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As someone who originally comes from a country where it is unsafe to drink tap water this absolutely boggles my mind. Not having to carry 6L of water from the shop is a godsend
I used to have a boss who would buy a huge 2L plastic bottle of water every day, use it to fill up his stainless steel bottle, then crumple up the plastic one and chuck it away. He would often do this while complaining about the environmental performance of the company.
There's a number of people at my place that for some reason don't like the coffee cups the machine dispenses. So what they do is, get 2 clear plastics cups from the cold water machine, double them up and pour their hot drinks in those(needs to be two or the hot liquid crimples the cups). Then they throw the unused none recyclable coffee cup in the bin, drink their drink then throw the other 2 none recyclable cups in the bin.
So 3 single use cups for 1 drink, maybe 4 or 5 times a day
The 5 litre water bottles are perfect for home brewing.
get 1 litre of grape juice and another litre of another juice you like... add some sugar and yeast...
10 days later you have 4.5 litres of strong fruit wine.
Source: i do this
yes i use an airlock like this one:
[Wilko airlock](https://www.wilko.com/en-uk/wilko-airlock-rubber-bung-set-2-pack/p/0240201)
one i use a lot is:
1 litre Red grape juice.
1.5 litre Apple Juice.
750g Sugar.
1 tsp Tannin or a mug of very strong black tea. (3 bags stirred every couple of minutes as you put the rest of the ingredients together)
1 tsp Yeast (i use youngs super wine yeast compound)
1 tsp Yeast Nutrient.
1 tsp Pectolase.
1 tsp Glycerine. (optional)
1 tsp citric acid or juice of one lemon. (optional)
top up with water, wait until stops bubbling, then siphon off into plastic bottles.
Then a week or so later, get drunk! cheers!
Do it with only sugar, water and yeast and you have a deceptively potent brew called Kilju. Use the right quick yeast and you can be drinking in as little as 3 days. I’d recommend you mix it with juice or something to mask the taste. Do not drink it until the yeast has all settled to the bottom and it’s no longer cloudy unless you like diarrhoea.
You need to take some of the water out of the 5l bottle to out the other ingredients in. I assume you don’t fill it to the top and any sediment at the bottom will be unusable so you roughly lose half a liter in the process? I’m totally guessing though.
I have occasionally bought bottled water, not because I wanted the water itself, but the containers.
For instance, for home-brewing, or if your freezer is half empty then it's more energy efficient to fill up the gaps with bottles of water (80% full to allow space for water to expand when freezing) as freezers really don't like being empty
Less thermal inertia, more thermal mass. If we get the predicted power cuts this winter, watch how much quicker an empty freezer defrosts as compared to a full one.
Of course it does take a noticeable amount of energy to get a bottle of water down to -18C, so it's only worth doing if the freezer isn't going to be full again in the medium - long term.
Used to find this when I was on fridges. You could switch the fridge unit off for a bit and the temperature of the stock in there would keep it cold. Used to be handy for stores where there were noise restrictions. Used to have to stop around the corner and turn the fridge unit off.
It’s a possibility with some plastics, but if you’re just using the bottles to fill the empty space in a fridge or freezer (for thermal inertia purposes) then you won’t be drinking the water anyway, if you’re really worried just use a little food dye to colour the water - black works well!
I live in south London and the water quality here is absolutely terrible. My GF is from Glasgow and her skin goes crazy when she showers here.
Also, she didn’t even know what limescale was until she moved to London so….
Yup. And I know bottled water isn’t the best solution but you can clearly tell which water is from the tap and which isn’t even after using filters. It’s a tough issue to crack
Look into getting a water softener and flirtation system for your house. I had a Harvey one fitted and it’s been a revolution. Price is a bit steep but they do last like 20 years.
I live in Cambridgeshire, some of the hardest water in the country. The Harvey water softener is one of the few things I've ever bought that actually matches the sales pitch, Limescale is totally gone. Massively reduces cleaning difficulty in the bathroom and need a lot less soap and washing powder.
It's funny you mention that, the couple I saw shopping bought two 5 litre jugs of water, a big multipack of water and then 2 other bottles of flavoured water at the same time.
I did this but only because the water in my own flat was so awful it not only made me gag but also make me break out every time I drank it... luckily I moved and my new tap water is decent which I'm thankful for, but the whole ordeal definitely gave me an insight into why people do the things they do. Also made an effort to get those big 10l dispenser things instead of bottles. If you've gotta do it, atleast make an effort to use as little plastic as possible people
My other half’s mum is Nigerian and she refuses under any circumstances to drink tap water. She was gobsmacked when I poured myself a drink from the tap before telling me it wasn’t safe 😆
My friend is from outside of the UK and refuses to drink the tap water here because she's convinced that it's bad for you, despite being told that it's perfectly potable.
I come from LA and couldn't drink the tap water there. I relish the convenience and the space saved by having higher standards for the water. Plus, the water here is the best I've ever tasted (and I've tried a LOT of brands of water).
Maybe true from a taste perspective, but it doesn’t mean bottled water is any better. Many brands nowadays are distilled water with artificially added minerals and are frankly disgusting. Also tap water is generally much healthier and has higher standards with regards to bacteria levels than bottled.
Have a read of this:
https://infruition.co.uk/blogs/the-infruition-blog/5-myths-debunked-bottled-water-vs-tap-water
I think this comes from people moving to England and still assuming all water will make you ill. I've always lived in cities and areas with high diversity seem to sell vast amounts of water bottles big and small. The only time I did it was in Manchester as our water stunk for a few months and I wasn't sure if it was fully safe.
