How Drinking Bottled Water Became a Thing • Hacker News Board

Re: How Drinking Bottled Water Became a Thing

#21

Post by rconti » Tue, Nov 11, 2014, 7:06 PM UTC

VLM wrote: post #12

No commentary about entertainment venues removing/hiding the water fountains and making carry ins (like my refillable bottle) illegal for security theater reasons? I'm not saying that explains 35 gallons a year unless you go out a heck of a lot more than I do, but it is something of a gateway drug, that once you get used to going to the state fair and spending $7 for a brat and ... $2 for the bottled water to go with…

It's getting better. SFO, for one, has long-neck water dispensers for filling your own bottle. I've found other airports often have something similar. Of course, you need to think ahead to actually BRING your empty bottle (or dump the water before security), because my first thought when packing is "oh, I can't take my Nalgene because they won't let the water through security". It takes an extra step to say "oh, wait, I can take it through EMPTY".

Of course, it also seems silly to pack a large empty container.

I'm more likely to use a disposable bottle if I'm going to an event, or I'm walking around a city all day as a tourist, and want to be able to ditch the bottle rather than carrying it around empty.

That said, I virtually never buy water, I dislike it on principle and only do so in special circumstances.

Re: How Drinking Bottled Water Became a Thing

#22

Post by softdev12 » Tue, Nov 11, 2014, 7:08 PM UTC

I used to drink bottled water exclusively, mainly because I thought the taste was unambiguously better. However, three things got me to switch to using filtered tap water.

#1) having to carry multiple gallons from the store to the car to the house was getting to be a chore. given the amount of water of i drank, it was a headache. now that i've switched to filtered tap water, it's so much easier.

#2) i received a brochure from the local water municipality that documented all the steps that the water went through to be purified. It was way more involved than I thought. Plus, the purchased filter literature claims to remove impurities to several significant digits - post coming from the tap.

#3) it's cheaper overall. sure there's a fixed cost to buying a filter system, but once it's up and running, it pays for itself.

Re: How Drinking Bottled Water Became a Thing

#23

Post by a_gentle_autist » Tue, Nov 11, 2014, 7:11 PM UTC

applecore wrote: post #6

It's a well-known fact that New York City tap water is delicious, even compared to other municipal water supplies.

It's why New York Pizza is so good, it's the minerals in the water.

Re: How Drinking Bottled Water Became a Thing

#24

Post by maxerickson » Tue, Nov 11, 2014, 7:13 PM UTC

smacktoward wrote: post #20

serve_yay wrote: post #5

If places sold an empty bottle for 5c or whatever that you had to fill up by yourself at a tap, then that's what I would buy. Sometimes you're out and you want something to drink but you don't have a container, bottled water is kind of an obvious choice. All the purity shit is just capitalist competition in action. And I still don't understand what is worse about it than bottled Coke or whatever.

But who would buy it? Contra the article, I would argue that there's three reasons bottled water became popular: 1) Convenience: no need to tote an empty container around with you, or find one when you're thirsty 2) Status signaling: a.k.a. "tap water is what the proles drink" 3) Collapse of faith in the efficacy of collective action: the rise of Perrier was driven by sales in the US & UK, and occurred during the lat…

Point 3 is confusing to me. In the U.S., government regulation of water quality got a lot stronger in the 1970s:

http://www2.epa.gov/laws-regulations/history-clean-water-act

http://water.epa.gov/lawsregs/rulesregs/sdwa/index.cfm

Between that, advances in technology and the wider deployment of municipal water supplies, U.S. tap water is probably as clean and safe as it has ever been, at least since the beginning of the industrial era.

Re: How Drinking Bottled Water Became a Thing

#25

Post by debian3 » Tue, Nov 11, 2014, 7:13 PM UTC

microtherion wrote: post #11

It all depends on what tap water you compare it with. In many places in the US I’ve been, the tap water was heavily chlorinated, and that’s not exactly a subtle taste note in the water.

Simply fill a jug of that heavily chlorinated water and put it in the fridge, all the chlorine will evaporate after few hours. You will get free, cold and good tasting water always available. No need for filter.

