I don't trust municipal water sources because of the endocrine disruptors. http://www.hhs.gov/asl/testify/2010/02/t20100225a.html
What, do you think a plastic bottle isn't leaching things into the water?
We don’t trust drinking fountains anymore, and that’s bad for our health
121–130 of 200 posts
Re: We don’t trust drinking fountains anymore, and that’s bad for our health
#122Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I do like the fact that you can get free water almost everywhere, there was often a large can and cups on the bar, free to take. Here a tap water is sometimes as expensive as a beer (in a bar obviously). Wow in most of Europe this would not be legal. Are you sure your local laws allow this?
How can selling water at a commercial establishment be illegal? Bottled water industry would be out of business, as some of them are known to resell tap water too. I'm from Europe too, by the way, and don't see the big deal. I'd say around here it's pretty split - around a half of places will offer free water, and a half will offer it for money (not for beer prices though).
Not sure if it's illegal here, but in South Africa restaurants are expected to serve you tap water if you ask for it. Doing otherwise would be rude, and most waiters (even at pubs) will clarify if you want 'bottled or tap' and 'with ice and lemon.'
I have noticed a strange phenomenon in Europe too, please forgive me if I'm generalising as I'm aware it's a big place, but people there seem like they won't do something without getting paid.
Example: delivery personnel who would deliver a refrigerator up to your door (but not further, into the kitchen) and a plumber who refused to even discuss what the options were for a problem we were having that was not what he had been called in for.
That doesn't happen here. Instead, the delivery guy usually helps you unpack the item of delivery, and the plumber will offer his opinion on a job he was not necessarily called in to fix.
Once again, standard disclaimer, this is anecdata, apologies for the generalisation.
Re: We don’t trust drinking fountains anymore, and that’s bad for our health
#123Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I do like the fact that you can get free water almost everywhere, there was often a large can and cups on the bar, free to take. Here a tap water is sometimes as expensive as a beer (in a bar obviously). Wow in most of Europe this would not be legal. Are you sure your local laws allow this?
How can selling water at a commercial establishment be illegal? Bottled water industry would be out of business, as some of them are known to resell tap water too. I'm from Europe too, by the way, and don't see the big deal. I'd say around here it's pretty split - around a half of places will offer free water, and a half will offer it for money (not for beer prices though).
I don't know about the rest of Europe, but in Germany bars have to provide free tap water if you ask for it. They also have to offer at least one non-alcoholic drink that's cheaper than the cheapest alcoholic drink, IIRC.
Re: We don’t trust drinking fountains anymore, and that’s bad for our health
#124I've always found it kind of funny that in "capitalist" US, there is free water all over the place. It's one of my favorite things to drink good, clean water for free in Portland after getting off a long flight from Europe. In "socialist" Europe, you're pretty much stuck with expensive bottled water in places like airports, unless you have a cup or something and don't mind drinking from the bathroom faucets. OTOH, on…
>unless you have a cup or something and don't mind drinking from the bathroom faucets. To my understanding, this is no different than using the tap from your kitchen sink. It still comes from pipes and tap water is tap water. It's mostly a mental thing.
That's making a lot of assumptions about the plumbing. Especially considering that a lot of public toilets and even hotel indicate that water from the tap is not safe.
For a practical example, in my old flat, the bathroom tap was hooked to the cold water tank that fed the hot water tank, hence potentially unsafe (definitively unsafe before I cleaned it after changing a valve). The kitchen tap was taking water directly from the main. That is BTW quite a typical british setup.
Anyway you are probably safe regardless.
Re: We don’t trust drinking fountains anymore, and that’s bad for our health
#125I've always found it kind of funny that in "capitalist" US, there is free water all over the place. It's one of my favorite things to drink good, clean water for free in Portland after getting off a long flight from Europe. In "socialist" Europe, you're pretty much stuck with expensive bottled water in places like airports, unless you have a cup or something and don't mind drinking from the bathroom faucets. OTOH, on…
There are water fountains in every airport in Europe (and pretty much the world, it's regulatory) they are usually located in or near the restrooms. Not to mention that pretty much every restaurant will give you tap water for free.
