Bottled Water vs. Tap Water

[Bimmer325]

Lately I've gotten into the habit of drinking more and more water. I'm 16, and prior to this year, I rarely drank water at all. I've noticed that I feel healthier overall and have really learned to enjoy it. I drink both bottled and tap water (I don't prefer one over the other), but know people who refuse to drink tap. Personally, I have no problem filling up straight from the sink.

Recently I've learned that tap water can actually be better for you than anything out of a bottle. According to some recent studies, bottled water can have more bacteria and less fluoride than regular old tap water. Moreover, bottled water isn't held to the same standards regarding filtration, and generally has less minerals and nutrients than tap water. I've noticed that the slight 'chlorine' aftertaste that tap water is sometimes known to have dissolves after just a few short hours in the 'fridge, so lately I've been drinking more of it.

What do you drink?

[the_yellow_dart]

I use tap water. Toronto water tastes surprisingly good, I think they might have a big filter on my apartment building though, becuase I've had Toronto water at other places that was nasty.

If you're going to do anything, filter the tap water with Brita or the like. Don't buy bottled water unless you have to - it's not that much better and the container is bad for the environment. It's not as pure as most people think it is anyways. Remember, EVIAN = NAIVE.

[Alpha]

For me it's been bottled for three reasons: taste, container ease of use, and easy temperature control.

I used to put tap water in the fridge (I don't know why, but warm water makes me sick to my stomach...makes doing things away from civilization hard..lol)...but the problem is the plastic in most of the containers taints the taste of the water...

[ToniCipriani]

Either works for me, whichever is available. But for tap water I put it though my Brita first.

[AAS]

Bottled. I only drink tap water if I am in Lake Tahoe (the lake water is delicious!)

[Enzora]

I drink tap, but filter it first. The only time I'd ever get bottled water is if it was given to me, or if I got in a strange mood for some flavored water.

[Cory Wolfe]

Oh my.. um, neither, but I drink water. My house has well water, which, tastes and smells like rotten eggs. Don't drink it, hate showering in it. For water, we go to a natural spring located down the road a mile. Put it in old 2 gallon bottles. I drink that. It's alot better than any tap or bottled water I've tasted, too.

[Croc]

BV, you live on a farm, correct? The rotten eggs smell is a result of sulphur released from the decomposition of organic matter, often found in farming communities.

[Cory Wolfe]

Um... No, I don't live on a farm. I live near farms, though. There are a few over the hill from me. 1 south, 1 northeast, and 1 east of me; all approx. 1/4 mile away. I'm in a Valley. Also, the town I live in used to be coal mining town so coal can be found throughout the area, including my back yard. Perhaps that may have something to do with it?

[Nick]

Where is my Evian!?

[Paolino]

Um... No, I don't live on a farm. I live near farms, though. There are a few over the hill from me. 1 south, 1 northeast, and 1 east of me; all approx. 1/4 mile away. I'm in a Valley. Also, the town I live in used to be coal mining town so coal can be found throughout the area, including my back yard. Perhaps that may have something to do with it?

Well, my friend has a house upstate.. they have well-water. They use a sulfer-smelling cleaning system to purify the water. If you don't use the water often enough, it smells like rotten eggs (i.e., if they're not at the house for a month). Maybe it has something to do with the purification? Do you use well water?

Oh, and where's the choice for "both"? I drink a ton of water, but it's half and half. (no, not the cream, but more the mixture).

[Cory Wolfe]

Well, my friend has a house upstate.. they have well-water.  They use a sulfer-smelling cleaning system to purify the water.  If you don't use the water often enough, it smells like rotten eggs (i.e., if they're not at the house for a month).  Maybe it has something to do with the purification? Do you use well water?

My house has well water

Yes. It probably does have something to do with the purification... We don't exactly have the best system... nor plumbling for that matter.

