weren't working when I visited.
    - Scoundreller 4y ago
      Had that experience at the Bucharest airport: no fountains at all, but it turns out they’re not on the municipal system and have contaminated wells. But of course, it’s a convenient excuse to sell bottled water. Not impossible to have water delivered for a drinking fountain.
    - SanjayMehta 4y ago
      Dubai airport has all their water fountains one level below the waiting zones, you really have to search for them. And the water tastes salty.
    - 4y ago
daniel-cussen 4y ago
aaron695 4y ago
xtiansimon 4y ago
For one school year (~2011) I worked in food services at a public school district. I don't have kids, so this was my first chance to see _future generations_ attending class. What single observation shocked me the most? Walking the halls of K-6 school, I saw *every desk* has a water bottle of some sort. _When I was a kid_ we had a fountain in the hallway. How do they manage all of the bathroom break requests? And, when I was in elementary school, you didn't really _want_ to use the school toilet. Ewww. Gross.

69 points by SirLJ 4y ago

As a bit of a tangent, it’s amusing how differently purchasing packaged water in restaurants is seen in certain countries (e.g. Spain, Italy) compared to in the US/Canada where it’s generally the default, and to a lesser extent Switzerland and perhaps other tap-centric European countries where tap water is at least the norm outside of restaurants.

tchaffee 4y ago
It's not clear from your post what the restaurant norms are in any of those countries. Having lived in Italy, my experience is that Italians are pretty obsessed with bottled water. Well really bottled spring water to be exact. At restaurants especially. The exception would be in areas where you can get spring water from the source like a mountain resort. Spain is quite similar although I've only spent months at a time there so I'm less experienced in their views on water. In the US it varies, but it's still fairly easy to find restaurants that bring a glass of tap water without even asking you. Big city restaurants and upscale restaurants will try to sell you bottled water but asking for tap water is not frowned upon like it would be in Italy. I haven't spent enough time in Switzerland to comment on that, so maybe you could give more details on your experience there.
- vinay427 4y ago
  > It's not clear from your post what the restaurant norms are in any of those countries. Sorry, that's my fault, I was editing my comment to make it more concise but managed to also extract its clarity. :) I would agree about Italy and Spain. At least in Italy, many restaurants provided some regional brand of mineral water from a local-ish spring, but I virtually never saw someone asking for tap water. In the US, I would even be surprised if I asked for water and was brought a bottle that I would be charged for, although I'm sure there are places that will try and up-sell bottled water. In Switzerland, there's something of a dichotomy in my experience. In homes and most public spaces, including self-serve restaurants that often have a filling station, tap water is almost always the expectation. It's also much more accepted to drink directly by putting one's mouth up to a tap, whereas in the US I imagine most people would find a dedicated water fountain, cup, bottle, etc. With waiter service, however, there seems to be at least a weak expectation in Switzerland that a patron will order some beverage. Asking for tap water didn't seem frowned upon, but I would get noticeably more hesitation for it than anywhere I've been in the US or Canada. EDIT: Minor rewording for clarity.
  - tchaffee 4y ago
    That was also my experience staying with a Swiss friend in both her city home and mountain home. Drinking tap water at home and then ordering bottled water at the restaurant literally next door to the house. I'll have to ask her about it next time.

quickthrower2 4y ago

Tap water tastes yuk to me. Happy to run that through an RO and chiller for a better taste. As a gourmet experience it is worth the money. Do I need it for survival? Not really. The slippery slope is if bottled water is a con, aren’t all bottled and canned drinks a con?

gambiting 4y ago
How is that a slippery slope? Last time I checked coca cola and Fanta don't come out of the ground - Water does though. And tap water taste depends heavily on location.
- massysett 4y ago
  Opinion pieces like this one generally frame the choice as “bottled water” vs “water from tap.” For me, these don’t compete. I buy a bottle of water when I’m on the go and want a portable drink. There isn’t a faucet in my car, or in a park, or on the street. Indeed I know the bottle of water probably came from a faucet. If there weren’t bottled water I wouldn’t drink from the tap instead. I would buy a bottle of something less healthy, like Coke.
  - oarsinsync 4y ago
    > There isn’t a faucet in my car, or in a park, or on the street. The town I grew up in had plenty of public faucets, in the town centre and in parks. This was a solved problem. Then the taps got removed and now we’ve all lost that choice. The city I live in now has plenty of public water fountains in malls though, so we’re moving back in the right direction.
    - Tempest1981 4y ago
      I remember people putting bubble-gum in the public drinking fountains. You're right, now I rarely see any.
    - leereeves 4y ago

