Quadrant Posted January 30, 2008 Report Share Posted January 30, 2008 Why do people drink it? I just don't understand how it is so big an industry when the same thing comes out of your tap for next to nothing.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Kane Posted January 30, 2008 Report Share Posted January 30, 2008 I only drink bottled water if I'm out somewhere & I'm really thirsty, at home I drink tap water (though we run it thru one of those Britta filters to purify it). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quadrant Posted January 30, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2008 Why the water Brittah filter though, sir!? Hard water is better for you than soft water Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonB Posted January 30, 2008 Report Share Posted January 30, 2008 We got ard water round these parts, nowt wrong with it , sod paying for bottled spring water and drinking that at home instead! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neuro Posted January 30, 2008 Report Share Posted January 30, 2008 Good thread this! My 'other reason' is that since I'm a "hot food / cold drinks" person, I do love tap water, but only if it's very cold. Bottled water I only buy on the train when I'm on the way back home from clubbing in Glasgow to nurse a hangover. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marty Mayes Posted January 30, 2008 Report Share Posted January 30, 2008 My dad laugh's at me everytime he see's me with a bottle of water i dont drink it alot but sometimes if im at the shop's id prefer a bottle of water rather than a tin of coke ect.. To be fair i do think it's abit of a stroke but at time i do buy it so it's my own fault i suppose!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quadrant Posted January 30, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2008 To be fair i do think it's abit of a stroke What do you mean by this, that bottled water costs a 'packet'? (lol @ your 'tin' of coke btw) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marty Mayes Posted January 30, 2008 Report Share Posted January 30, 2008 What do you mean by this, that bottled water costs a 'packet'? (lol @ your 'tin' of coke btw) Well its water in a plastic bottle and it cost's like a quid a bottle when we can get it from are tap for free Fair play to whoever thought up the idea must b worth an absolute fortune Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neuro Posted January 30, 2008 Report Share Posted January 30, 2008 I keep thinking of the Only Fools & Horses episode where they try selling bottled water en masse by filling them up from the tap! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judge Mental Posted January 30, 2008 Report Share Posted January 30, 2008 To be fair, you CAN taste the difference, but tap water is fine by me, and you CAN taste the price, which is mad for what basically falls from the sky. Bottle tap water instead, I'm not really bothered where it drops, it would save lots of money and effort for everyone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Briggsy Posted January 30, 2008 Report Share Posted January 30, 2008 Bottled water is supposed to be healthier because its flowed though natural springs. The fact that cows have dribbled in it, sheep have pee'd in in, and dogs have done a floater in it sounds very healthy....... I've seen many bottles saying "Taken from the natural springs of the Derbyshire Dales" - i'm still trying to work out if thats supposed to be a selling point or a health warning Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigsteve Posted January 30, 2008 Report Share Posted January 30, 2008 Bottled water I only buy on the train when I'm on the way back home from clubbing in Glasgow to nurse a hangover. Similar reason to me. Or if its a hot day and I'm out, I might want a water to rehydrate. I suspect much of the price of bottled water is in the distribution of it, but I always buy the cheapest available. Its certainly not one of those things where my tastebuds are affected by brand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Briggsy Posted January 30, 2008 Report Share Posted January 30, 2008 The cheap brands definately have a slightly odd taste to them - in fact, it tastes a little bit bitter - worse than tap water. The better ones are definately the branded ones like Highland Spring or Volvic. I'd rather pay 50p for a bottle of Volvic than 35p for a bottle of El Mingo - "Captured from the natural flows of the Oxford canal". What annoys me though is that we pay around £1 for a farty piddly bottle here, yet in Tenerife and Majorca, I was paying something like 55 cents (30p) for a 5 litre drum. Another example of rip-off Britain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neuro Posted January 30, 2008 Report Share Posted January 30, 2008 I still think temperature is the main thing - if they're all ice cold, they all taste the same as far as I'm concerned. Even Spanish tap water is drinkable. Sometimes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wakey Posted January 30, 2008 Report Share Posted January 30, 2008 At home I just drink tap water but if I'm out at uni I'll quite often buy bottled water. I went through a phase of buying a bottle of coke or similar fizzy drink nearly everyday and I'm trying not to drink that much fizzy stuff so I generally just go for water if I'm out and thirsty. A nice cold bottle of water is always nice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uberduck Posted January 30, 2008 Report Share Posted January 30, 2008 I drink loads of tap water (about two litres per day) as apart from preferring it to E-number filled sugary soft drinks, it's good for you. Coca cola has a pH of around 3 (although sources will tell you it ranges from 2.5 - 4.0), which means that it's extremely damaging to your teeth as is the sugar. The reasoning for this is that to make it fizzy they have to inject carbon dioxide gas and when this comes into contact with water it becomes carbonic acid. Tap water does have it's downsides as it has chlorine (to sterilise) and fluoride (for teeth enamel protection) added and sometimes to levels deemed unfavorable to the human body :nuke: . Bottled water is way too overpriced and I only ever buy it when I'm really thirsty and have no tap water to hand. I don't have a problem with the taste of tapwater but if