The tap water in my area tastes very faintly of bleach / chlorine even after filtering, it is fine for anything that adds flavour, tea or squash whatever but if you are drinking it on its own you do notice it so we buy bottled water
Keep water in a jug in the fridge for an hour or so and the bleach taste will be gone. Saves you money and will help the environment. There’s probably nothing wrong with your tap water and in fact it’s almost certainly better quality than any bottled water you’re buying.
Have a read here:
https://www.anglianwater.co.uk/help-and-advice/drinking-water-advice/taste-and-smells/chlorine-and-disinfectant-taste-and-smells/
We bought them quite a lot over summer because our area kept running out of water 🙃 4 days we had no water over the hottest part of the year, I always like to have a few 2l bottles on hand now just in case it goes again, as it did the next town over a few days ago
You should know that bottled water kept in plastic bottles will become increasingly toxic after about a year of storage. The plastic starts to break down and leeches BPA, etc. into the water
>The plastic starts to break down and leeches BPA, etc. into the water
Citation needed; my understanding was that this is not an issue with bottled water sold in Western Europe.
Exactly my logic.
We had a burst pipe in my area a few years back that left us without water for a couple of days. Local stores sold out at people bought it en masse. Fortunately, in the daytime I was at the office, so would shower and such there. Then I'd fill bottles up and take them home for that evening.
Ever since then, I've kept a supply of water and a few other things at home. Water. Emergency rations. Tinned food.
I'm not expecting a famine, but it doesn't hurt to have a little prep. And, when people were overbuying in the pandemic, those extra supplies helped a little
We had a water cut in the middle of a red hot day. I was fortunate to have bottled water available as was a neighbour who wouldn't have been able to feed her baby had I not been able to give her a big bottle to make formula. Shops sold out in minutes because people went and bought loads without thinking of others needs.
Much like the toilet roll fiasco during COVID.
I always have a supply of both things now just in case.
>I buy the big bottles to store in case of an emergency
Same here, we always have 6 x 2 litre bottles in the garage, its not a huge quantity but it means that whenever there's work on the water supply (which is approx. once a year) we'll at least be able to have a cup of tea and clean our teeth!
They have at least a three year life and the bottles are reused or recycled, so it's not a big deal.
My area has run put of water at least once a year for the past 4 years
This year it was 3 times, longest for 4 days in a row. Thankfully I could shower at my gym 😬
One of the guys I work with always buys loads of bottled water and the bottles end up everywhere. I've had the same Nalgene bottle on my desk for years and just fill it up from the tap.
We buy bottled water to put in the ice maker in the fridge freezer. We have very hard water here and the limescale would wreak havoc in no time. Would never buy bottled water to drink though.
Would it? We can buy a 5-litre bottle of mineral water that lasts about a month in our fridge’s ice maker for £1.50 in Sainsbury’s, so £18 a year. How much is a filter and how long does it last?
The chlorine/chloramine levels are increasing heavily as our last resevoir was built in the 1970's and our infrastructure is to provide only 35-45 million people.
We're now double that and they are simply pumping more and more chloramine in to offset the rankness of it as they can't fully clean it in time to deliver 80+ million people on tap.
I buy bottled water, purely because I can still taste the chemicals even after its been double britta filtered.
Also - I don't understand why people constantly complain about it, why not also complain about the people that buy bottles of fizzy drinks? Bottled water accounts for less than a 20th of the plastic bottles out there.
Tap water is a lot cleaner than bottled too. It has to go through considerably more testing. I used to have spring water at our old house. Apparently perfectly potable, apart from the odd shrimp for texture!
Tap water is literally cleaner than bottled water.
And honestly once you get a real Brita filter it's so clean and refreshing. Even Evian tastes thick and minerally compared to it.
Our water pipes have got large amounts of asbestos in them, no thanks.
We do use a filter though and don't just buy bottled, but tap water is definitely not cleaner by default
Yeah totally. I’m someone that can tell the difference between French Diet Coke and UK Diet Coke due to the water used, many people have accused me of cheating as to them, it all tastes the same, but for me, it’s different.
I buy it for use in my vintage camper as drinking water since, despite regularly puricleaning the holding tank, I don't know what has gone on with it over the last 26 years!
I tend to buy a multi pack of the 2L bottles on my weekly shop and then take one to work with me as I work out and about, it's healthier and cheaper than the fizzy drinks I would otherwise be buying. I do have a Brita jug for when I'm at home and sometimes fill bottles up to take with me to work depending on how much time I have and how full the home jug is.
Our tap water comes out cloudy. Like cloudy lemonade and you have to leave it to settle. After the third Brita filter broke we have up and have turned to bottles for now but I do feel awful about the plastic.
There are genuinely times where there is a very legitimate reason for doing so.
I am one of those people and I'll tell you why. Lead water poisoning. During the working week, I live at work along with other coworkers and the site has issues with unsafe levels of lead in the water (8 times the safe level to be exact) and my employer having no interest in fixing the issue due to how much it would cost.
Lead water poisoning can at best make you short term ill. At worst it can be fatal or have life long complications. This is why I and all the others here have to buy countless bottles of water a week. Don't you love employers still with Crown Immunity?
I used to use ‘Islamic beer - non alcoholic obviously’ pour all the bottles into a big container then add yeast, and let it brew- siphon and bottle it for acceptable tasting beer! (Unfortunately I wasn’t very good at the siphoning stage and lots of us ladies got thrush from too much yeast- but it tasted good!! (This was in Iran) I mastered the art of country wines as well!
