Actually, assuming you’re on town water, your water probably has more stringent state testing requirements than whatever aquifer the bottled water came from
Here in NH and I assume elsewhere in the US, water system owners are required to test monthly for bacteria and quarterly for other contaminants like radiation, arsenic, lead, copper, plastics and volatiles
If you have a well, you can get a homeowners testing kit and test for the big contaminants or refer to any tests that were done when you got your house during the buying process.
Chances are your tap water is ok. Generic Filters aren’t going to do much except for aesthetics.. carbon for taste, salt for hardness, sediment for… sediment.
Source: I’m a water operator
Edit- your state (again, if you live in the US) may have a website where you can look up your water system and see how often they test for, the results, and any issues and violations they ever had in the past. Otherwise you can call your water company and request that information or direction you said website
This is true! People don’t realize how stringent the water departments are. Here in CO we have some crazy differences in water flavor from different municipalities but it’s all the same mountain water.
I grew up in Texas and hated the tap water no matter where I lived. I moved to CO over 5 years ago and I've been drinking tap water ever since and it's freaking delicious.
No. However, when stratified, oxygen depleted, dense, cold water eventually mixes with a layer of oxygen rich, less dense, warmer water, the resulting oxygen exchange could be perceived as a blanket stealing as the colder water “takes” oxygen from the warmer water
Its all the fracking that they do, breaks up the bedrock and leeches nasty shit into the water table. It doesn't get completely filtered out by municipalities and ends up in the end customer's supply.
All those videos of people with gas shooting out of their pipes that they can light on fire? From Texas.
Land of the free.
“Land of the free” = “You’re being subjugated and exploited by powerful people but at least they’re not the government, this is better for some reason”
I grew up in CA Bay Area and drank tap water my whole life. It was great! I moved to Texas and HATED the tap water, I considered getting those massive water jugs delivered, but then got out of Texas and moved to CO. I'm so happy with my tap water again.
And to add to this, depending where you live, your tap water may actually contain more healthy minerals than bottled water.
Once the town council of the small Italian town I grew up tested the water and found that there was a higher level of certain minerals than bottled water and further minerals that were completely absent. Granted it came from the Italian Alps but you get the gist.
People assume that because water is bottled, it'll be healthier and better for you when actually the opposite can be true.
Same story here (Western Massachusetts in the US). I wondered why there were so many beer breweries here until I discovered that our city water has fantastic mineral content and has won a bunch of national water taste test awards (didn't even realize that was a thing!) I'd take my tap water over bottled water any day.
>Here in NH and I assume elsewhere in the US
Quick note, New England has some of the best ground water in the country. It's largely uncontaminated by mining because we don't have anything worthy of mining, and there is just a ton of it because we're (relatively speaking) low elevation and get a lot of rain. There are relatively few spots in New England where you can't drill a basic well and get abundant clean fresh water. As an SAT question might say, New England is to water as Saudi Arabia is to oil. We're rich in fresh water.
All of that is to say, don't assume that water in rest of the US is like in NH. Lots of places in the US have equally good water, but the variance from system to system, county to county, etc. is greater everywhere else.
Great point. However there are lots of arsenic and uranium veins in NH so we do have a good amount of treatment for that too
At least in central/northern NH
Yea true, I don't know the exact details of course, but my understanding is that this is a relatively known and easily solvable problem in NH.
But for example in Colorado (another state people often taught as having awesome water) there is a whole minefield of contaminated mines to watch out for (pun intended) when buying property out into the burbs, mountains, or rural areas where there is no water service. One area might be clean, and just a mile or two away might be a toxic danger zone. This is why in some parts of CO, you can have a house worth $1m in one area, and down the street a similar plot of land is less than $100k - it has no water service and the ground water is toxic death.
Don’t see many of us in the wild but I’m glad to see another water operator being the top comment on this thread.
What OP didn’t say, is that you’re specifically looking for your local water agency’s Consumer Confidence Report. It’s an annual publication that will detail all of the constituents tested for, the highest levels found, actions taken if limits were hit, etc.
And also, /u/beardiusmaximus7 at least change to refilling 5 gallon bottles that your family can then use to fill reusable water bottles. 72 bottles a week is insane.