you leave it standing for too long in an enclosed bottle then the chlorine comes out of solution into a gas and makes the water taste a bit manky. Hard [tap] water would be considered as being better for you as it is effectively less pure mineral water thats passed through water treatment works. Your water hardness is determined by your geographical position as in upland areas the rainwater, which SHOULD be of a neutral pH, falls as weak acid rain due to exposure to carbon dixoide and sulphur gases in the atmosphere. As the buffering capacity (CaCO3) of waterbodies and land in upland areas is poor, the water remains acidic. Even if the rain did fall as pH neutral (7) then contact with upland soils would cause a drop in pH. In lowland areas the water comes into contact with soluble CaCO3, which acts as a buffer to pH swings and stabilises the pH. The calcium carbonate is one of the minerals in bottled mineral water. Bottled mineral water isn't water that has trickled over fields etc coming into contact with cow s**t but infact water that has percolated through permeable rock until it hits impermeable rock and is extracted at the aquifer. Technically it's not pure (distilled) water due to the minerals it's picked up but it's as clean as clean gets and full of goodness! Sorry I went on a bit there but I'm my trade is freshwater fisheries so hydrology comes hand in hand with this. The above is basic for the stuff I deal with but I thought I'd add my piece. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quadrant Posted January 31, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 31, 2008 Gosh you know your stuff! How interesting, I knew hard water was good for you but I didn't know how or why. Am I right in saying that we are one of the only countries to put fluoride into our tap water to help teeth? I'm sure in France they use a completely different chemical. I'd rather pay 50p for a bottle of Volvic than 35p for a bottle of El Mingo - "Captured from the natural flows of the Oxford canal". Sir Briggsy, are you crazy? They're all the same, I tell you, they're all the same!! Still 35p more than the tap Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Briggsy Posted January 31, 2008 Report Share Posted January 31, 2008 I drink loads of tap water (about two litres per day) as apart from preferring it to E-number filled sugary soft drinks, it's good for you. Coca cola has a pH of around 3 (although sources will tell you it ranges from 2.5 - 4.0), which means that it's extremely damaging to your teeth as is the sugar. The reasoning for this is that to make it fizzy they have to inject carbon dioxide gas and when this comes into contact with water it becomes carbonic acid.Tap water does have it's downsides as it has chlorine (to sterilise) and fluoride (for teeth enamel protection) added and sometimes to levels deemed unfavorable to the human body :nuke: . Bottled water is way too overpriced and I only ever buy it when I'm really thirsty and have no tap water to hand. I don't have a problem with the taste of tapwater but if you leave it standing for too long in an enclosed bottle then the chlorine comes out of solution into a gas and makes the water taste a bit manky. Hard [tap] water would be considered as being better for you as it is effectively less pure mineral water thats passed through water treatment works. Your water hardness is determined by your geographical position as in upland areas the rainwater, which SHOULD be of a neutral pH, falls as weak acid rain due to exposure to carbon dixoide and sulphur gases in the atmosphere. As the buffering capacity (CaCO3) of waterbodies and land in upland areas is poor, the water remains acidic. Even if the rain did fall as pH neutral (7) then contact with upland soils would cause a drop in pH. In lowland areas the water comes into contact with soluble CaCO3, which acts as a buffer to pH swings and stabilises the pH. The calcium carbonate is one of the minerals in bottled mineral water. Bottled mineral water isn't water that has trickled over fields etc coming into contact with cow s**t but infact water that has percolated through permeable rock until it hits impermeable rock and is extracted at the aquifer. Technically it's not pure (distilled) water due to the minerals it's picked up but it's as clean as clean gets and full of goodness! Sorry I went on a bit there but I'm my trade is freshwater fisheries so hydrology comes hand in hand with this. The above is basic for the stuff I deal with but I thought I'd add my piece. Ye Know..... Too Much..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marty Mayes Posted January 31, 2008 Report Share Posted January 31, 2008 As tom say's guy's if u run tap water through a Britta filter to purify it you can really taste the difference i use 1 myself at home there great :thumbsup: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uberduck Posted January 31, 2008 Report Share Posted January 31, 2008 Charcoal is a good method of filtration for tap water as due to its charge, the chlorine associates with it and is removed from the water. Obviosly you can't just selotape a lump of charcoal to your tap. You can buy filters for your kitchen sink that work by passing the tapwater through a charcoal type filter before it goes into the tap. The water filter companies will tell you to pass your tapwater through a filter before putting it into your kettle as this reduces the hardness but what they don't tell you is that boiling water reduces the hardness anyway. Thats the white crusty s**t all over the element in your kettle (limescale). It is also visible in hard water areas as the scum on the side of your empty cup when you drink tea/coffee. This is effectively the metalic ions stained by tea and deposited on your mug. You'll notice that living in areas where the water source comes from upland reservoirs your soap/toothpaste becomes frothy dead easy. This is because the water is more acidic and is effectively corroding the soap easier. Science lesson over. Class dismissed :oddcake: . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quadrant Posted February 1, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2008 Don't slate the Uber because he know more than you. I admire this knowledge. You are knighted, sir Uber. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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