FYI, Dasani, the last I looked was nothing more than tap water run through reverse osmosis. And yes... bottled water is a scam. Here's an ABC News / 20/20 story on it from last year : http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Health/story?id=728070&page=1
Interesting read, DoD. It reminds me of an exhibit at the Ontario Science Centre which had three water fountains; one contained bottled water, one contained filtered water and the other contained plain Toronto tap water. People would drink from all three and then punch in how they ranked them on a computer terminal, which kept a running tally of all the results. Anway, most people preferred the plain Toronto tap water, with filtered water coming in second, and the bottled water a distant third. Pretty much all of the bottled water industry's success depends upon a carefully marketed image that bottled water tastes better and is healthier, which has been shown to be untrue. I think that most people are simply being manipulated subconsciously by the media. For the record, I find most bottled waters taste too flat and flavourless. I'd take a nice big glass of tap water over a bottle of Aquafina any day of the week. For the record, both my GF and I (she's a regular filtered/bottled water drinker; she rarely ever drinks tap) preferred the Toronto tap water in the science exhibit by far.
Water is supposed to be free damnit. Drink from the tap, even though its not exactly free since you have to pay for plumbing. But, buying water regularly in the US is a joke. It's acceptable in third-world countries wear the tap water may have contaminants but US water is mostly clean.
The first thing my uncle told me when I moved to Manhattan was to drink the tap water. It hasnt killed me yet.
FYI, As I said earlier, I do drink the tap water here in Austin, but very rarely did I do so back home due to problems with the water system there. The system would fail several times, meaning no water for residents or if there was water available, we'd have to boil the water in case of contamination (the tests for contamination sometimes took a while to finish BTW). I also remember having rust-colored water coming out of the facet, not something I'd particularly want to drink. It just seemed easier to stock up on bottled water and drink that than having to worry about having no water (or rusty water), or having to worry about boiling the water. Maybe in other parts of the country, the tap water is as healthy or even healthier than bottled water, but I don't think that was the case where I lived. I think the town got a grant to work on the water system late last year. You can read more about it here if you want: http://www.thevictoriaadvocate.com/front/story/3061722p-3551772c.html Placedo is my hometown BTW.
I've always thought that Evian tasted like crap and I've always liked Aquafina the best, so I totally agree with this study. For me it's not about the health, but the flavor. You can definitely tell the difference in taste after water has gone through reverse osmosis even if that's all they do.
I don't drink tap either. Its just not as smooth as bottled water. On average I spend about 3-4 bucks a week. I usually buy those 1 gallon water containers that go for 99 cents apiece. I finish one in about two days.
$3.99 for a case of 24 ozarka bottled water at HEB...can't beat that. comes out to about 17 cents each...very cheap. by the way tap water has Fluoride, which is very beneficial for your teeth and bones. (your kids should get tap water for sure)
That was a huge ripoff of Penn and Teller: Bull$hit that was nominated for an Emmy the year before.. http://www.sho.com/site/ptbs/prevepisodes.do?episodeid=s1/bw Click on the "Watch Video Preview"
OT Da-Glyde, do you listen to Penn's radio show? It's an hour every weekday 1-2 CST and it's podcasted. Pretty good stuff if you like the Showtime show. http://penn.freefm.com/
