[cp8ir]

How long can you use one Brita cartridge if you only go through 1 or 2 pitcher-fulls a week? They claim several months, but I felt like I kept getting sick after drinking the water and wondered if my filter was growing something after only a couple of weeks, even in the refrigerator. And the plastic pitcher gave the water a plastic-y aftertaste. I feel guilty drinking bottled stuff again, but was tired of being sick.

 

[eruditass]

plastic bad!

i've read too many leaking contaminant articles to drink bottled water.

 

[Maxvla]

I can taste the difference between tap and good bottled water just as easily as i could tell orange juice from milk, the difference is very plain.

I only drink Ozarka (regional brand) water. Not only is it the best water, always crisp and clean, but the bottles are made of less plastic than most companies and they are very devoted to recycling and I try to recycle them if I'm able to. I have one of those office style coolers in my house (so its basically 'on tap' as you guys were saying) and usually go through 1-1 1/2 5 gallon jugs a month (~$7 per), but I buy 24 packs of it for when I need one for the road.

So I spend about $12 a month on bottled water, or 40 cents a day, certainly nothing to gripe about. Good water can be cheap, you just have to go about it right.

 

[smeggy]

I refuse to drink water neat unless there's nothing else available.

 

[Maxvla]

Quote:

Originally Posted by smeggy /img/forum/go_quote.gif I refuse to drink water neat unless there's nothing else available.

How on earth do you stay hydrated? I drink almost nothing but water unless I'm forced to into some fast food and get a rare soda. At restaurants I'll usually get wine as I don't trust them to have proper water. (I'm laughing at myself for that last one, how backwards that must sound!)

 

[smeggy]

I do things the old fashioned way, when I'm thirsty I drink something. Just not water. Pretty simple really.

 

[Planar_head]

Can't say I'm a water nut, but I can't stand the taste of plastic cups with water. I went out and bought glass cups just so I can drink water out of 'em.

On the same note, I'm not a fan of bottled water, either. Tastes a shade plastiky to me, but I never tried the fancier bottled water, so I guess I'm slightly biased.

No tap water for me unless I'm dying of something horrible and just need to drink water.

 

[Maxvla]

@planar_head: there are lots of very bad bottlers that leave that plasticy taste, just got to try them all to find one you like. I'm lucky to have good reasonably priced water here, I don't know if I could bring myself to buy stuff like Fuji water which is like 5 times the price of what I buy.

 

[xnothingpoetic]

I guess it depends where you live and where your tap water comes from, how it is treated, how polluted your source is (think lakes), and sometimes your plumbing.Tap water quality varies greatly from city to city.

I am fortunate to live in a place with excellent tap water. It tastes great, and bottled water doesn't taste much, if any, better (and sometimes worse). The city even puts in a small amount of fluoride in it.

 

[skiingemt]

I'm not a big fan of the tap water around here- it tastes like chlorine at best, and occasionally on a bad day it'll taste like soap. I'm surprised to see so many of you say how neutral Fiji water is- maybe I got a bad bottle, but when I tried it, it tasted like minerals in an unpleasant way. So far Aquafina is the most neutral water I've tried, and is my first choice if it's available. Dannon water is okay too, surprisingly. It's not quite neutral, but isn't unpleasant.

 

[subtle]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maxvla /img/forum/go_quote.gif I only drink Ozarka (regional brand) water. Not only is it the best water

LOL. Are you serious?

I used to live in Texas and went to school at SHSU in Huntsville for a time. That is where the springs are that Ozarka gets its "spring water" from. You know how they get around legally being able to label their spring water as such? They mix 100 million gallons of spring water with 900 million gallons of municipal city water.

Crisp and clean? I'll give you crisp, but I'm not so sure about clean. It most definitely is not "the best water".

 

[subtle]

Quote:

Originally Posted by smeggy /img/forum/go_quote.gif I do things the old fashioned way, when I'm thirsty I drink something. Just not water. Pretty simple really.

You should do some basic research.

When you experience the feeling of being thirsty, you are already in the initial stages of dehydration. That's horrible on the human body, especially with regularity.

 

[MD1032]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gatto /img/forum/go_quote.gif Nalgene bottles have been proven to leak toxic chemicals into the water that they hold, from what I've heard they've only proven it dangerous to children but I'd be careful anyway.

What are you talking about? I don't own one of those things, but last time I checked, they were made of plastic, and while I'm sure there's a chance that a small amount of leftover chemicals in the plastic will leak into the water in the bottle, we're talking probably on the order of parts per billion... certainly nothing that can possibly harm a human body. I believe they've done studies with mice, but mice are a tiny, tiny percentage of the size of the human body and we're much more adept at taking care of stray chemicals compared to mice.

 

[subtle]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MD1032 /img/forum/go_quote.gif What are you talking about? I don't own one of those things, but last time I checked, they were made of plastic, and while I'm sure there's a chance that a small amount of leftover chemicals in the plastic will leak into the water in the bottle, we're talking probably on the order of parts per billion... certainly nothing that can possibly harm a human body. I believe they've done studies with mice, but mice are a tiny, tiny percentage of the size of the human body and we're much more adept at taking care of stray chemicals compared to mice.

Exactly. There are various forms of plastic that leach far more than parts per billion and BPA's have a VERY harmful affect on the human body.

Do you take the time to research stuff so you can make an informed opinion, or do you just rely on guessing and chance?

A Smart Guide to Plastics | GreeniacsGuides

cbs4.com - Is Your Sports Bottle Safe From BPA?

 

[Omega]

Quote:

Originally Posted by subtle /img/forum/go_quote.gif Exactly. There are various forms of plastic that leach far more than parts per billion and BPA's have a VERY harmful affect on the human body. Do you take the time to research stuff so you can make an informed opinion, or do you just rely on guessing and chance? A Smart Guide to Plastics | GreeniacsGuides cbs4.com - Is Your Sports Bottle Safe From BPA?

Ooh, you touched a sore spot. I know the research, I do it. Show me some real evidence (= data, not heresay) that any harmful chemicals leech from a Nalgene bottle at any biologically relevant concentration and I'll retract my assertion that you are dead wrong. Shoot, I'll even lower the bar and eat crow if you can find good data for an off-the-shelf bottle made of PVC or polystyrene that leaches significant levels of plasticizer or styrene monomer.

"Chemicals" is not a dirty word. Everything around us is made of chemicals. Parroting the claim that bisphenol-A is harmful is very misleading, since "harmful" is a relative thing. Harmful at what concentration? Bleach is harmful too, it kills nearly all microorganisms in under 1 second. But I will drink bleach at a concentration of 1 nanomolar (same order of magnitude as 1 part per million in a water volume, IIRC) and have no ill effects. In fact, I do. We all do.

This all stems from a misunderstanding of the basic chemical nature of things. Concentration matters. Kinetics matter. Bioavailability matters.

I'm responding in an aggressive way because you responded in an aggressive way to previous posters, and I've found that aggressive people tend to respond best to aggression. Still, I think it is good to maintain some level of mutual respect, and I refrain from calling you ignorant or lacking an informed opinion...as you did to the previous poster.

You are probably an intelligent, caring human, who has simply not been exposed to good science or discourse in this area. Here's your chance. Prove me wrong! Open your mind, construct a hypothesis, and then try to disprove it with good data. If you want to truly convince people instead of brow-beating them...you must do so with respect.