...except the London airports; my father is one of the Inner Circle of people who know there the only water fountain in Gatwick is. (I've never found it.)
I'm in Zürich now. There are water fountains everywhere. I believe you're never further than 100m from one, anywhere in the city? The water quality is superb --- better than most bottled water, they say --- and they run off their own distribution network, which means the water fountains operate as the emergency backup for if the main distribution network goes down. They run continuously, too.
Ah, here we go. (People are really keen on Zürich's water fountains. You can get guided tours.) https://zurich1200fountains.wordpress.com/
Re: We don’t trust drinking fountains anymore, and that’s bad for our health
#126I grew up in LA, where water is scarce, and valued. Water fountains are around, but they have valves, which break, stick, or otherwise cause problems. When I lived in Chicago, I was shocked to see that their water fountains have no valves: They run full flow 24x7. Given the weather (frozen pipes) and the water resources available to Chicago (Lake Michigan), it makes sense for them to do it this way, but I had a lot o…
Ditto rome. It just comes out of the wall in places.
And (last time I've been) it was excellent water. Strange seeing other tourists paying for the expensive mineral water next to a running tap. (they probably didn't know that the water is fine or didn't care).
Re: We don’t trust drinking fountains anymore, and that’s bad for our health
#127European capitalism destroying old American traditions and cultures just sounds wrong to your ears when you are so used to the narrative of McDonald’s and Hollywood taking over the world. In Germany I think I saw a dedicated drinking fountain only once. There are of course fountains, but most of the time there is a sign on them saying "Kein Trinkwasser" ("no drinking water"). We have exceptionally good tap water and…
The "no drinking water" signs have to do with health requirements for drinking water.
Water for firefighting, for example, has to be isolated from drinking water to prevent any risk of contamination. Due to how it is used, this water may have to be stored for very long periods of time and provides a breeding ground for all kinds of things you wouldn't want in your drinking water (e.g. legionella).
I'm fairly certain most (non-drinking) fountains use something like a semi-closed loop system where the same water just circulates through the fountain and fresh water is only used to replace any water lost to evaporation or spilling. This means the water is easily contaminated and therefore not suitable for drinking.
In some public restrooms (though this seems very rare), even the tap water is labelled as not safe for drinking. In these cases the tap water is likely not sufficiently isolated from the water tank for firefighting and therefore not safe despite coming from drinking water.
Re: We don’t trust drinking fountains anymore, and that’s bad for our health
#128Earlier quoted context omitted.
Back in the 80s, the concern was not germs, but heavy metals. That's 100% understandable. If somebody told me there was lead in my tap water (and I believed them) I'd switch to bottled water in a heartbeat. But according to the article, the municipalities responded and got the metals out of the water, so I guess the problem is misinformation?
The new fear is endocrine disruptors in municipal water. http://www.hhs.gov/asl/testify/2010/02/t20100225a.html
Yes, but doesn't the plastic in the disposable bottles also contain the same risk, among other issues?
Re: We don’t trust drinking fountains anymore, and that’s bad for our health
#129Here in Germany, water is the best protected good that we have - maybe apart from beer :o) - and that is as it should be. It usually tastes good and I use it all the time (stopped buying bottled water long ago).
In a bar or restaurant, tap water has to be free. They don't like that and try to sell you more expensive stuff, but the law requires free water. Great, isn't it?
I was indeed shocked by the amount of chlorine that I tasted in Californian water (I regularly work in Pasadena).
Re: We don’t trust drinking fountains anymore, and that’s bad for our health
#130I've always found it kind of funny that in "capitalist" US, there is free water all over the place. It's one of my favorite things to drink good, clean water for free in Portland after getting off a long flight from Europe. In "socialist" Europe, you're pretty much stuck with expensive bottled water in places like airports, unless you have a cup or something and don't mind drinking from the bathroom faucets. OTOH, on…
There are water fountains in every airport in Europe (and pretty much the world, it's regulatory) they are usually located in or near the restrooms. Not to mention that pretty much every restaurant will give you tap water for free.
I was intrigued by this, as I've never seen one in a London airport. A bit of googling reveals that there are no fountains at Gatwick (LGW) - https://twitter.com/gatwick_airport/status/70760011768410112