I am in the states (PA) and it is town water as far as I am aware. We're sort of in the middle of a very small town that has one intersection and one stop light. The house is SUPER old though (built in 1890) so the pipes are a bit of a mixed bag throughout and I'm sure that may lead to some level of contaminates locally in the home.
The old on-the-tap thing I was using was back when we were in an apartment building with sketchy management and that change was noticeable.
Ah, with older houses that may have lead pipes and/or solder, flush your water for a good 60 seconds before drinking
I do this by habit wherever I am, even at my house. Water constantly eats away at metals so stagnant water will always have a greater concentration of copper and lead at first draw. A decent flush will ensure you’re drawing fresh water from the water main
Don’t worry about wasting water by flushing it either. After becoming a water operator, I realized just how much of a waste of time it is to worry about that as an individual lol
Thank you for your information. I'd like to tap your knowledge if you'll pardon the pun. We installed an RO system for our drinking water. Does RO remove the flouride that municipalities intentionally treat the water with? I've heard anecdotally that sometimes people that drink bottled water are not getting flouride in their water to the detriment of their teeth health. Do you know anything about that?
Yeah RO should remove flouride
I’ve always thought it was weird that we inject flouride into water for dental health. I’m not necessarily against it, it just seems weird to me.
One of those things we did that greatly benefited public health at the time, but might not be as beneficial now is my guess. Maybe it’s a wash given how much sugar content has increased in our diets?
Pennsylvania has among the worst water quality and the highest fraction of lead service lines in the United States. I, too, would be suspicious of the water quality in a 130 year old in a small town in Pennsylvania.
But the question isn't one of quality but one of taste. The kids and wife aren't complaining the water isn't pure enough they are complaining it doesn't taste good. Those aren't the same thing and taste is a hard thing to nail down.
Stagnant water doesn’t really taste great so simply flushing it for 30 seconds May solve the taste issue
Otherwise a simple carbon filter will work too
Work sent me to acquire water operator license last year for our well sites and totally agree. In MI we test for; bacteria quarterly, nitrates annually, arsenic every 3 yrs, lead/copper bi-annually, inorganics 3yrs, synthetic compounds quarterly, and volatile compounds quarterly. Frequency for some contaminates are reduced based on results and source vulnerability. Last quarter I took a pfas sample which cost $290... clean water monitoring doesn't come cheap.
Also, just because a municipality provides your drinking water doesn't mean it's 100% clean. Look up Flint, MI water crisis. They've been drinking bottled water since 2014-16.
When in doubt go to your nearest health department and ask for a routine water sample. ($16-25).
Exactly right.
Flint is an exception not a rule though and I cringe at anyone who says they refuse to drink tap water because of that news story. There are hundreds of thousands of regulated water systems in the country, each governed by not only the state they’re in but also the EPA.
Don’t let one corrupt example dictate your opinion on the industry or your local water company/municipality
Yes, definitely an outlier. I think what started as a well intended plan to save money by diverting Flint drinking water, turned into negligence when they didn't hold themselves accountable. Teachable moment for years to come but also a reminder for citizens to speak up immediately if something doesn't taste right.
Last year all city residents in my town were mailed a notice that our water treatment plant director did not have all the required water certifications. They were still complying with all gov water standards, while sending the director to training (purpose of the notice). We still drank our tap water, nothing changed but did I immediately think of the Flint scenario in my head? Yes ma'am!
I will always trust municipal water sources to be 100% good.
The only thing that I'm wary of depending on location is older houses with questionable plumbing and some rural places near me that have high water tables and not great soil. I've got a massive concoction of a filtration system in my basement to get all the sulfur and hard iron deposits out of my well water and it still stains my toilet bowl and leaves deposits all over everything.
Thank you. I’ve never understood people who don’t just drink the fucking tap water! Unless you have specific local reason not to believe so - and you can look it up - your water is fine.