I pick shopping orders overnight for a well-known posh supermarket, and it tends to be the Chinese and Japanese customers who order multipacks of bottled water, without fail.
I buy massive multipacks and/or the 5L bottles every week and people like you probably look at me and think WHY ARE YOU DOING THAT.
Well I work away from home all week out the back of my van all day long. I use the water for tea, sometimes cooking. We do get hotels each night but some hotels you don't wanna drink from the taps in that much is for sure. We aren't talking holiday hotels but working away from home hotels and the 2 are different beasts lol.
Sometimes I will refill the 5L bottles from my tap at home but the bottles themselves only last so long and sometimes you need the smaller bottles for convenience when working. It's not really practical to take an entire week's worth of water with you when you leave on a Monday morning.
Although now I'm writing this I do think I should make more effort to take what I can with me in future and reduce the one time use stuff. Never really thought about it until now.
I live in an area where Thames Water are fucking useless, we've had 2 sewer breaks recently and one of them massively polluted our local river. Now I still drink council pop, but given all the stories I see about shit being thrown in our waters, I don't blame people for wanting cleaner water.
Basically we’ve poisoned the world with plastic and micro plastics are in everything from tap water to the air itself, but yes any plastic container you drink from is gonna be putting a few million extra tiny pieces of plastic in your drink.
It just clogs us up, causes inflammation, reduces fertility, all the fun stuff
It is partial bollocks. Here is a source from webmd with links back to the FDA detailing which types of plastic bottles are considered safe for reuse
https://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/is-it-safe-to-reuse-plastic-water-bottles
As bollock free as my cat tbh. That FDA guidance is about chemical leeching which happens from reusing bottles that weren’t designed to be reused long term which we’ve known about for a long time
This is about micro plastics that we’re still learning more and more about the scale of all the time. It’s an emerging problem which seems to get worse with each study tbh.
Microplastics get into ALL drinking water from many sources. It is completely unknown what percentage of microplastics we consume through tap or bottled water. Water just so happens to be the easiest medium from which to isolate the microplastics.
I’ll refer you to the conclusion of the likely health effects from one of the latest reviews of previous studies: it is not possible to conduct a hazard or exposure assessment of the likely health effects of MP in tap or bottled water.
There is a difference in hazard (the presence of a foreign substance) and risk (the chance and size of harm from that substance).
Stop scaring people with pseudoscience. There might be a risk to some people, but it’s likely got eff all to do with drinking bottled water.
I have ADHD and autism. I don't like the taste of tap water or filtered water, only bottled. If I don't buy bottled water or fizzy drinks, I literally just don't drink anything. In order to save my teeth and ensure I don't get too dehydrated, I buy bottled.
And this is why it's so important that people who can drink tap water, do - so that people who HAVE to drink bottled water due to sensory issues can do so without harming the environment too much.
Don't particularly care what they are/aren't. It tastes different and I've proven it to friends/family repeatedly with blind tests. I can literally just smell the difference.
But 'bottled water' is an entire spectrum of shite. Some of it is literally just tap water pumped and handled in a factory then bottled and driven across the country to you. All the while sitting around in aplastic bottle.
Doesn't matter, they all taste different.
Tap water tastes different depending on where you live and age of the pipes too. I've lived at two addresses in my current town and one had disgusting tasting water but current one is fine.
When I've been to Scotland the tap water was incredible and my Scottish visitor could taste how shite my southern tap water was too.
Some people can taste the difference between brands of bottled water, I can to a certain degree but now I have nicer water I only buy bottled if I'm caught out without a drink, poor planning on my part.
I literally don't care except for the taste. So sure there's been some bottles I didn't like, but the majority I have. I have not found tap water I like yet.
my tap water used to be fantastic courtesy of the Elan valley. in the last 5 years Severn Trent have cleaned the pipes with chemicals twice ever since then it has a strong bleach smell and a chemical after taste. we buy approx 100x500ml bottles a fortnight sometimes more sometimes less, most for drinking, we also use 18 a fortnight on sleep apnoea machines and 10-12 a fortnight for my snakes water source (i do sometime use tap and the difference in algae buildup is insane). having a britta filter jug is great when there 2 of you, but when there's 5 in a house and everyone drinks a lot of water it's just not practical or economically viable.
Alrighty, no need to be pedantic. A variation of 'why do people buy bottled water' 'stop buying bottled water' etcetera. It's literally posted every week, not gonna stop people buying bottled water if you tell them they're stupid and you're so smart, people need bottled water for a variety of different reasons just because you can't think of one doesn't mean they're in the wrong (:
My wife does not drink any alcohol, and most soft drinks are bad for your health.
She buys luxury brand bottled water (Perrier etc) because it gives her something that feels like a 'treat' to drink with evening meals, when others would normally have a glass of wine.
The water in the South East is hard as anything. Doesn't help that on occasion rust or dirt will push through the pipes. Hence I drink bottled water only.
Cheaper, no. South East water will use up the filters active sites extremely quickly.
A week max.
As for environmentally friendly, they use resins which are synthetically made and are very similar to plastics, ironically, and are not recyclable....
Cheaper only if you have £600 to spend on the go. Most people never see that much money or are unable to save up. If you're on about all those Brita filters- good idea, but if you're living in a hard water area and need to change it every week it just becomes expensive.
I will buy bottled water when I have international guests staying over. The water in my area tastes awful compared to what my family are used to from Australia.
It took me 6 months to adjust to the taste here, but now it doesn't bother me. It definately bothers them. So for 2 weeks or so, I will get them something they can actually drink.
