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Comment by carlosjobim | Hacker News Reader

I never understood the hate against bottled water. If you're on the go and get thirsty, what's wrong with getting water instead of an unhealthy soda? I can't drink only beer.

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Choosing between bottled water or soda/beer is the false dichotomy. Bottled water wasn’t mass produced prior the 90s, but started being heavily promoted since Pepsi and CocaCola would go out of business with people cutting back soda consumption.

I’m amazed how well their marketing worked to convince people that water is literally toxic unless it comes bottled.

I have a funny story: I went to a place here in the country with natural mineral water springs, the absolute purest water dripping straight from the rock - but visitors (US and Europe) not only requested but insisted bottled water during the stay. The funny part is the bottled water comes from the same place.

I drink bottled water for a couple of reasons:

- I did not plan well and I'm now in a situation where I need water I didn't bring my own bottle. I don't want to be chained to a water fountain if one even exists conveniently near me. - I don't like the taste of the water where I am. Clean water isn't always tasty water. As someone who grew up on aquifer water, I found the chemically water of my college town hard to deal with. At least bottled water was inoffensive. For some brands anyway. - I want easily sharable water. This one became pretty important when I was a parent. It's just easy to keep a bunch of water in my trunk and pass it out to my and other kids on demand. I knew people like this, but it wasn't until I had kids that I got it. Kids will ignore their body needs and aren't always capable of finding sources of water on the even if they were aware.

So much depends on having public spaces to be kid- (/parents-) friendly !

FWIW, it may make sense to drink bottled water if you're traveling to faraway places. At least that's how we were briefed before a business trip to China - stick to bottled water and boiled water, do not drink tap water or some natural source, because we're not adapted to the local bacteriological environment. A co-worker did not obey that and ended up spending one of his trip sick instead of working. But then again, I'm not sure how true this is - after all, we'd all be exposed to the same pathogens when showering.

But only very slightly unless you deliberately drink large quantities of shower water.

That's definitely true, but also I don't understand why people want to drink _straight_ from the tap? I mean, don't people have simple water filters at home? These filters are effective for bacteria and heavy metals. It's common in my country even though we have good quality water from the tap.

In countries with fine public water, it's common for people to be advertised and sold filters, but they don't actually need them, and other people prefer not to waste their money.

I've worked places where the water fountains are taped off with notes saying the water isn't potable, and to get bottled water from the fridge. Another scenario is walking around town in the summer. Sometimes a park with a working fountain is nearby, but if not then bottled water from a shop is the low-effort option (you could also ask for a cup of water from a restaurant, always free in America although not necessarily in other parts of the world, but that requires a more awkward social interaction..) If a working clean water fountain is available I'm happy to drink from it, but often that isn't the case.

> I’m amazed how well their marketing worked to convince people that water is literally toxic unless it comes bottled.

Not too many people think this, there are so many places where the tap water is not good for drinking.

I have never in my life heard anybody talk about improving tap water to make it good for drinking, and when I mention it people dismiss it. And then everybody rages against bottled water.

> not only requested but insisted bottled water during the stay.

Yes, this happens all the time. It is amazing how distrustful people can be of fresh water in nature. I blame it on urbanisation and the cattle-fication of the population by the human farmers controlling schooling and media.

I don't think it's hate for usage of bottled water outside of home/on trip/in transit. The hate is about people using bottled water in their home en masse even if they have it for "free" in kitchen. Some been not consider drinking water from public services and don't trust and public assurances of its quality.

Where I live I have free tap water. But it's very inconsistent: somedays it tastes like a swimming pool (safe to drink, but...), and some days specially after heavy rains it has so much dust in suspension that the major has to reassure that it's safe to drink.

I can afford 5 liters of always clean, always taste free water at less than 1€ per bottle, so tap water doesn't ruin my foods randomly.

Any thoughts on brita filters for rainy days when there is high turbidity? I know we used to sometimes boil water as a precaution when I was a kid.

Taste doesn't change that much, IMO. Slightly less "earthy" taste, but still there. I had a Brita jar, not the tap attachment. In my city I don't doubt the quality to boil the water, just the taste. Still use tap water as it comes to wash the fruit, vegetables, dishes... but can't drink it.

I carry around a water bottle but in a lot of places, the only area you can refill is the public restroom. I'm npt filling my drinks from there. but if there was areas with clean filtered water, I'd even pay for it.

Why not, it's not like the input/output pipes are shared...

you ever seen how some people conduct themselves in a public restroom?

In a lot of places, the water supply in bathrooms isn't considered potable. I've seen stickers up in airports advising this. e.g. every house I've lived in has had cold/hot water fed from an uncovered tank in the attic.

Right, it depends I guess. I was more thinking how restaurants are legally obligated to provide free (potable) water, not sure how much this is an incentive for them to have their tap water potable ? (And I guess they already need to have potable-after-boiling water anyway just to be able to cook ?)

because of all the oil and plastic (which comes from oil) that is used to get it to you means more emissions which contributes to global climate change.

In the described scenario, the oil and plastic are going to be used either way; the only question is which liquid is going to be inside the container.

The described scenario is a false dichotomy.

How so? People do need to hydrate while running errands etc.

You could argue that we need to install more water fountains around so that one doesn't need to use bottled drinks for this. That's fine, but right here and now there are very few working water fountains, so if someone finds themselves in the middle of a city needing to drink, bottled water is their best option; so why would you disparage them for it?

>I can't drink only beer.

Can't? Don't sell yourself short.

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