How is that a slippery slope? Last time I checked coca cola and Fanta don't come out of the ground - Water does though. And tap water taste depends heavily on location.
If there weren’t bottled water I wouldn’t drink from the tap instead. I would buy a bottle of something less healthy, like Coke.
The town I grew up in had plenty of public faucets, in the town centre and in parks. This was a solved problem. Then the taps got removed and now we’ve all lost that choice.
The city I live in now has plenty of public water fountains in malls though, so we’re moving back in the right direction.
Regardless, my family avoided our w well water back up in NY since is reeked of sulfur and no fix ever worked.
This need for bottled water is relatively new. Some of us on HN lived at a time when the concept was absurd, others have grown up with bottled water.
Meeting rooms used to serve a carafe of water and glasses. Now everybody gets a bottle. So obviously they are competing.