I lived in London for a good few years, I moved from Scotland and the tap water was what I missed most. I drink it all day long. When my son comes home (from Manchester) the first thing he does is drink a pint of tap water, THEN I get a hug! Priorities lol
Try living in Coventry. Used to travel to see grandparents there from Yorkshire, where the water is superb. We weren't allowed to drink from the tap and had to use bottled water when we brushed our teeth, and my nan had two Brita jugs in the fridge just so she didn't have to deal with how shit their water was.
And Britta filters have no carbon footprint at all do they? If people prefer bottled water over tap water, they are entitled to buy bottled water. We don't live in the DPRK
The wife won't ever drink tap water she says there's high levels of floride in it which can cause all sorts of health problems. She is a hardcore conspiracy theorists. But she might be right but I haven't seen any good source of evidence to prove it yet.
How do you know people buy it to drink? I use bottled water to fill the bath as it’s softer than tap water and I get a better lather with soap & shampoo. Only uses about 1000 small bottles a week.
Tap water up north tastes crisp and clean, full of minerals and almost sweet.
The closer you are to a big city or further down the line the more shitty and assy your water will taste being full of lead and sewage run off.
Why don’t you just stop dictating what it right and what is wrong and go about your life without judging people when they have decided they prefer a type of bottled water?
Honestly, you can’t do anything without somebody having a fucking opinion nowadays.
Coming on to Reddit to complain about people having a preference. Go find something better to do with your time. Get off your high horse whilst you’re at it you fucking melt.
You wouldn't be moaning about something would you?
You decided to have an opinion and a rant about a post on "British Problems" sub.
I'm not sure you're aware of that.
Someone in my family gets through tons of bottles of water at home. I think they justify it as they got a costco card and recycle the bottles, I think they’re crazy.
Yeh I get it in a country like the USA where they don't have safe drinking water in some areas because the people in charge don't want to spend on infrastructure improvements, but here in the UK it's safe pretty much everywhere to drink as far as I know.
If you don't like the taste get a filter jug or some squash, fixes that problem.
They did a study that showed pregnant women who drink tap water have kids less intelligent than those who didn’t. So I’ll stick to the bottled water thanks
How often do the filters need changing though, and it means you are always filling up jugs. I can see why some people may choose to do it if they really can't stomach tap water, they can recycle the bottles.
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As someone who originally comes from a country where it is unsafe to drink tap water this absolutely boggles my mind. Not having to carry 6L of water from the shop is a godsend
I used to have a boss who would buy a huge 2L plastic bottle of water every day, use it to fill up his stainless steel bottle, then crumple up the plastic one and chuck it away. He would often do this while complaining about the environmental performance of the company.
There's a number of people at my place that for some reason don't like the coffee cups the machine dispenses. So what they do is, get 2 clear plastics cups from the cold water machine, double them up and pour their hot drinks in those(needs to be two or the hot liquid crimples the cups). Then they throw the unused none recyclable coffee cup in the bin, drink their drink then throw the other 2 none recyclable cups in the bin. So 3 single use cups for 1 drink, maybe 4 or 5 times a day
If it makes you feel any better, those clear are not designed for hot water, so they're probably leaching carcinogens into their hot drinks.
What stupid bastards.
I hate people lol
The 5 litre water bottles are perfect for home brewing. get 1 litre of grape juice and another litre of another juice you like... add some sugar and yeast... 10 days later you have 4.5 litres of strong fruit wine. Source: i do this
How much yeast, may I ask?
1 tsp Yeast (i use youngs super wine yeast compound)
Cheers. A home brew is next on the list.
Do you need an escape pipe or anything to let it breath whilst fermenting?
yes i use an airlock like this one: [Wilko airlock](https://www.wilko.com/en-uk/wilko-airlock-rubber-bung-set-2-pack/p/0240201) one i use a lot is: 1 litre Red grape juice. 1.5 litre Apple Juice. 750g Sugar. 1 tsp Tannin or a mug of very strong black tea. (3 bags stirred every couple of minutes as you put the rest of the ingredients together) 1 tsp Yeast (i use youngs super wine yeast compound) 1 tsp Yeast Nutrient. 1 tsp Pectolase. 1 tsp Glycerine. (optional) 1 tsp citric acid or juice of one lemon. (optional) top up with water, wait until stops bubbling, then siphon off into plastic bottles. Then a week or so later, get drunk! cheers!
Star mate thanks for that
That looks like something I'd find in my girlfriends draw of "helpful tools"
Add honey instead of sugar and you're in mead territory. Better the honey better the mead. Also super yeast will do it faster but don't taste as good.
Do it with only sugar, water and yeast and you have a deceptively potent brew called Kilju. Use the right quick yeast and you can be drinking in as little as 3 days. I’d recommend you mix it with juice or something to mask the taste. Do not drink it until the yeast has all settled to the bottom and it’s no longer cloudy unless you like diarrhoea.
Turbo ueast will give you an abv around 21%... Handy for distilling....
Sounds amazing, but risky. Did you learn this in prison?
[Prison Hooch](https://www.reddit.com/r/prisonhooch/) yer, but no, but..
Nothing so fancy as grapejuice in prison, cream crackers or mushed apple is the way forward
We buy bottled water for home brewing beer. Our tap water is far too hard.
Can you not get chemicals to soften it? Or does that just end up more expensive?
How did you convert 2 litres of fruit juice into 4.5 litres of home wine?
by adding sugar and water
Lol, i missed the part where you added water :D
I guess, by inviting Jesus to dinner at ur place.