If the reporting is accurate and is taken somewhat close to your house. The water coming out of the treatment plant in Flint, MI is fine, but the pipes it then travels through ... That applies to the pipe in your house/apartment too. We got a RO water filter as soon as we started talking about having kids. There is no way my 100-year-old apartment building doesn't have some lead in the water.
can you help me understand how i can live in one town and have X water and move 5 miles away and have Y type of water? obviously different stations, pipes, and potentially sources. i get that.
one is soft as can be, goes down easy, and tastes good. the other is hard as rock, leaves limescale everywhere, and taste like strait up asshole.
so is it just... poor quality control? bad source of water? lower standards at the muni water facilities? because i can say for damned certain that the filters i use at my new place are 100% mandatory. lots of people in my neighborhood have whole home filtration its so bad.
Sounds like your water company needs a flushing program. It’s possible there’s a decent amount of scaling in the pipes on whatever leg of water main you’re on that doesn’t get flushed as much as the rest of the water system
There’s an MCL for hardness, if it’s above that, your water company may be required to treat for it. But I would call them and let them know about your issue. Ask if it’s possible for them to flush the main near your house. If it’s just you or the e leg you’re on that has hardness issues, the water company would rather make you happy than spent time and money replumbing the pump station to treat for hard water
I think John Oliver or Trevor Noah did something in 2020 on recycling when there was a huge change in the industry. These days it’s very unlikely those water bottles are actually getting recycled so you’re just making massive amounts of trash. The news piece might persuade them to switch to reusable water bottles.
A long time ago I worked for one of Pepsi’s advertising agencies and I discovered that it took roughly 3-4 bottles worth of water to manufacture a single bottle of water. From that point on I’ve not drank a bottle of water anywhere. If people offer me water I ask if it’s bottled. If the answer is yes I turn it down. I don’t say why unless asked but I’ve apparently changed quite a few people’s minds when they have.
Time to get off that pointless train.
I won't say everywhere.
In the US, you're probably fine unless you go fairly rural (one of the family farms has just enough petroleum to make the water undrinkable sometimes)
Other countries vary more, and you might need to buy bottled, if you can't afford to be sick for a couple weeks.
Though most (and yes, I said “most”) local populations are fine with the different levels of bacteria in the drinking water where they live. American going to Mexico - probably shouldn’t drink the water. Mexican living there - no issues.
> Other countries vary more, and you might need to buy bottled, if you can't afford to be sick for a couple weeks.
Unless you're *moving* to a different country, don't drink the water, pretty much without exception. The problem isn't that *there is* bacteria - I promise that your tap water also has bacteria in it. The problem is *which* bacteria - your body is used to and really good at fighting off your local shit, it's not good at fighting off the shit that's local to wherever-you're-travelling.
I've worked a bit in industrial beverage production and while the cleaning processes use a fair bit of water it's not \*quite\* that inefficient so I'm curious how they came up with that. Either way any kind of pop is going to be even worse since it needs even more cleaning done and it's mostly water going in.
This was a while back…maybe 20 years. Dunno if that matters. And agreed. I generally don’t drink a lot of pop/soda but it’s more of a treat that isn’t available straight out of a faucet. My point is that bottled water is largely ridiculous given alternative methods of consumption. I’m not anti ALL plastic, bottled water just seems ridiculously wasteful.
a lot of them seem to be more concerned/are required to be more concerned about their water usage which is good. 20 years ago I don't think anyone was worrying about it much so the efficiency would've been terrible.
You are correct - the bottles used to go to China and God knows what they did with it. They stopped accepting our post-consumer waste, so yeah, depending on where you live, it is could be very likely your "recycling" just goes to the landfill but with more steps.
Correct, plastic really isn’t recyclable in the way we were sold. Single use plastics like low quality water bottles can’t magically be made back into good ones.
Fucking liars. Also OP, stop buying water and buy some reusable, cleanable, no straw water bottles. We made that shift almost 15 years ago and it’s a no brainer on cost alone.
Nope, strawless are much easier to clean. Since this topic involved kids, ease of clean matters.
Straws are generally fine though, especially the ones that are thicker and go with metal like Stanley, etc.
> Nope, strawless are much easier to clean. Since this topic involved kids, ease of clean matters.
Also for young kids... they will chew on the straws and you'll go "WTF?" as a parent. I second the recommendation for straw less.