anacoluthe 4y ago

Nestlé CEO about water: https://youtu.be/TPY64EJcsG4 https://youtu.be/TPY64EJcsG4

durnygbur 4y ago
Water as a basic human right is... an extremist view. Wow. WOW. These people urgently need to fall off their jets and yachts. They can be "controversial" on the entire way down they'll be falling.
- II2II 4y ago
  Statements like that leave me questioning the integrity of the video or its translation. I wouldn't be surprised that people hold such views. When you think about it, most people in developed nations drink water that has been tested, treated, and transported. There is no reason why a business couldn't handle that. We simply deal with that handling through public institutions, in part to ensure accessibility and in part to ensure safety. What does surprise me is that a CEO would make such a statement publicly. Such statements can easily be interpreted (or misinterpreted) as denying people fundamental human needs unless they can afford it.
- Cockbrand 4y ago
  Peter Brabeck later tried to mitigate this statement by essentially saying that water for other uses than human consumption should not be considered a basic human right, see https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/nestle-ceo-water-not-human-right/ https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/nestle-ceo-water-not-human... That said, I find that a somewhat weak argument made under public pressure, and I carefully try to avoid buying Nestlé products for many reasons, one of which is the statement made in the video above.

adamiscool8 4y ago

There is probably need for water infrastructure upgrades, but that’s not the central reason for the consumer choice — they’re not “falling into a trap” when they buy water. There is value captured in the health, convenience, safety and satisfaction aspect of on-demand, portable, trustworthily quality-assured water access for a premium that this piece doesn’t really deal with. Does anywhere even do good public water infrastructure? I wouldn’t trust a public fountain or refill station in my city.

tonmoy 4y ago
What makes you trust a company filling bottles more than a public entity? Just because one is for profit and another isn’t?
grecy 4y ago
> Does anywhere even do good public water infrastructure? Yep, developed countries do. It's impressive the logical hoops you'll jump through to justify terribly inadequate public services and then just wave it away saying "it's good to pay for better quality".
- Cockbrand 4y ago
  +1 for this - Germany has excellent tap water pretty much everywhere. Water supply is a public service, and an extremely high quality standard is mandated by law. I can't vouch for all neighboring countries and Scandinavia, but from my travel experience, their tap water is at least very good, if not the same quality or even better.
  - Semaphor 4y ago
    As someone who has to use a water filter: The quality from a health-PoV is great, the taste-quality depends far more on location. The water where I live is very hard, and I can’t stand the taste, so I have to filter it before drinking.
  - tchaffee 4y ago
    > from my travel experience You can't taste many industrial chemicals or even biological contaminants. Tap water can taste great and be unsafe. And taste horrible due to minerals and be perfectly safe. You really need to see regular reports on water tests to understand if the local infrastructure provides safe drinking water.

Gatsky 4y ago

When I was a kid, you could buy 4 or so different soft drinks, a few juices and some flavoured milks. Now, the drink fridges take up a whole wall in the store, and there are multiple waters, flavoured waters, sparkling waters, non-sugar soft drinks, the usual big brand soft drinks but with many varieties, iced teas, energy drinks of all sorts, many juice permutations, multiple coffee drinks, protein shakes, kombucha, specialised kiddy drinks… the explosion in options is quite striking. I assume this is because selling drinks is a good business, essentially reselling people their tap water for a huge margin. I also think that the gargantuan marketing expenditure of Coke and friends has deeply implanted the idea of drinking from bottles into a whole generation, and other drink makers benefit from this advertising ‘penumbra’.