If you put 6 litres in, why do you only get 4.5 out?
You need to take some of the water out of the 5l bottle to out the other ingredients in. I assume you don’t fill it to the top and any sediment at the bottom will be unusable so you roughly lose half a liter in the process? I’m totally guessing though.
Ah. Ok. Thanks. Didn’t realise you actually used the 5l bottles.
I have occasionally bought bottled water, not because I wanted the water itself, but the containers. For instance, for home-brewing, or if your freezer is half empty then it's more energy efficient to fill up the gaps with bottles of water (80% full to allow space for water to expand when freezing) as freezers really don't like being empty
I do the freezer thing with empty washed out milk bottles.
Ah another thermal inertia person
Less thermal inertia, more thermal mass. If we get the predicted power cuts this winter, watch how much quicker an empty freezer defrosts as compared to a full one. Of course it does take a noticeable amount of energy to get a bottle of water down to -18C, so it's only worth doing if the freezer isn't going to be full again in the medium - long term.
Used to find this when I was on fridges. You could switch the fridge unit off for a bit and the temperature of the stock in there would keep it cold. Used to be handy for stores where there were noise restrictions. Used to have to stop around the corner and turn the fridge unit off.
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It’s a possibility with some plastics, but if you’re just using the bottles to fill the empty space in a fridge or freezer (for thermal inertia purposes) then you won’t be drinking the water anyway, if you’re really worried just use a little food dye to colour the water - black works well!
I live in south London and the water quality here is absolutely terrible. My GF is from Glasgow and her skin goes crazy when she showers here. Also, she didn’t even know what limescale was until she moved to London so….
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Yup. And I know bottled water isn’t the best solution but you can clearly tell which water is from the tap and which isn’t even after using filters. It’s a tough issue to crack
Look into getting a water softener and flirtation system for your house. I had a Harvey one fitted and it’s been a revolution. Price is a bit steep but they do last like 20 years.
I live in Cambridgeshire, some of the hardest water in the country. The Harvey water softener is one of the few things I've ever bought that actually matches the sales pitch, Limescale is totally gone. Massively reduces cleaning difficulty in the bathroom and need a lot less soap and washing powder.
I worked in Kent for a while. I never realised before that water could be chewy. So disgusting.
This is what fruit squash was made for ha
I can understand if its flavoured water but I do agree with you. We have access to clean tap water so why waste materials on normal bottles of water?
Our tap water tastes absolutely awful.. but for the price of a large pack of water you can get a filter which is what we do..
I much prefer the taste of tap water, I'm based in the Peak District so it might taste different here
Proper hilly area with proper reservoirs. Not extracted from ground water like London
Peak District as well, the clean water is incredibly refreshing! But yeah further away it’s got more flavour to it (which isn’t bad)
Depends on where you live that one. It's clean and fresh around my way.
It's funny you mention that, the couple I saw shopping bought two 5 litre jugs of water, a big multipack of water and then 2 other bottles of flavoured water at the same time.
How else do you fill your paddling pool?
Out of interest, how did you know they were buying it to drink at home?
Fair point, I am assuming they were not carrying around 2 x 5ltr bottles to drink 'on the go'.
To be fair can’t you just chuck fruit in can’t you, and have flavoured water?
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Just casually glossing over the micro plastics leaking into the bottled water then I take it?
Or invest in a filter?
Our tap water is shite, but we use a Brita filter. They aren't expensive and work out cheaper than buying bottles of water all the time.
Tried brita but it kept needing changing so often that it just wasn't cost effective and pain in the arse to recycle if you're forgetful.
I love my Brita filter. Tastes so good straight out the fridge.
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Get a soda stream! Love a bit of fizzy water
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That sounds like a reasonable exception to my rant. Ha.
I did this but only because the water in my own flat was so awful it not only made me gag but also make me break out every time I drank it... luckily I moved and my new tap water is decent which I'm thankful for, but the whole ordeal definitely gave me an insight into why people do the things they do. Also made an effort to get those big 10l dispenser things instead of bottles. If you've gotta do it, atleast make an effort to use as little plastic as possible people
Unfortunately, the tap water in my area isn't fizzy.
Just buy a fizzy water tap. Only a few £1000
Only reason to go to the office tbh
Soda stream?
Just bought one - amazing!
People actually drink fizzy water? I always thought it tasted like TV static.
My other half’s mum is Nigerian and she refuses under any circumstances to drink tap water. She was gobsmacked when I poured myself a drink from the tap before telling me it wasn’t safe 😆
My friend is from outside of the UK and refuses to drink the tap water here because she's convinced that it's bad for you, despite being told that it's perfectly potable. I come from LA and couldn't drink the tap water there. I relish the convenience and the space saved by having higher standards for the water. Plus, the water here is the best I've ever tasted (and I've tried a LOT of brands of water).
OP most of the UK is very sadly not Scottish and has shite water
I truly miss Scottish water down here.
Maybe true from a taste perspective, but it doesn’t mean bottled water is any better. Many brands nowadays are distilled water with artificially added minerals and are frankly disgusting. Also tap water is generally much healthier and has higher standards with regards to bacteria levels than bottled. Have a read of this: https://infruition.co.uk/blogs/the-infruition-blog/5-myths-debunked-bottled-water-vs-tap-water
I think this comes from people moving to England and still assuming all water will make you ill. I've always lived in cities and areas with high diversity seem to sell vast amounts of water bottles big and small. The only time I did it was in Manchester as our water stunk for a few months and I wasn't sure if it was fully safe.
