4 ms·
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
by 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 agoI remember people putting bubble-gum in the public drinking fountains. You're right, now I rarely see any.
- leereeves 4y agoI remember the public faucets being disgusting. It was nice when bottled water became available everywhere and we didn't have to drink from them anymore.
- autoexec 4y agoYeah, even if the water is routinely tested and pure, and the fountain and its pipes are well maintained and not full of mold/bacteria/lead, public drinking fountains can be full of germs, especially the parts everyone has to touch. I'd rather carry a bit of water with me and not even have to worry about it.
- luckylion 4y agoAnd many people buy bottled water to drink at home, where there is tap water available. That's the choice they're talking about, not you choosing not to use the non-existant faucet in your car.
- massysett 4y agoFlint, Michigan did way more than any evilcorp ever did to convince people to buy water to drink at home.
- luckylion 4y agoSure, but it's not a uniquely American thing. Lots of people in Germany buy bottled water to drink at home, and Germany's tap water is perfectly fine, under constant quality control, there are countless rules against pollution, tap water has to comply with stricter regulations than bottled water and therefore often is of higher quality etc etc, and has been for decades. Still, people buy bottled water.
- gambiting 4y agoSame in Poland - my mum only buys bottle water even though her tap water is perfect fine to drink.
- MandieD 4y agoMy in-laws’ delicious tap water is from the Harz Mountains, and yet, they insist on serving a rather sulfuric, somewhat-carbonated bottled water. They have trouble believing that no, I honestly prefer their tap water.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- tonmoy 4y agoBut a significantly large portion of people in the US buy bottled water for daily consumption
- ThunderSizzle 4y agoIf that's what they want to spend their money on, whose to ridicule them? In the end, people always spend money on stupid things for irrational reasons. Regardless, my family avoided our w well water back up in NY since is reeked of sulfur and no fix ever worked.
- ImPostingOnHN 4y agothose bottles represent multiple negative externalities that affect us: fossil fuels and co2 emissions to make the plastic, more to make it into a bottle, more to transport it, and finally pollution, when the bottles don't actually get recycled (either by the user or the recycling center)
- olsgaarddk 4y agoWeren't people on the go 50 years ago? This need for bottled water is relatively new. Some of us on HN lived at a time when the concept was absurd, others have grown up with bottled water. Meeting rooms used to serve a carafe of water and glasses. Now everybody gets a bottle. So obviously they are competing.