http://www.physorg.com/news95523284.html - Perception, Status and Bottled Water

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In a new study, University of Arkansas researchers argue that consumers buy bottled water because they perceive it to be purer, safer and healthier than municipal water. Further findings suggest that young and high-income people, guided by the perception of higher quality, are more likely to purchase bottled water and home-filtration systems. Purchasing bottled water also carries a degree of status, or "snob appeal," the researchers found.
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I accept most tap water is perfectly safe, yet it usually tastes nasty. That's why I go for bottled.

snob

Don't be jealous just because I am clear and crispy.

I find the chlorine or fluorine unpalatable. I let the water sit for a few hours (in a carafe) to let the gas escape. It tastes good then. I swear that's 80% of Brita's secret, letting the water sit, not the fancy filters.

My parents drive out to a natural spring for their water -- all it is is a PVC pipe that sticks out of the ground in the middle of a forest and people come and fill up water containers. I've done that a couple times, even in winter. They fill up enough water to last 3-4 months. The water tastes fantastic - mineral content so high it's almost salty.

I wash in mineral water. Fortunately it comes through the tap.

I get my Lanka water from a well. Tastes great; all I need is a carbon filter to get the sand out.

Tap water varies wildly. When I lived in Jubail the water in the industrial city was great, but that in the town was vile. People that lived in town and wanted to save money would go round and fill plastic cans from taps in friends' gardens.

One of the biggest swindles, both in Saudi and India, is refilling mineral water bottles from the municipal supply. In India you'll even find suppliers of bottled water who admit they take it from the municipal supply and filter it; they're the honest ones.

In terms of water safety tap water is safe in pretty well every city in the world. In India you can drink water from a standpipe with no problem; the danger comes from those pristine mountain streams, where there is no clorination or testing, and which may well be poisoned by fecal matter upstream (reminds me of the interchange between an Egyptian and a Sudani: "Sudanis are so primitive they shit in the Nile,", said the Egyptian. "Yea, and you drink it afterwards," was the reply).

Still worth getting your source of drinking water tested. In Bangladesh water-driven diseases plummetted as the result of the digging of thousands of shallow bore wells. Years later they found the water table was contaminated with arsenic.

I've seen Indian tap water. It was yellow and we were warned not to touch it. We didn't.

Ah, I LOVE the smell of chlorinated water.  Smells like CLEAN!

True, it doesn't do anything for the flavor.

Let it stand in a wide-mouthed jug for a couple of hours. Tip: this also works for some unapproachable red wines :)

hm.  we always boiled and filtered our water in India.  didn't fully trust the municipal water supply.  but we didn't particularly trust bottled water there either.

>> One of the biggest swindles, both in Saudi and India, is refilling mineral water bottles from the municipal supply.

That happens in the states too. Coca Cola (or maybe it's Pepsi) sells Dasani which is just municipal water. It may be the best muni water within 50 miles of your house, but it's still muni water.

I sometimes go fishing in one of Boston's reservoir. Salmon, bass. Can't legally touch the water, not even with one toe, just the fish when you pull them out.

The idea being that the reservoir water is "untouched by human hands".

But they let fish poop in it.  Takes all kinds to make a world.

I don't think they yell at you if you use bucket up some water. I don't think they care if you gut the fish and wash your knife off. Or take a pee in the woods.

>>That happens in the states too. Coca Cola (or maybe it's Pepsi) sells Dasani which is just municipal water.

It's also purified and enhanced with minerals.  Whether or not that makes it better is for the individual to decide, but it is not just muni water.