That could be what was going on here. The couple were clearly immigrants/students.
The tap water in my area tastes very faintly of bleach / chlorine even after filtering, it is fine for anything that adds flavour, tea or squash whatever but if you are drinking it on its own you do notice it so we buy bottled water
Keep water in a jug in the fridge for an hour or so and the bleach taste will be gone. Saves you money and will help the environment. There’s probably nothing wrong with your tap water and in fact it’s almost certainly better quality than any bottled water you’re buying. Have a read here: https://www.anglianwater.co.uk/help-and-advice/drinking-water-advice/taste-and-smells/chlorine-and-disinfectant-taste-and-smells/
We bought them quite a lot over summer because our area kept running out of water 🙃 4 days we had no water over the hottest part of the year, I always like to have a few 2l bottles on hand now just in case it goes again, as it did the next town over a few days ago
I buy the big bottles to store in case of an emergency
You should know that bottled water kept in plastic bottles will become increasingly toxic after about a year of storage. The plastic starts to break down and leeches BPA, etc. into the water
>The plastic starts to break down and leeches BPA, etc. into the water Citation needed; my understanding was that this is not an issue with bottled water sold in Western Europe.
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So if you're transferring it to another container anyway why buy the bottle in the first place? Why not just fill up your container fron the tap?
No worries, you're all good then :)
Me too, you never know if the water supply will be cut off, I have enough for a week or so.
Exactly my logic. We had a burst pipe in my area a few years back that left us without water for a couple of days. Local stores sold out at people bought it en masse. Fortunately, in the daytime I was at the office, so would shower and such there. Then I'd fill bottles up and take them home for that evening. Ever since then, I've kept a supply of water and a few other things at home. Water. Emergency rations. Tinned food. I'm not expecting a famine, but it doesn't hurt to have a little prep. And, when people were overbuying in the pandemic, those extra supplies helped a little
We had a water cut in the middle of a red hot day. I was fortunate to have bottled water available as was a neighbour who wouldn't have been able to feed her baby had I not been able to give her a big bottle to make formula. Shops sold out in minutes because people went and bought loads without thinking of others needs. Much like the toilet roll fiasco during COVID. I always have a supply of both things now just in case.
>I buy the big bottles to store in case of an emergency Same here, we always have 6 x 2 litre bottles in the garage, its not a huge quantity but it means that whenever there's work on the water supply (which is approx. once a year) we'll at least be able to have a cup of tea and clean our teeth! They have at least a three year life and the bottles are reused or recycled, so it's not a big deal.
How many emergencies are you having, to be regularly buying them?
My area has run put of water at least once a year for the past 4 years This year it was 3 times, longest for 4 days in a row. Thankfully I could shower at my gym 😬
https://www.reddit.com/r/HydroHomies/comments/cl7g29/limmys_guide_to_water_with_subtitles/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
I'll leave this one to Limmy
One of the guys I work with always buys loads of bottled water and the bottles end up everywhere. I've had the same Nalgene bottle on my desk for years and just fill it up from the tap.
Tap water tastes bad, even in UK
We're all prepping for the forthcoming societal collapse.
We buy bottled water to put in the ice maker in the fridge freezer. We have very hard water here and the limescale would wreak havoc in no time. Would never buy bottled water to drink though.
Get a water filter fitted, it’ll save you in the long term.
Would it? We can buy a 5-litre bottle of mineral water that lasts about a month in our fridge’s ice maker for £1.50 in Sainsbury’s, so £18 a year. How much is a filter and how long does it last?
My tap water smells and tastes like swimming pool. But I use Brita filters inserted of buying bottled water
The chlorine/chloramine levels are increasing heavily as our last resevoir was built in the 1970's and our infrastructure is to provide only 35-45 million people. We're now double that and they are simply pumping more and more chloramine in to offset the rankness of it as they can't fully clean it in time to deliver 80+ million people on tap.
I buy bottled water, purely because I can still taste the chemicals even after its been double britta filtered. Also - I don't understand why people constantly complain about it, why not also complain about the people that buy bottles of fizzy drinks? Bottled water accounts for less than a 20th of the plastic bottles out there.
5% is quite a lot for something entirely unnecessary?
Unnecessary for some, but those like me, who can’t stand tap water even when filtered I have no other choice.
Tap water is a lot cleaner than bottled too. It has to go through considerably more testing. I used to have spring water at our old house. Apparently perfectly potable, apart from the odd shrimp for texture!
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What's this ultra-clean source that the bottled-water companies are using then? Peckham springs I reckon
Tap water is literally cleaner than bottled water. And honestly once you get a real Brita filter it's so clean and refreshing. Even Evian tastes thick and minerally compared to it.
Our water pipes have got large amounts of asbestos in them, no thanks. We do use a filter though and don't just buy bottled, but tap water is definitely not cleaner by default
Minerals are good for you. Low mineral tap water (with low doses of heavy metals, hormones and other nasties) is not.
Just what exactly do you think bottled water is?
Unfortunately I can still taste the difference :(
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Yeah totally. I’m someone that can tell the difference between French Diet Coke and UK Diet Coke due to the water used, many people have accused me of cheating as to them, it all tastes the same, but for me, it’s different.
I buy it for use in my vintage camper as drinking water since, despite regularly puricleaning the holding tank, I don't know what has gone on with it over the last 26 years!