[sciguy_0504]

I usually drink Brita water but I'll drink bottled if it isn't available. I'm not a huge fan of tap water because it usually smells or tastes like chlorine. The weird thing is, the tap in my bathroom doesn't have the smell or taste of normal tap water, at least to me, and it's oh-so-cold at night in the winter so it's great to get a drink after using the potty at 2AM.

[Croc]

If your house is downstream (groundwater flow) it could very well be the farms.

[capriceman]

i voted no preference but Detroit really has the best Tap water ive ever tatsted.

[razoredge]

BV, you live on a farm, correct?  The rotten eggs smell is a result of sulphur released from the decomposition of organic matter, often found in farming communities.

Higgins says "Oh My God!"

Many many wells throughout the Neast are sulphur, they come hundreds of feet through solid bedrock, nothing to do with farming what so ever, here long before farming and still here long after they destroyed farming. Some well water is full of minerals, iron, ect. I bet thats from old rusted farm equipment . There is a town nearby that has sulphur springs. Back 100+ years ago the Jewish people from the citys built huge hotels and made this town a vacation town because for some reason they needed or like that sulphur. You drive down through that town and let me tell you it stinks.

Ground water and surface water are two entirely different things. It takes up to five years for drought to effect a deep rock well, it also takes up to five years of typical rain to get water table back up in a 3oo-500 feet well .

I knew all this along time ago but about 3 years ago I worked on a drill rig doing residential and municipality water, let me tell you nothing is cut and dry down there in the rock. We hit 26 gallons per minute no more than 120 ft into the rock and other times we went 500 ft for nothin. A very heart breakin business actually, Ive seen people give up there lifes savings for less than a gallon a minute. They pay no matter what the results, I really didnt enjoy it. Good wells are less common than the tricklers.

Edited January 18, 2006 by razoredge

[ocnblu]

I drink bottled water. I keep a gallon jug of Dannon in the fridge always. It's good.

[Flybrian]

Mostly bottled, not out of prissiness but simply because our city water tastes funky.

At our old house, my father (being the ex-pipefitter he is) installed an elaborate filtration system from our well. That water I'd drink - that's right - well water before city water.

Sad isn't it?

[z28luvr01]

In the house, I mostly drink "tap" water, but I get it via our refrigerator door that chills it and filters it. At work I stick to the cooler, which is stocked via an outside company.

[Enzora]

At our old house, my father (being the ex-pipefitter he is) installed an elaborate filtration system from our well. That water I'd drink - that's right - well water before city water.

My dad did the same with the well water at my house. It really made me in awe of his mechanical abilities. He just looked at it, and without making up a diagram or anything, knew exactly what he needed to fix it.

It was pretty fresh well-water anyway, and now, with that, plus an extra filter that came with the fridge, the water that comes from it is amazing.

[Cory Wolfe]

Higgins says "Oh My God!"

Many many wells throughout the Neast are sulphur, they come hundreds of feet through solid bedrock, nothing to do with farming what so ever, here long before farming and still here long after they destroyed farming. Some well water is full of minerals, iron, ect. I bet thats from old rusted farm equipment  . There is a town nearby that has sulphur springs. Back 100+ years ago the Jewish people from the citys built huge hotels and made this town a vacation town because for some reason they needed or like that sulphur. You drive down through that town and let me tell you it stinks.

Ground water and surface water are two entirely different things. It takes up to five years for drought to effect a deep rock well, it also takes up to five years of typical rain to get water table back up  in a 3oo-500 feet well .

Yes... Iron. Our water is full of it.

[the_yellow_dart]

The water in Brantford where I grew up was full of iron and minerals too. It is one of the purest tap waters in North America in terms of parts per million of anything not H2O. However, all the matter that remains is iron and minerals, so it still tasted like licking a rock. Toronto water tastes better.

[mustang84]

Last summer when I went to Michigan, we stayed in New Buffalo and they must've had well-water because it smelled like fish...and I hate fish.

