Does this TV commercial bug you, too?

[joeekaitis]

Start 'em off right. Turn 'em into good little bottled water snobs who won't drink anything else when they're visiting family and friends. Teach 'em that a drink of water comes from environment-damaging bottles that are trucked to the store instead of from an eco-friendly refillable sport bottle or from the pitcher in the fridge. Cultivate that acquired taste for the unavoidable plastic taint instead of filtered-at-home tap water that nearly always tastes better and is better for the planet.

Pure Life, my alabaster gluteal orbs.

 

[wayupnorth]

Yes it does. Unfortunately I have to buy drinking water at Walmart as my well produces terrible tasting water. Its gone up to 88 cents for a gallon jug . Here it seems like Toyota owns all the local stations with their constant ads. Pay TV was intended to NOT have commercials. Now with this digital crap we have to pay for their constant commercials.

 

[perc-o-prince]

Remember the old Robin Williams, "Reality... What A Concept" albumn? He had a one-liner "commercial" that he did...

"Whenever I blow a dollar on a bottle of water, I drink Perrier."

I can't say that I agree with them having the kid drink bottled water, especially purified water with minerals added to improve taste (why purify it then add stuff back to it???). But, I do think the idea of swapping out a soda-a-day for a glass/bottle/refillable container of water is a good thing.

Unfortunately, Nestle took the idea and ran (smart). The kid will follow what dad does, so if Dad drinks water... If this was a PSA for drinking water, that would be different, I'm sure.

For regular drinking, we keep a gallon jug of spring water in the fridge. Tastes better than our tap water. At $0.50 a jug (DeMoula's, Hannaford, and other places) it's not a bad deal and we recycle the jugs. But, always check for the source when you DO buy water! Some say, "bottled from a municipal source," i.e. tap water in a jug! And when I used to buy it from Price Chopper, it WAS spring water, but there were different springs and there was a noticible difference in the taste! I always looked for the Monadnock NH source water.

Chuck

 

[tolivac]

I don't beleive in bottled water-just use the tap.The water from the spigot is good enough for me-and why pay for the water ----TWICE?Know someone who subscribes to a bottled water service-told him that I can't see the point of paying TWO water bills!And for the mosty part--water from the utility comes to you via gravity--no trucks involved.Occasional pumping though--to fill the water tank on the water tower.

 

[arbilab]

Let's not get all high-horsey. This ain't like arguing wash temperatures (I hope).

Fact is, some municipal water tastes terrible. Here, I can put frozen orange juice in tap water and STILL TASTE THE WATER. That's just too gross. I don't even like brushing my teeth with it but I do. It tastes like a doctor's office smells.

It gets worse. At summer camp the well water reeked of sulfur. In Austin when the lakes 'turned', tap water tasted like a poorly-kept aquarium. In Milpitas CA, we had very good water, molten snow from Hetch Hetchy reservoir. But the pipes made it taste like rust. Houston water tasted like washing machine drainage in the 50s.

A simple carbon filter will take out almost every bad taste and most chemicals you don't want to be drinking. In Austin I put a reverse osmosis filter in the kitchen. It made water so pure it wouldn't leave waterspots, starting with water so hard it would clog showerheads twice a year. But R-O water turns out not that wholesome for drinking, we NEED those minerals, in proportion anyway. That (and 'flavor') is why they're added back.

But replacing thorough filters costs as much as buying water already bottled. Home filters only get you out of the hassle of lugging it (water weighs 8 pounds per gallon). And surely everyone recycles those plastic jugs. DON'T we?

The simplest, cheapest filters (carbon only) are almost undoubtedly the best value. You still have to replace the filters but they cost less than the comprehensive ones. You don't have to lug water from the store or "remember" to recycle the jugs. Want the panache of a snob label that's not pronounced like it's spelled? Buy ONE and refill it from your carbon pitcher. Nobody will ever know the difference, and you won't either.

 

[washer111]

Good Advice for Water Treatment

If you hate the taste of your water, why not get a backwashing Carbon/Berm filter - rotten eggs can be cured with special water-softener resins designed to remove the smell, you can also get calcite to make acidic water more alkaline (follow that with a softener) or something to make the water more acidic (water softener).

I'm no advertiser, but based on my experience, the website below has all the information you will ever need on home water treatment. Plus, its an American owned and operated company, so its good for your economy.
Their service is top-notch, you can ask questions FREE OF CHARGE

Softenerparts.com - Repair Parts and How To Guides

 

[tolivac]

Guess I am fortunate that the Eastern Pines Co. well water tastes just fine-no weird or off flavors-no filtering required.Since water quality varies-understandable that in some places the water filters are required.Do have a water filter in my fridge-for the ice or water fountain in the door-no difference with or without it.Just use it anyway.

 

[macboy91si]

Over-Analyzed

Replace soda with water...Which has many health advantages, if the only way I could get my kid to drink water was in the form of a bottle as such I would do it. That's my take from it.
 
I actually drink bottled water a lot, it's convenient and it tastes better than the tap water here. You can carry with them, reopen them and what have you and at the end of the day they go in the recycling bin. I DISLIKE many of the reusable drinking containers, they're either hard to wash or metal, I hate drinking from metal. I have no issue with the taste of plastic bottled water. I used to have a Brita pitcher and liked it OK, but I would always forget to refill it and when I drink a lot of water, it's annoying. And we use a portable dishwasher for dishes which I don't think are compatible with a lot of on-tap filter systems. After all it is an advertisement, and that bottle of Nestle is still better for you than the soda...
 
You seem to hold a high opinion of people that consume bottled beverages. They serve a purpose and for that reason I (and lots of other people) consume them. I do the most responsible thing I can with them afterwards. I've been drinking them since I was a kid I'm pretty sure that I haven't turned into a"<a name="start_41158.608564">good little bottled water snob who won't drink anything else when they're visiting family and friends". I get your dislike of the environmental impact, but I think you are missing the big picture, and being fairly arrogant about it. I say that meaning as little offense as was implied from the original post.
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[whirlcool]

We have Ozarka water delivered because the local well water is so heavily chlorinated that the kitchen smells like somebody spilled a bottle of bleach on the floor each time you turn the tap on. That can't be good for you.

The Ozarka Spring water comes in 5 gallon jugs which are recycled by Ozark. So there is very little waste to put in the environment. Plus foods cooked with Spring Water and coffee taste much, much better.

I've been temped to send in two samples of water to one of these labs that will do it for you. I'd send in a sample of our tap water and a sample of the Ozarka water just to see the difference.

 

[autowasherfreak]

Our water isn't the best tasting, but I deal with it. I refill and freeze water in the 1 litre bottles for when I go on bike rides, or working out in the yard.

 

[kimball455]

Del Sal

In Cape May we had a water crisis that resulted in building the first desal plant in the North East and in New Jersey. Our visitors stock up on bottled water that is the same that comes from the tap in Cape May. I guess like so many other things bottled water is the cool trendy thing to do. Here's a link about the Cape May desal project.

 

Desalination: Cape May Leads the Northeastern U.S. – High Tide

capemay.com