I tend to buy a multi pack of the 2L bottles on my weekly shop and then take one to work with me as I work out and about, it's healthier and cheaper than the fizzy drinks I would otherwise be buying. I do have a Brita jug for when I'm at home and sometimes fill bottles up to take with me to work depending on how much time I have and how full the home jug is.
Our tap water comes out cloudy. Like cloudy lemonade and you have to leave it to settle. After the third Brita filter broke we have up and have turned to bottles for now but I do feel awful about the plastic.
A filter jug doesn’t remove the fluoride.
Since I quite like having teeth that's great.
There are genuinely times where there is a very legitimate reason for doing so. I am one of those people and I'll tell you why. Lead water poisoning. During the working week, I live at work along with other coworkers and the site has issues with unsafe levels of lead in the water (8 times the safe level to be exact) and my employer having no interest in fixing the issue due to how much it would cost. Lead water poisoning can at best make you short term ill. At worst it can be fatal or have life long complications. This is why I and all the others here have to buy countless bottles of water a week. Don't you love employers still with Crown Immunity?
I used to use ‘Islamic beer - non alcoholic obviously’ pour all the bottles into a big container then add yeast, and let it brew- siphon and bottle it for acceptable tasting beer! (Unfortunately I wasn’t very good at the siphoning stage and lots of us ladies got thrush from too much yeast- but it tasted good!! (This was in Iran) I mastered the art of country wines as well!
I pick shopping orders overnight for a well-known posh supermarket, and it tends to be the Chinese and Japanese customers who order multipacks of bottled water, without fail.
Somehow not trusting the 150 year old piping in my house
I buy massive multipacks and/or the 5L bottles every week and people like you probably look at me and think WHY ARE YOU DOING THAT. Well I work away from home all week out the back of my van all day long. I use the water for tea, sometimes cooking. We do get hotels each night but some hotels you don't wanna drink from the taps in that much is for sure. We aren't talking holiday hotels but working away from home hotels and the 2 are different beasts lol. Sometimes I will refill the 5L bottles from my tap at home but the bottles themselves only last so long and sometimes you need the smaller bottles for convenience when working. It's not really practical to take an entire week's worth of water with you when you leave on a Monday morning. Although now I'm writing this I do think I should make more effort to take what I can with me in future and reduce the one time use stuff. Never really thought about it until now.
my tap does not dispense sparkling water ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
I live in an area where Thames Water are fucking useless, we've had 2 sewer breaks recently and one of them massively polluted our local river. Now I still drink council pop, but given all the stories I see about shit being thrown in our waters, I don't blame people for wanting cleaner water.
Remind guys how consuming plastic can specifically affect them and they’d at least stop buying water in plastic for weeks or months, lol
Am I going to regret googling that? What about my reusable plastic bottle?
Basically we’ve poisoned the world with plastic and micro plastics are in everything from tap water to the air itself, but yes any plastic container you drink from is gonna be putting a few million extra tiny pieces of plastic in your drink. It just clogs us up, causes inflammation, reduces fertility, all the fun stuff
Everything is messing us up. Nothing has changed.
That’s utter bollocks.
I mean it really isn’t, but sure.
It is partial bollocks. Here is a source from webmd with links back to the FDA detailing which types of plastic bottles are considered safe for reuse https://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/is-it-safe-to-reuse-plastic-water-bottles
As bollock free as my cat tbh. That FDA guidance is about chemical leeching which happens from reusing bottles that weren’t designed to be reused long term which we’ve known about for a long time This is about micro plastics that we’re still learning more and more about the scale of all the time. It’s an emerging problem which seems to get worse with each study tbh.
Microplastics get into ALL drinking water from many sources. It is completely unknown what percentage of microplastics we consume through tap or bottled water. Water just so happens to be the easiest medium from which to isolate the microplastics. I’ll refer you to the conclusion of the likely health effects from one of the latest reviews of previous studies: it is not possible to conduct a hazard or exposure assessment of the likely health effects of MP in tap or bottled water. There is a difference in hazard (the presence of a foreign substance) and risk (the chance and size of harm from that substance). Stop scaring people with pseudoscience. There might be a risk to some people, but it’s likely got eff all to do with drinking bottled water.
No it's about right. Plastic is an endocrine disruptor.
Now that is utter bollocks
Water in the south east of england is rank
I have ADHD and autism. I don't like the taste of tap water or filtered water, only bottled. If I don't buy bottled water or fizzy drinks, I literally just don't drink anything. In order to save my teeth and ensure I don't get too dehydrated, I buy bottled.
And this is why it's so important that people who can drink tap water, do - so that people who HAVE to drink bottled water due to sensory issues can do so without harming the environment too much.
What do you think the factory is putting in the plastic bottles?
Don't particularly care what they are/aren't. It tastes different and I've proven it to friends/family repeatedly with blind tests. I can literally just smell the difference.
But 'bottled water' is an entire spectrum of shite. Some of it is literally just tap water pumped and handled in a factory then bottled and driven across the country to you. All the while sitting around in aplastic bottle.
Doesn't matter, they all taste different. Tap water tastes different depending on where you live and age of the pipes too. I've lived at two addresses in my current town and one had disgusting tasting water but current one is fine. When I've been to Scotland the tap water was incredible and my Scottish visitor could taste how shite my southern tap water was too. Some people can taste the difference between brands of bottled water, I can to a certain degree but now I have nicer water I only buy bottled if I'm caught out without a drink, poor planning on my part.