Otherwise, I don't care. I usually just drink tap water unfiltered, and sometimes if I've had bottled water and drank it all, I'll fill the bottle up again a few times with tap water. I've heard too that tap water is actually better for you since bottled doesn't have flouride that prevents teeth rot. I see no reason to pay for water when I can get it for free.

[MyerShift]

In general, I hate bottled water. I will drink it if I have to, though.

After I eat sweet things, I just have to drink lots of water. Don't know why. My mom even took me to a doctor to see if something was wrong with me. How unfair!

[razoredge]

Yes... Iron. Our water is full of it.

yea, thats probably because some farmer buried an old steel wheeled steam tractor down in the rock, back duing the last ice age

History

Hydrogen sulfide has been known since early times. The chemistry of H2S has been studied since the 1600s.

Natural Abundance

Natural gas contains up to several percent H2S(g) and as such are called sour gas wells from their offensive stench. Volcanoes also discharge hydrogen sulfide. Anaerobic decay aided by bacteria produces hydrogen sulfide, which in turn, produces sulfur. This process accounts for much of the native sulfur found in nature.

[C.H.U.D.]

I prefer ambiotic water from labouring mothers. Tastes like babies.

[ocnblu]

[Dsuupr]

It really depends where I am. In Oregon the water is good and general clean. In California (Southern atleast) I can't drink the tap water without getting ill.

[XP715]

Water's water to me; tap or bottled really isn't an issue.

"We gotta little rule back home: if it's brown, drink it down; if it's black, send it back." </Homer Simpson>

[ToniCipriani]

I create all my own water straight from virgin hydrogen. I combine it with only the purest oxygen and drink it only from cups composed of the finest high density polystyrene. High density polyethylene just won't do.

.... and making hydrogen peroxide in the process by accident and ended up drinking that

[Croc]

Higgins says "Oh My God!"

Many many wells throughout the Neast are sulphur, they come hundreds of feet through solid bedrock, nothing to do with farming what so ever, here long before farming and still here long after they destroyed farming. Some well water is full of minerals, iron, ect. I bet thats from old rusted farm equipment  . There is a town nearby that has sulphur springs. Back 100+ years ago the Jewish people from the citys built huge hotels and made this town a vacation town because for some reason they needed or like that sulphur. You drive down through that town and let me tell you it stinks.

Ground water and surface water are two entirely different things. It takes up to five years for drought to effect a deep rock well, it also takes up to five years of typical rain to get water table back up  in a 3oo-500 feet well .

I knew all this along time ago but about 3 years ago I worked on a drill rig doing residential and municipality water, let me tell you nothing is cut and dry down there in the rock. We hit 26 gallons per minute no more than 120 ft into the rock and other times we went 500 ft for nothin. A very heart breakin business actually, Ive seen people give up there lifes savings for less than a gallon a minute. They pay no matter what the results, I really didnt enjoy it. Good wells are less common than the tricklers.

No. Of course minerals aren't from rusted out equipment . That said, wells "downstream" (groundwater flows) of a farm do tend to have higher sulphur contents. That is a fact, and maybe if you had ever studied geology you would know this.

The reason you were pretty hit or miss on the water drilling is because you have to drill down into a confined aquifer that is under pressure.

[regfootball]

I do prefer bottled or from my reverse osmosis under the sink (gotta change my filter!)

but where i live now the tap water is pretty good too. not a lot fo chlorine.

regarding flouride......

What Your Dentist Isn’t Telling You About Fluoride

Think Fluoride is Healthy? Find Out the Shocking Truth in "The Fluoride Deception"

Intermediate Plan: Beverages

Is Fluoride Really As Safe As You Are Told?

tell me if want to have Flouride in your water after reading that .....LOL!!!!......

that mercola.com site, that dude has all the articles you'll ever want to read about what type of water to drink. read his site on a variety of topics and you'll be convinced your gonna die tomorrow!

avoid DISTILLED water. it can kill you.

i wonder if this mercola dude is a scientologist.

Edited January 19, 2006 by regfootball

[SingleStylish]

Higgins says "Oh My God!"

