Bottled water

Isn't tunbridge wells a spa town? seems ironic that they ran out of water

petra

Luckygirl3

There is a thread about this on mumsnet and I am kind boggled that there are people who never drink tap water but buy all their water in plastic bottles all the time.
Am I alone in finding this quite extraordinary?
All that plastic waste to deal with! What an environmental disaster!

The blame lies with Perrier. They started the craze in the 70s
Together with the new technology Re plastics.
The only time we have used bottled water was one winter in Spain with the motohome. All the standby taps had been turned off because of a water shortage.

Good job you don't live in Tunbridge Wells then. 😂 Three weeks without water in December 2025 and a few outages since then. I keep a supply.

I shoild also own up to having 24 large bottles in the garage. Just in case.

Our mains water is lovely and cold and tastes just like water. I think in England cold water comes through a tank in the attic, doesn't it, not like here?

Yesterday my tap water was yellow in colour so I drank bottled water until it cleared

It was the bottled water makers who started the craze for ‘hydration’ and everyone carrying water around all the time. They invented the false figure of people needing 8 glasses (or whatever it was) of water daily.
Strange that humans have survived since the Stone Age just relying on thirst to tell them when to drink.

Luckygirl3

There is a thread about this on mumsnet and I am kind boggled that there are people who never drink tap water but buy all their water in plastic bottles all the time.
Am I alone in finding this quite extraordinary?
All that plastic waste to deal with! What an environmental disaster!

The blame lies with Perrier. They started the craze in the 70s
Together with the new technology Re plastics.
The only time we have used bottled water was one winter in Spain with the motohome. All the standby taps had been turned off because of a water shortage.

I should qualify my statement about water all over Europe being safe - occasionally there are issues such as after very heavy rain or contamination in a reservoir and advice is given to boil water.

Good old Scottish tap water here for us - but I do admit to buying a pack of bottled water which we keep in our motorhome for emergencies, such as if we are staying 'off grid' with no access to a water tap.

I but fruit flavour water in small bottles because I prefer the flavour. I recycle the bottles.

Otherwise our water is filtered either through the fridge or the hot tap.

I like our tap water, but I couldn't drink the water in London unless it was boiled / had squash in it. Our flat's was particularly bad - tasted as though something had died in the cold water tank.

Long ago, many people in continental Europe only drank bottled water, as tap water was potentially unsafe. However, since the EU brought in regulations about water quality, the tap water all over Europe is safe to drink. When we're on holidays we always drink tap water - even from bathroom tap in hotel - and have never had a problem.
Some may have a water supply that doesn't taste so good, which might justify buying it, I've never bought any for taste reasons - maybe I'm lucky where I live!

Am afraid we do have bottled water in our online delivery, we have Thames Water and several times over the past few years there have been outbreaks of diarrhoea and vomiting caused by contaminated water when we were asked not to use the supply even using a filter.
We just don’t trust our suppliers.

Plastic waste is recycled as you must know- often very imaginatively.
I once had a very soft scarf which felt like cashmere which was made from recycled plastic bottle!
I buy bottled sparkling water for the principal reason that I prefer the taste which I assume I am permitted to do?

Luckygirl3

Some of the bottled water sold in supermarkets is filtered tap water!

Comments such as this always remind me of the Only Fools And Horses episode, when Del Boy and Rodney started producing and selling ‘Peckham Spring Water’, straight from the tap, which led to a water shortage!

When we lived in a City I was always amazed at the immigrants who had trolleys full of bottled water

How could you tell their residential status?

I buy big bottles of sparkling water. The rest of my water consumption comes via the tap

I've been put off using the water stations at work after doing a biology class where we swabbed them for bacteria

Some of the bottled water sold in supermarkets is filtered tap water!

Tap water for me every time.

When we lived in a City I was always amazed at the immigrants who had trolleys full of bottled water..

We have lived all over the country and water does vary, Thames water was the worst, we came home from 2 weeks away and there was some water in a sink that had accidentally been left, it had little shrimps in it🤮.
We had tests they said it was acceptable, we bought a filter, boiled and filtered all our drinking water.

For 3 years we lived in a house with our own spring water.
It was bliss, we had to have regular testing it was pure and delicious.

Kinda mind boggled!