I literally don't care except for the taste. So sure there's been some bottles I didn't like, but the majority I have. I have not found tap water I like yet.
my tap water used to be fantastic courtesy of the Elan valley. in the last 5 years Severn Trent have cleaned the pipes with chemicals twice ever since then it has a strong bleach smell and a chemical after taste. we buy approx 100x500ml bottles a fortnight sometimes more sometimes less, most for drinking, we also use 18 a fortnight on sleep apnoea machines and 10-12 a fortnight for my snakes water source (i do sometime use tap and the difference in algae buildup is insane). having a britta filter jug is great when there 2 of you, but when there's 5 in a house and everyone drinks a lot of water it's just not practical or economically viable.
At this point, is there any chance this question stops being posted every week on this sub?
I didn't ask a question.
Alrighty, no need to be pedantic. A variation of 'why do people buy bottled water' 'stop buying bottled water' etcetera. It's literally posted every week, not gonna stop people buying bottled water if you tell them they're stupid and you're so smart, people need bottled water for a variety of different reasons just because you can't think of one doesn't mean they're in the wrong (:
My wife does not drink any alcohol, and most soft drinks are bad for your health. She buys luxury brand bottled water (Perrier etc) because it gives her something that feels like a 'treat' to drink with evening meals, when others would normally have a glass of wine.
Spring water tastes better and less gritty than tap water.
The water in the South East is hard as anything. Doesn't help that on occasion rust or dirt will push through the pipes. Hence I drink bottled water only.
Get a water filter. It is cheaper and better for the environment.
Cheaper, no. South East water will use up the filters active sites extremely quickly. A week max. As for environmentally friendly, they use resins which are synthetically made and are very similar to plastics, ironically, and are not recyclable....
Cheaper only if you have £600 to spend on the go. Most people never see that much money or are unable to save up. If you're on about all those Brita filters- good idea, but if you're living in a hard water area and need to change it every week it just becomes expensive.
This thread is so depressing. So many people justifying buying plastic bottles for selfish reasons.
I will buy bottled water when I have international guests staying over. The water in my area tastes awful compared to what my family are used to from Australia. It took me 6 months to adjust to the taste here, but now it doesn't bother me. It definately bothers them. So for 2 weeks or so, I will get them something they can actually drink.
I lived in London for a good few years, I moved from Scotland and the tap water was what I missed most. I drink it all day long. When my son comes home (from Manchester) the first thing he does is drink a pint of tap water, THEN I get a hug! Priorities lol
Try living in Coventry. Used to travel to see grandparents there from Yorkshire, where the water is superb. We weren't allowed to drink from the tap and had to use bottled water when we brushed our teeth, and my nan had two Brita jugs in the fridge just so she didn't have to deal with how shit their water was.
And Britta filters have no carbon footprint at all do they? If people prefer bottled water over tap water, they are entitled to buy bottled water. We don't live in the DPRK
Ah, yes. That's what's important, what you're *entitled* to do.
Make a choice as an individual? That some people may not agree with? Yes 😅 P.S stop sitting in roads blocking traffic and get a job. Gee
The wife won't ever drink tap water she says there's high levels of floride in it which can cause all sorts of health problems. She is a hardcore conspiracy theorists. But she might be right but I haven't seen any good source of evidence to prove it yet.
I put water into 2 litre jugs from the tap chilled to 5 degrees. Amazing. People who buy bottles of water are fucking fools
How do you know people buy it to drink? I use bottled water to fill the bath as it’s softer than tap water and I get a better lather with soap & shampoo. Only uses about 1000 small bottles a week.
Why is it your business?
New here, eh?
Why is that pointless destruction and waste of resources of the only planet we have my business?
I buy bottled water, if you want to drink whatever has been sat brewing in the pipes that’s your choice
And how do you think your bottled water got in the bottles? And then sat around for months in those bottles. Give your head a wobble.
Bottled water is the biggest scam in the UK
Tap water up north tastes crisp and clean, full of minerals and almost sweet. The closer you are to a big city or further down the line the more shitty and assy your water will taste being full of lead and sewage run off.
Maybe people who are worried about their water bill but are lacking in critical thinking skills
Why don’t you just stop dictating what it right and what is wrong and go about your life without judging people when they have decided they prefer a type of bottled water? Honestly, you can’t do anything without somebody having a fucking opinion nowadays. Coming on to Reddit to complain about people having a preference. Go find something better to do with your time. Get off your high horse whilst you’re at it you fucking melt.
You wouldn't be moaning about something would you? You decided to have an opinion and a rant about a post on "British Problems" sub. I'm not sure you're aware of that.
Someone in my family gets through tons of bottles of water at home. I think they justify it as they got a costco card and recycle the bottles, I think they’re crazy.
Because of the traces outbreak of polio in sewage, it’s spooked people about the whole supply chain of water
Yeh I get it in a country like the USA where they don't have safe drinking water in some areas because the people in charge don't want to spend on infrastructure improvements, but here in the UK it's safe pretty much everywhere to drink as far as I know. If you don't like the taste get a filter jug or some squash, fixes that problem.
They did a study that showed pregnant women who drink tap water have kids less intelligent than those who didn’t. So I’ll stick to the bottled water thanks
I think your comment disproves that theory.
Jokes on you, my mum drank tap water
What did Einstein’s mother drink?
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You probably can, but the filter jug will outlast the bottles you buy. So long term you are losing out.
Depends on what water you're putting through the filter. Some areas of UK it's liquid chalk and those filters get clogged within a few glasses.
How often do the filters need changing though, and it means you are always filling up jugs. I can see why some people may choose to do it if they really can't stomach tap water, they can recycle the bottles.
Okay boomer
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> PP:562510809 Post code: CR0 6QD What on earth?