Argument A: Water, other than air, is the world's most abundant natural resource. For the developed world and some of the developing world, it is not hard to come by, but rather is practically free and always accessible. So where is that $1.50 going when you buy a bottle of water? The water within is worth next to nothing. You're paying for a piece of plastic that you're probably going to throw in the garbage so that the earth can break it down slowly over the next several thousand years.

Argument B: Where I work, a bottle of Aquafina water is $2 CDN, which I've come to notice as the standard price these days for 591 mL bottles. Something else I noticed today? The price of gas. 591 mL of water is $2 taxes in. 1 L of gas is $0.65 taxes in. So, to balance it out, 1.18 L of bottled water is $4, whereas 1.18 L of gas would come to $0.76. So bottled water is 5.26 times more expensive than gas.

How many bottles of water are you drinking per day?

 

You know what's funny? Seeing a bottled water vending machine and a free water fountain right next to each other.

 

I rarely ever buy bottled water if I do I buy it for the uber refreshment and the botlle which i will use and reuse for months typically at the gym

 

Yeah but it tastes and feels so much better than straight tap water with refrigerator ice  

I know it's ******ed but it's like 2-3 bucks for a 24-case. I like drinking tap but sometimes I just want a bottle of water, I can't explain it.

I almost think it's a greater travesty that we have to pay to be advertised to on cable  

 

Why does bottled water cost money?
Simple...

When there is a water-borne bacteria scare, they can make a shit-load of money.

 

I buy bottled water because the tap water here is disgusting. Then again we drink so little of it we only buy like one small case a month.

 

True... this happened two years ago after some big storms near here and the store I worked at had it's water section RAPED about a half hour after it was announced. It was too bad that the shelf sat empty for 4 days before more could be brought in and by that time, the ban was over.

Other than these times, bottled water is a waste. Also, the above math doesn't work as like most food items, the more you buy, the cheaper it is. I can get a 1.5L bottle of water at Wal-mart for 0.69 cents, while a smaller 591ml bottle will be almost 2 bucks. Gas is always same the price per litre no matter how much you buy.

 

Aside from the price, much of the bottled water is merely repackaged tap water anyhow. (Basically, the tap water is provided at a couple of tenths of a cent per gallon wholesale, then bottled up.) In other cases, the water that is from a "spring" or other water source is subject to much less stringent standards from the FDA than the EPA mandated guidelines on water provided by your local municipality. It really is a racket.

 

We bottle our tap water and refrigerate it. As it gets colder, it somehow becomes less disgusting.

 

I boil my water and let it cool.

 

I have a filter on my tap an refill bottles both large and small as necessary. Which is nice because I can smell the diffrence in filtered and straight from the tap water.

 

Bottle water is super useful if...

You're in a country that doesn't have a clean/safe standard water supply

You're out and about and need a drink and don't want to pay for sugar water (there aren't free fountains everywhere)

You need a new water bottle

 

No no, bottled drinking or filtered water is worthless. If you're gonna go bottled, go for spring water, and even then, narrow it down to basically a spring water that tastes like nothing at all. If it has a flavor, it's either filtered through carbon or not that clean. Aquafina and Dasani are nothing more than filtered tap water for instance.

Tap water usually tastes nasty, because of the chlorine, chloramines, and flouride added to it. Sure, you can filter it, but then it has that bitter charcoal taste from the carbon filter.

Myself, I have well water filled with lots of minerals including a very high amount of iron, various poisons, and sulfur. So, pretty nasty stuff. So for me, bottled spring water is far from worthless.

Oh, here's a fun fact. I used to live on a lake. Just for fun once I tested the lake water against the city tap water for ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, and so on. The result?, the lake water, excluding any harmful organisms of course, was much cleaner than what was coming out of the tap.

 

here's something a little interesting for ya:

both of my parents are separated, one lives in upstate ny, the other in florida. both live, literally, a block away from a MAJOR river. you've never seen (or smelled, or tasted) water as chlorinated as what comes out of their taps. my mom's is so bad that even a brita filter just BARELY makes it palatable.

I used to do environmental ed, and so I've had water from tons of different well systems around new england. this one place I worked at had so much sulfur in it that the water smelled like rotten eggs. other places it was like liquid manna. so I think it's safe to say that depending on where you are, and it's source, it could almost make sense to buy bottled/spring water.

 

Don't really drink it much. F buying it.

I like my little bacterias so they can keep my immune system in shape.  
Then I can just take some eccanasia when I start getting sick

 

Tap all depends on where you live. I know in Cali they keep finding townships with contaminants in the supply, so it would probably be best to buy a bottle there, or skip it all together.

I like my tap. Bottles are for chicks.

 

Well, evian is naive spelled backwards... 

 

How is bottled water a waste? If I'm not at home and have forgotten my water bottle I have a few choices. I can drink from a fountain or buy a drink somewhere. If I'm going to buy a drink my choices are usually bottled water, soda, fruit juice, tea, whatever. How is it a waste if my choice is bottled water? I don't drink soda usually. I hate tea. Fruit juice would be my second choice but that and soda doesn't quench my thirst very well. So I choose bottled water. Doesn't matter if it's not ultra hyper clean purified water. I just want water that won't make me gag.

And unless I'm desperate I really can't stomach drinking from a fountain anymore. In high school I witnessed people repeatedly going to the water fountains and SPITTING in them. On the spout. Hacking up something first. Then there're those who put their mouth a little too close to them. Outdoors fountains are likely to be worse. If I want to gag up my water immediately after, or if I'm desperately thirst, I'll go to the fountain.