Any Bottled Water Drinkers Out There?

I have started carrying bottled water in my purse everywhere mainly so I have it to take pills with, & to avoid the smell/taste of tap water. I used to use a pitcher with filter but it got to be more trouble changing filters when it was due & keeping mold from growing in it, than was worth. So now I'm getting 24 bottles of Distillata Spring water for like $3 & the convenience of grabbing a cold one from the fridge as I leave the house.
So my question is... do you seek out "spring water" or are discriminating in any way as to which brand you choose? I'm trying to drink waaay less soda these days & popping open a cold bottle of water seems to just hit the spot when really thirsty... any thoughts on the subject of drinking bottled water for yourself?

I only drink bottled water when traveling/away from home. But tap water is icky, so I buy the purified water from the grocery store's dispenser, refilling my own gallon jugs. It's a lot cheaper than bottled water and there are no bottles to recycle. I don't like spring water (it tastes like rocks :tongue2; I only like purified drinking water (usually municipal tap water run through an RO unit). I would get my own RO unit but I once figured it out, and for the amount I use, it's actually cheaper to buy water for 39¢ a gallon at the store than to buy and maintain my own RO unit.

I filter my own water and take it in a stainless steel bottle.  The waste of plastic through water bottles is just crazy, even with recycling.

Get a Britta or similar and a couple of reusable bottles. You'll save so much money and it's better for the environment.

Bottled water is a waste of money and it is more expensive than gasoline is per gallon.

Unless I'm somewhere where they have well water, I drink tap water. Bottled water is not regulated and there is no "standard", so you don't know what you are getting. With tap water, it's tested and monitored and has to meet a certain standard.

As was suggested, get a Brita and filter your own water.

Read this article, it's interesting

http://money.howstuffworks.com/bling-water1.htm
 

Our cats drink nothing but bottled spring water. Why? Because the males in the family have ended up with crystals and being catheterrized every single time we give them our well water. It's not worth it. Years ago, Hydrox ended up at the vet for a week one time; our Christmas present that year was that Hydrox came home one day before Christmas. When he was around 2 or so, BooBoo ended up at the vet for the same thing. Both times it was because of our water. We now have a water softener with a treatment system in the basement and we know our water is now safe. But we still buy bottled spring water for the cats. I'm paranoid. We drink our well water and I cook with it. But the cats drink bottled water.

I have a Brita I love.  It is all we use for drinking.  I don't cook that much but use the Brita water when I do.  I even use it to make my hummingbird food.  We had an issue with algae growing inside the pitchers until we moved it to the dark corner under the cabinet.  I do wash and bleach the pitchers and assemblies once a week.

I buy gallons of purified water because I don't like the taste of the water in my town.  I know that earlier in this thread it was mentioned that bottled water is a waste of money; but sometimes my town's tap water has a filmy white residue that floats on top and sometimes it doesn't.  I have no idea what this is but I just don't trust the local tap water.

l don't mind the taste of our tap water so l usually drink that. Sometimes l'll buy fizzy water just because l love it.

There's a black cherry flavoured fizzy water that is just delicious.

I have a filter at home on my faucet. I really like it. I fill re-useable bottles and take them with me. They are BPA free and I have a few so while one is drying I use the others.They never get moldy if you let them dry overnight.

I've been trying to get more info on those faucet filters like if its worth giving up "purified" for "filtered"...and how often do you have to buy replacement filters? I need the unit to switch over from tap water to the water you drink, to avoid using it all the time. Then again, avoid the fuss & buy a big pot to boil water in, then pour into re-usable bottles...?
Appreciate everyone's input- I will keep looking into more options.

I use a Brita filter. I will use the tap for cooking, but not to drink.

Same here. I have a Brita for the cats. I alternate between the Brita and gallon jugs of purified water for my own drinking water, depending on what I'm using it for. If I'm making hot tea or an individual lemonade, I use the Brita. If I'm drinking it straight, I use the jug. Spring water tastes funny to me. I use tap water when cooking at high heat.

I very infrequently buy bottled water. If I do, I reuse the bottles a few times before recycling them.

ChristineMarie said:

I've been trying to get more info on those faucet filters like if its worth giving up "purified" for "filtered"...and how often do you have to buy replacement filters? I need the unit to switch over from tap water to the water you drink, to avoid using it all the time. Then again, avoid the fuss & buy a big pot to boil water in, then pour into re-usable bottles...?
Appreciate everyone's input- I will keep looking into more options.

Click to expand...

At work we have one of those filters that fits over the faucets.  We change it about every six months is all with three people using it for water bottles and a pot of coffee every morning.

At home, we have a soft water system and a filter for the drinking water for us and the cats. I ALWAYS use filtered for coffee; the tap water makes the coffee taste awful.   I'll use tap water for cooking if it's going to be boiled first which seems to get the chlorine taste/smell out of it; otherwise I use filtered for cooking.

Before we moved here last year, we first had well water ,then got city water and we still didn't drink it from the faucet. Now every  month we buy 5  24 packs of bottles. I think we are going to have to get at least  buy 7 at a time cause it's only the  19th and we are already on the 4th one. I prefer bottles instead of   tap water..

I hate the taste of our tap water, I won't drink it or give to the cats.  I buy deer park spring water when it's on sale and we drink that.  I have a brita and the tap water didn't taste any better to me with it.

I am one of the odd few that will drink just about anything...yellow tinged water fine, filmy, fine...

I will only fill cats bowls when it is not bleachy/yellowish.  I have a few gallons on hand for days it is a bit off looking.

Husband is total opposite and will ONLY drink a few bottled brands.  sometimes I will refill them without telling him, he always says something.

ChristineMarie said:

I've been trying to get more info on those faucet filters like if its worth giving up "purified" for "filtered"...and how often do you have to buy replacement filters? I need the unit to switch over from tap water to the water you drink, to avoid using it all the time. Then again, avoid the fuss & buy a big pot to boil water in, then pour into re-usable bottles...?
Appreciate everyone's input- I will keep looking into more options.

Click to expand...

Boiling does nothing except kill bacteria. . .which is not a problem in American tap water (usually. If there's been a flood recently it might be a problem, but they'll put out a notice if that happens). Tap water in the US is heavily regulated and is almost always SAFE to drink. The impurities that filters remove are more often associated with TASTE.

I taste no difference with a Brita filter or other non-RO filter. And, like I said, for the amount I use, it's cheaper to use the store's RO unit than to buy and maintain my own. If I don't drink enough water because I don't like the taste (and it is really hard for me to choke it down), then I'll end up with big doctor bills and a lot of pain. So, 39 cent-a-gallon RO water wins! :tongue2:

I drink filtered well water at home.  I don't like "city" water, so I carry bottled water to work.

Chlorine will dissipate on its own, but boiling the water for about five minutes will also take out the chlorine taste.