Re: How Drinking Bottled Water Became a Thing

#26

Post by e12e » Tue, Nov 11, 2014, 7:15 PM UTC

wil421 wrote: post #15

Evian is the only non flavored water that I have tasted that actually has a different taste to it. Either way I dont drink bottled water because I dislike tap water. Most of the times I dont have a container or a tap to fill up with water. So I am stuck getting a Dasani or Evian from a gas station or vending machine at work.

A container? Like a coffee cup? Were do you work, that doesn't have running water? (And no toilets, I presume?)

Re: How Drinking Bottled Water Became a Thing

#27

Post by ChuckMcM » Tue, Nov 11, 2014, 7:16 PM UTC

kylec wrote: post #18

The tap water in my apartment is disgusting. I tried filtering it, but it still tastes terrible. It doesn't even do a good job of cleaning my dishes in my dishwasher. I buy Poland Spring by the case, keep it in the refrigerator, and drink that instead. I have nothing against drinking tap water in principle, but my actual tap water leaves a lot to be desired.

Interesting, what filter did you use? For simple taste filtering I've used a Brita pitcher with its built in filter, at home I installed a reverse osmosis system that feeds into a silica (sand) filter and an activated charcoal filter. The house one is a bit larger so that it can filter tap water and water that goes to the ice maker in the freezer (the refrigerator has its own filter which on top of the house filter gets replaced every 3 - 4 years).

The reason I've gone to some 'extremes' is that in earthquake country the house filter can do double duty for making drinkable water out of pretty much anything that might get into it after an earthquake.

My experience though has been that pretty much a basic charcoal filter like the Brita gets rid of taste issues pretty effectively.

Re: How Drinking Bottled Water Became a Thing

#28

Post by smacktoward » Tue, Nov 11, 2014, 7:17 PM UTC

maxerickson wrote: post #24

smacktoward wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But who would buy it? Contra the article, I would argue that there's three reasons bottled water became popular: 1) Convenience: no need to tote an empty container around with you, or find one when you're thirsty 2) Status signaling: a.k.a. "tap water is what the proles drink" 3) Collapse of faith in the efficacy of collective action: the rise of Perrier was driven by sales in the US & UK, and occurred during the lat…

Point 3 is confusing to me. In the U.S., government regulation of water quality got a lot stronger in the 1970s: http://www2.epa.gov/laws-regulations/history-clean-water-act http://water.epa.gov/lawsregs/rulesregs/sdwa/index.cfm Between that, advances in technology and the wider deployment of municipal water supplies, U.S. tap water is probably as clean and safe as it has ever been, at least since the beginning of th…

I'm referring to public perception, not facts.

The environmental wave that was symbolized by the first Earth Day resulted in lots of environmental policy improvements in the US by the end of the '70s. But by the time those policy improvements happened, public sentiment had turned away from collective action towards private, market-based action.

Remember, laws lag public opinion, they don't lead it. So the laws that pass today are responses to public opinion as it stood at some point in the past.

Re: How Drinking Bottled Water Became a Thing

#29

Post by smacktoward » Tue, Nov 11, 2014, 7:20 PM UTC

mortenjorck wrote: post #7

I know expecting rigorous science from an entertainment program is always asking a bit much, but the Penn & Teller gourmet-water prank always struck me as flawed given the social dynamics at play. Most people in that situation are going to feel some social pressure to acknowledge some sort of qualities in what they are being served, whether from fear of appearing unsophisticated or simply out of a desire to be polite…

True, but that's really no different than the dynamics around bottled water -- if everyone around you is drinking bottled water, and they all insist it tastes better than tap water, it creates social pressure for you to drink it and say that too, even if you don't believe it. The easiest thing for people to do is always to go along with the crowd.

Re: How Drinking Bottled Water Became a Thing

#30

Post by Bill_Dimm » Tue, Nov 11, 2014, 7:22 PM UTC

dbtc wrote: post #16

therealdrag0 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That seems like a pretty good business idea. Even for 25c I'd buy it. Especially at like airports.

If they were flexible enough to be collapsed then shipping and storage would be significantly cheaper than bottled water too.

It's been done (not $0.25, though): http://grrrltraveler.com/top-packing-tips/vapur-water-bottle...