olsgaarddk 4y ago
Obviously there are many things going on here, and I am not saying this is the end all explanation to the whole thing, but an interesting part of the puzzle I came across during a project I did on the brewery industry during my bachelor, is that there exists a whole market segment of consumers who just wants to "try something new". When you ask yourself in the super market "Who in their right mind wants a snickers and mint flavored orea?" this is that segment. So, in my case, the beer industry was (is? This was a decade ago) losing sales to ready-mades (Barcadi Breezer, cans of rum and coke, etc.) and a way to hold on to consumers was simply to add new, limited run recipes. All classes of drinks are trying to hold on to consumers who are being stolen by other classes of drinks, by offering up new colors and strange flavor combinations. But at the same time I think you are right about companies training consumers to drink larger and larger portions sugared drinks. Like, 1.5 liter coca-cola isn't even the largest size drink in the cinema sometimes!
- ezconnect 4y ago
  So that explain the different flavor of Korean Soju.
- Gatsky 4y ago
  Right, yes this makes sense! I suspect that these short-lived new flavours actually increse sales of the original flavours, since the consumer desires to taste the original again.

refurb 4y ago

Companies have a litany of tactics — and cash — to get people to buy, buy, buy. They position bottled water as a healthier alternative to sodas (which it is) and to tap water (which it often is not). They try to entice people with sleek imagery and promises of purity, positioning the packaging as sporty or sexy or extra-healthy or whatever the brand’s schtick is. This is bizarre. Who thinks you can't drink tap water? Maybe, just maybe, someone things "hey, I like the taste of bottled water better, so I'll drink that because I don't mind the cost". The article stinks of some weird victimhood where corporations take away free will from consumers.

iwanttocomment 4y ago

A practical thing that I've had, for years and years, and of which I know literally zero other people who have such thing, is a water cooler. Yes, in my house, in the kitchen. Like in an office. A big 5 gallon bottle of purified water sitting on a little refrigerated tap. It's literally always good. I want a small glass? No problem, pure water nice and cold. Fill up a bottle to go? Also no problem. I get it, tap water doesn't always taste great. Also not a problem! I have a couple of giant 5 gallon plastic bottles, which I occasionally take to the local Glacier/Primo machine at the gas station (!) and fill for literally a couple of dollars. It tastes delicious. After moving across the country, we bought a new water cooler that has a button that automatically dispenses fresh water into a dog bowl next to the cooler. Like, how great is that? My dog can drink water as nice as I'm drinking. It's like, people don't even want to put in the minimum effort to drink water, which can easily be delicious with a Brita or a cooler or whatever. It's the foundation of life. Come on, people.

uri4 4y ago
Transparent jar full of water, sitting on sun for days maybe weeks. Perfect petri dish!
- iwanttocomment 4y ago
  Wow, lots of anti-water people coming out in the comments. Bizarre. Our family goes through a 5 gallon jug in less than a week. I have a few jugs, which I'll refill a few times, and then the local grocery store or Walmart has a thing where you can drop off old jugs to replace with new ones, sterilized and pre-filled with fresh water. (Clearly this is a thing many other people are doing since the infrastructure exists, even though it's never advertised and I never see other people doing it.) There is literally no health risk involved here. Yes, I go to refill or replace jugs every two weeks or so. Not a big deal. Easier than buying soda or smaller bottles of water, IMO. Edit: We used to use Britas but that was honestly more hassle than just dealing with the jugs.
  - criddell 4y ago
    Is you tap water not drinkable?

uri4 4y ago

Chlorine in tap water will kill your gut microflora with long term use. Some more sensitive bacteria (reuteri) are most important for immune system! At least leave tap water stand still for couple of hours, so the chlorine gets out!

nobody9999 4y ago
>Chlorine in tap water will kill your gut microflora with long term use. Some more sensitive bacteria (reuteri) are most important for immune system! That doesn't appear to be the case[0], but I'm no expert on these things. What I do know is that water chlorination can provide safe drinking water for millions who don't (or didn't, until their water was chlorinated) have safe drinking water. >At least leave tap water stand still for couple of hours, so the chlorine gets out! That was my first thought and it's a good one, if such things concern you. [0] https://engineering.berkeley.edu/news/2022/04/examining-the-effects-of-chlorinated-drinking-water-on-the-gut-microbiome/ https://engineering.berkeley.edu/news/2022/04/examining-the-...
- uri4 4y ago
  > are commonly treated with antibiotics
  - ImPostingOnHN 4y ago
    ?
- autoexec 4y ago
  I grew up basically expecting clean drinkable water every single time I turned the tap. It's pretty sad to see that isn't the case anymore, assuming it ever was in the first place. Nobody in a nation with as much wealth as we have in the US should have to plan a glass of water hours in advance to make sure they aren't being harmed or have to buy and maintain expensive filters for their home. We really need to start demanding better.
- yakak 4y ago
  For leaving water out to sit, I've heard from fish owners that you have to be careful that it is a chlorine system and not chloramine which doesn't so simply evaporate out: https://www.epa.gov/dwreginfo/chloramines-drinking-water https://www.epa.gov/dwreginfo/chloramines-drinking-water

