I’d forgotten that one. Brilliant… But I’d still drink bottled water if I lived in Dublin…

I bought my first Brita 9 years ago in London and would not be without one. It has taken me from there to Maynooth to Dublin City Centre and now to Cork city. I drink at least 2 litres a day and the filter really makes a difference. to the taste of water. Mad to buy bottled water? Yes!

“At the height of Perrier’s popularity, Bruce Nevins was asked on a live network radio show one morning to pick Perrier from a lineup of seven carbonated waters served in paper cups. It took him five tries.”

Some very good points in this article:

http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/117/features-message-in-a-bottle.html?page=0%2C0

One that stuck immediately is that there is now the possibility of buying bottled water in vending machines (something I never had when I was young).

Regarding taste – the water in my building in Dublin tastes fine and tastes great when chilled. I normally buy tap water for the plastic bottle!

Worst scenario for water has to be the charges in airports though. They know we need it and they charge through the nose for it. Sometimes in England, I’ve found the McDonald’s to have the cheapest water…

Live in Dublin. Tap water perfectly ok. The only place I wouldn’t is Ennis region, where it tastes like an armpit looks on a hot day in China.

The taste of Dublin’s water varies widely from area to area. I only drink tap water and I like the taste of most of Dublin’s supply. Taste depends a lot on the pipes used in an area and also the water tank of the premises. Bottled water has a dead non-taste to me, and I think for the people who don’t like the taste of tap water it is because they are used to bottled.
The main concerns for me with bottled are the environmental factors and the fact that bottled water is not regulated properly, and the health issues associated with drinking out of plastic. I take a small glass bottle with screw cap from a store bought juice drink, and fill that from the tap when I head out of the house. The large glass juice bottles I fill up for long car journeys etc. These bottles are really sturdy and I stick them in the dishwasher to sanitise them regularly. As far as water filters go, think about getting ones with long lasting ceramic filters, you only have to change them once a year. Lets face it, most people don’t change their filters often enough as they are so expensive, so they are kidding themselves as to the quality of the “filtered” water. Consider also the number of those filters going to landfill. You can also buy filter jugs with refillable cartridges, again saving waste and money. One brand of refillable cartridges actually fit a number of other brands’ jugs so you don’t have to throw out your old jug, just buy the refillable cartridge.

Bottled water is expensive, wasteful and incredibly bad for the environment. Think of the energy to collect, bottle and transport, not to mention the plastic and energy involved in manufacturing the bottle (designed for single-use, of course).

Solve all three by buying a filter. It isn’t rocket science.

I never used to buy bottled water for obvious environmental reasons. I have recently started to do so which really bothers me, but after I discovered the truth about what’s in our water I refuse to drink it unless really desperate. Yes, it contains chlorine, but the most worrying additive is Fluoride. Flouride is industrial waste from the aluminium industry, one of the most toxic and reactive substances known, and is added to our water supply as a result of some very dubious science originating in the US in the1950’s (funded incidentally by the aluminium industry) which credits it with improving dental health. A claim which is increasingly challenged by independent scientists and dentists. Recent studies indicate that fluoride accumulates in the body, and calcifies in the glands, the pineal gland particularly.
Studies further suggest a lowering of IQ as a result of early and long-term exposure. Ireland is the only EU country which mandates by law the addition of fluoride to public water supplies. Why are we poisoning ourselves? If you can get your hands on it, read a book called The Fluoride Deception.

Bad science is correct as usual.

Just because it’s in a book, doesn’t mean it’s correct.

Neil,

I wholeheartedly agree that access in public areas to mains water is a must. However, in relation to access to “untainted” water, the most recent EPA report shows that over 95% of public water supplies are perfectly safe to drink. And don’t forget that private bottled water is not immune from contamination (Perrier) or even coming from the taps (Coca Cola’s Dasani).

Of course, significant improvements can and should be made on the quality and availability of the public water supply but I think this is the solution, not bottled water.

Glass bottles are fine, but clear plastic bottles leach toxins into the water and should not be re-used. That’s why they have the ‘Recycle 1′ symbol on them.

Water can cure many ailments but whether mineral water is ‘better’ than tap water is unclear, considering the cost in Ireland.
http://www.watercure.com/

I am from south Galway and live in the countryside. Beside our garage we have a water tank with dimensions of 2X2X4 metres which collects rain water from the roof of our house. My father built it back in the 70s and we have had fresh clean water ever since. We got it tested by a company trying to sell us filters for tap water and they found it was the cleanest water they had ever tested. Therefore I would highly recommend people building them. The last time we had problems with it was in the early 90s, back when we had nice summers, (remember them?)!

When bottled water came on the market first my father thought it was the most ridiculous thing he had ever heard – “More expensive than petrol”.

Tara is right, there are different grades of bottled water, spring waters such as Ballygowan, Perrier etc are bottled from source and are not allowed to go under any sterilisation/filtration. Hence sometimes in your office water cooler tank you might see a build up of algae. Also, these waters can be very high in mineral content depending on the source – this is particularly the case on waters from mainland Europe.

There are bottled waters out there that have more than likely been filled from the tap and sterilised – perfectly legal. Just can’t be called mineral waters.

Also the FSAI has recently reported that greater than 5% of bottled waters are high in E. coli (indicative of faecal contamination).