Many many wells throughout the Neast are sulphur, they come hundreds of feet through solid bedrock, nothing to do with farming what so ever, here long before farming and still here long after they destroyed farming. Some well water is full of minerals, iron, ect. I bet thats from old rusted farm equipment  . There is a town nearby that has sulphur springs. Back 100+ years ago the Jewish people from the citys built huge hotels and made this town a vacation town because for some reason they needed or like that sulphur. You drive down through that town and let me tell you it stinks.

Ground water and surface water are two entirely different things. It takes up to five years for drought to effect a deep rock well, it also takes up to five years of typical rain to get water table back up  in a 3oo-500 feet well .

I knew all this along time ago but about 3 years ago I worked on a drill rig doing residential and municipality water, let me tell you nothing is cut and dry down there in the rock. We hit 26 gallons per minute no more than 120 ft into the rock and other times we went 500 ft for nothin. A very heart breakin business actually, Ive seen people give up there lifes savings for less than a gallon a minute. They pay no matter what the results, I really didnt enjoy it. Good wells are less common than the tricklers.

You are correct Razor. The well tasting like sulfur is more of a direct result of the close proximity to petrochemicals. Sulfur water and its smell is what usually first alerts people to the existance of coal, oil, and natural gas. Being that petrochemicals are the result of the decomposition of very old organisms, Croc is also partially right.

Cows, sheep, and horses pooping on the ground do not a sulfur water make. Simply, the 'bedrock' or soft limestone layers that the BV's water is taken from is probably right above a layer of petroleum rich limestone/coal.

[SingleStylish]

I do prefer bottled or from my reverse osmosis under the sink (gotta change my filter!)

but where i live now the tap water is pretty good too.  not a lot fo chlorine.

regarding flouride......

What Your Dentist Isn’t Telling You About Fluoride

Think Fluoride is Healthy? Find Out the Shocking Truth in "The Fluoride Deception"

Intermediate Plan: Beverages

Is Fluoride Really As Safe As You Are Told?

tell me if want to have Flouride in your water after reading that .....LOL!!!!......

that mercola.com site, that dude has all the articles you'll ever want to read about what type of water to drink.  read his site on a variety of topics and you'll be convinced your gonna die tomorrow!

avoid DISTILLED water.  it can kill you.

i wonder if this mercola dude is a scientologist.

It is DEIONIZED water that can harm you... not DISTILLED. Distilling simply is the vaporization/boiling of a liquid and then the condinsation of that liqoud to its purist form without removing all of the bonded minerals.

Deionizing (or DI) is a much more complicated process that leaves the water "hungry" for ions and has the potential of stripping your body of calcium, sodium, zinc, etc. You DO NOT want DI water!!! This water is usually used for lab work where you want "free water." Water that does not have any other elements or compounds so that when you make something aqueous you don't add another unknown compound or element.

Edited January 19, 2006 by SingleStylish

[Cory Wolfe]

You are correct Razor.  The well tasting like sulfur is more of a direct result of the close proximity to petrochemicals.  Sulfur water and its smell is what usually first alerts people to the existance of coal, oil, and natural gas.  Being that petrochemicals are the result of the decomposition of very old organisms, Croc is also partially right.

Cows, sheep, and horses pooping on the ground do not a sulfur water make.  Simply, the 'bedrock' or soft limestone layers that the BV's water is taken from is probably right above a layer of petroleum rich limestone/coal.

Like I said... I live in a town that started out as coal mining town, so it totally makes sense.

[razoredge]

No.  Of course minerals aren't from rusted out equipment .  That said, wells "downstream" (groundwater flows) of a farm do tend to have higher sulphur contents.  That is a fact, and maybe if you had ever studied geology you would know this.

The reason you were pretty hit or miss on the water drilling is because you have to drill down into a confined aquifer that is under pressure.