autoexec 4y ago

> chances are that the water coming from your faucet is perfectly fine to drink (though there are, of course, some exceptions) The article lists only two areas with unsafe water that have had a lot of media attention, but there are so many places under water boil orders that I can't even keep track of them all. Every single state I've checked shows they've had some problem with their water in the last year or two (caused by things like contamination, infrastructure failures, storm damage, power outages etc) that caused them to issue warnings not to drink the water without boiling it first. I found one boil order just two towns over from me that had already been lifted by the time I heard about it! Because these types of issues are constant and everywhere it makes drinking the water while traveling very risky and since I don't obsessively monitor the sites and social media profiles for my own town/city/county I can't be sure I'd always know about one issued for the water in my own home! Nobody seems to have much confidence in their local water quality and after seeing how in flint MI they worked to hide the danger from the public and faced no meaningful consequences for their actions it's not hard to imagine why. What can we do but get a good filter for our homes and watch for notices like a hawk? Seems like when outside of the home, water bottles are the only way to be sure the water won't poison you. When it comes to bottled water I strongly prefer spring water over the salted tap water soda companies push on us, but I wonder what the PFAS content of spring water is. Now that even rain water is contaminated and unfit for humans and animals is natural filtration good enough to keep spring water non-toxic?

scotty79 4y ago
I just boil water now as a rule. When I make tea I usually boil little more and just pour the rest into a glass pitcher. When it cools I have water for drinking. I know it wouldn't help for what happened in Flint but those events are rare. Never heard of single one outside US. Funny thing is that I drank a lot of tap water as a child and it was perfect. But then I started buying sparklig water and tapwater never tasted good to me again.
- autoexec 4y ago
  Are you still living in the same area you were as a child? The taste of tap water changes a lot from place to place. There are some places where I still like the tap water, but in others I won't even drink it. In some places it even has a gross smell!

esskay 4y ago

It baffles me that a modern developed country has people even needing to question if tap water is safe. In the UK (and I dare say much of Europe) its not at all uncommon to ask for a tap water at a restaurant. I drink around 2 litres of tap water a day, have done all my life. Having been to a fair few places in the US I can see why people dont want to drink it, it stinks and tastes pretty awful. How you manage to take pure natural water and make it taste like feet is beyond me.

nullcipher 4y ago
In germany, you have to buy water in all restaurants. This results in purchasing plastic mineral water bottles. Sad state of things.
- danpalmer 4y ago
  This was a minor point of culture shock coming from the UK. The idea that water is free (at least at the amounts we drink) is so culturally ingrained. It was very noticeable when I passed through Dubai airport and tried to fill up a water bottle. I tried several cafes and all told me they don't do that, I'd have to buy bottled water. I've never been refused that in the UK when asking politely. Ended up finding the water fountains, but I think there was only 1 fountain per terminal, and 2/3 weren't working when I visited.
  - Scoundreller 4y ago
    Had that experience at the Bucharest airport: no fountains at all, but it turns out they’re not on the municipal system and have contaminated wells. But of course, it’s a convenient excuse to sell bottled water. Not impossible to have water delivered for a drinking fountain.
  - SanjayMehta 4y ago
    Dubai airport has all their water fountains one level below the waiting zones, you really have to search for them. And the water tastes salty.
  - 4y ago

daniel-cussen 4y ago

aaron695 4y ago

xtiansimon 4y ago

For one school year (~2011) I worked in food services at a public school district. I don't have kids, so this was my first chance to see _future generations_ attending class. What single observation shocked me the most? Walking the halls of K-6 school, I saw *every desk* has a water bottle of some sort. _When I was a kid_ we had a fountain in the hallway. How do they manage all of the bathroom break requests? And, when I was in elementary school, you didn't really _want_ to use the school toilet. Ewww. Gross.