You really know so little about much of anything, but good "col ledge" try

[mute]

mineral taste is usually geology, it can be from outside sources

due to this i refuse to use tap water in my winsheild wiper fluid it is horrible and leaves streaks on the windsheild

brita filtered fuji water is all for me

[Sixty8panther]

If you occasionally had an accident wiht trans fluid/oil/gas on your property and your source of water was from a well (ground water via pump) you'd probably buy Water too. Tyngsboro water tastes a bit funny to begin with but there's enough neighbors like me around where the water must be pretty tainted, sad to say.

One of my neighbors is a cool dude... he's a regular Joe like most people, not stuck up or whatever but he owns a small business. He's agot a medium sized house and a 12 car garage filled with a very interesting collection of Chevy Muscle cars. A few first gen Camarois, two early 2nd gen, a few Chevelles and a couple Chevy truks. The only non-Chevy he has is a 50s Ford truck powered by a Chevy BB.

Anyway wiht all these cars beign worked on and his business and all plus all the construction above my house (dynamite blasting etc.) I'll gladly pay the $1 a gallon of water. Esp. for Sofia's sake.

[Croc]

You really know so little about much of anything, but good "col ledge" try

I think this post is a case of what is known as "projection."

[razoredge]

You are correct Razor.  The well tasting like sulfur is more of a direct result of the close proximity to petrochemicals.  Sulfur water and its smell is what usually first alerts people to the existance of coal, oil, and natural gas.  Being that petrochemicals are the result of the decomposition of very old organisms, Croc is also partially right.

Cows, sheep, and horses pooping on the ground do not a sulfur water make.  Simply, the 'bedrock' or soft limestone layers that the BV's water is taken from is probably right above a layer of petroleum rich limestone/coal.

Thanks for the endorcement but Im not sure about petro around these parts

There is alot of sulfur water around here and no oil or coal, no natural gas, lots of limestone and shale. Limestone quarrys are abundant. There was some oil company years(decades) ago that tried one area for oil, perhaps becasue of the abundance of sulfur, notta.

This area, Catskill Mountains although appearing mountainous was actually a plateau that was carved into river and stream valleys by the receding glaziers. There is gravel deposits found even high on some of the foothills 2100' though most is now down in the stream valleys. The wells people on the road I live on are deep and sulfur, its a stream valley or actually more like a gorge, soil survey lists the sample as "holly" in fact much of the area was listed that way. Sedimentary pure rock free clay is abundant, as is fossil rockin the upper gravel layer, & shale. Im not sure how deep the bedrock begins here because I have no well. Our water comes from the stream through a sand filter into well point and is pure and clear.....however we do not drink it. Im reluctant to drill a well becasue I know Im going to come up $10,000 short and have sulfur & mineral water. There has been very little farming outside of the old subsistance farming done by origional settlers in this hills, its unfarmable. Id say any sulfur comes from decaying dinosaur poop ..........shale

[pow]

Bottled 'cause it's more convenient.

[razoredge]

but your post - cow manure is the reason for hydrogen sulfide would be what ?

Ill be sure to tell anyone I know looking at 3 acre parcels that they need to have a "pressurized" aquafer in order to have water

[Sal Collaziano]

Just some notes in case they weren't mentioned.. If you drink bottled or spring water, you NEED a mineral supplement. You cannot survive without minerals. Take a full-spectrum multi vitamin with minerals.. Flouride is Death for your Thyroid. Stop drinking tap water that has Flouride..

While you're at it, stop eating food with MSG (monosodium glutamate). It's fattening AND addictive.. Imagine that? You're addicted to fat! "No one can eat just one". "What you crave".. Sound familiar? MSG is in just about Everything.. Why? More sales...

High fructose corn syrup.. Unbelievable.. What's wrong with just plain old sugar? It's expensive! High fructose corn syrup is cheaper and much worse for you than sugar..

Instead of me going on and on and on, if you're not poor and you want to survive, PM me. No, I have nothing to sell you. But eating right is expensive.. A double MSG greaseburger at McDonalds is .99 cents... You get the picture...

Edited January 20, 2006 by Sal Collaziano