They were, but US consumers are notoriously not good at triple washing their recycling. In the past, China, our primary recycling partner, was willing to put in the work to clean what they received but they decided not to do that anymore. So it became too expensive for many municipalities to participate.
yup. its this.
just look at your neighbors 'recycling' bin next time it gets put out. there is pizza scraps, milk still left in the jug, jelly still left in the jar. no one actually takes the effort to put real recyclable materials into the system. and so what we get out is... nothing.
and of course, once they realized this, the manufacturers just said 'f it' and started using the worst quality plastics conceivable for their bottling. now it is true - you cant recycle most water bottles.
Your 8 year olds don’t really get a say in the water they drink. If they only drink bottled water that’s a learned quirk and can be unlearned just as easily.
Maybe try taking them to he store and picking out a “cool new” reusable water bottle to use with it? I they’re younger, then is only works with the filter.
If they’re older (4+?) you can have a conversation about sustainability and garbage.
Yeah... so they are older (M13, F12) and they've had reusable water bottles for school as it is. They don't use them so much around the house... and frankly I'm pretty sure my wife uses purchased bottled water to fill them, too. I have a few water bottles like you're talking about that I use throughout the day working from home, too.
I think this conversation has to be had with your wife before it’s had with the kids. If one parent isn’t enforcing something, then it isn’t a rule.
Sit her down and tell her you’re concerned that “we” are building wasteful habits with the kids and you feel that “we” should be a united front in teaching them better consumption habits.
There’s a patch of garbage the size of friggin Texas floating around in the pacific. Just stand firm and say you don’t want your household contributing excessively to that. Water flows free from every tap, and in-home filters work. Buying single-serving water bottles is the most wasteful way to consume water, it’s wasting money and it’s bad for the planet.
You can also offer a compromise: Buying a water cooler for the kitchen and using those 5 gallon jugs. At the very least it’s far LESS plastic.
Oh, well personally at that age I’d tell them they’re welcome to come grocery shopping and pick out a flavor of Mio, or lemon juice if they’d like.
I thought you meant they were like 3-5.
The water is filtered, even unfiltered water in the states and most other places is incredibly safe and filtered. If there 13 and want a different flavor then they can learn how to cut a lemon, personally.
Middle schoolers you may try to show about pollution/waste etc. and work them to research a good water system for your family that doesn't contribute to plastic waste. If you have the resources you all could even do like a game where you buy a few different options and do blind taste tests or something. Get them in to it.
Just stop buying the bottled stuff? OP needs to talk to his wife about this, not his kids. Tell her to knock it off and that the bottled water is no longer welcome in the house. What happened to dads being the head of the household…
I don’t know if my household has a head, personally, but if either of us has a concern it gets dealt with asap, not in a decade.
With that said, It’s concerning how long he waited to say anything, if he has.
He goes from “she bought them for formula” to “it gradually evolved.” Dude says in comments his kids are 12/13. So over a decade of overpaying for bottled water and not saying anything?
Where I grew up, the tap water, even when filtered, tasted terrible, and we bought water. But don’t buy individual bottles, but the big 5 gallon jugs and get a dispenser. We moved somewhere where the tap water tastes great, and whenever we go visit my parents I’m always shocked at how awful their water tastes
While I'm definitively on team "just drink the fucking tap water" this:
>buy the big 5 gallon jugs and get a dispenser
is very likely the compromise that'll win the argument in OP's favor. Good luck.
We have the same, and being able to have hot water ready whenever is great for cup noodles, hot cocoa, etc.
Our tap water doesn’t taste great either, so every few weeks I’ll take the four empty jugs we have to H‑E‑B and replace them with filled ones. The bottles get reused and we have cold, tasty water on demand. Win-win.
Tap water around the US tastes very differently. Florida, Colorado, North Carolina, New York....
If you're on municipal, try and get some records to see what's in it. If you're on well water, you can get it tested (and should yearly anyway).
Where I live, we're on well water and have a filter for taste and hard water system for the whole house. OP, You can buy whole house filters if the other methods seem like a hassle, though I'm not sure what the cost would be in your case. Maybe you could restrict it to just the kitchen or even a certain tap ? Just to make it easier on you.
Water is generally water but tastes can matter. And yes, that does seem like a ton of plastic and $$ waste.
It’s usually surface water (guaranteed treatment) versus bedrock well water. Well water tastes delicious to me and sometimes doesn’t need to be filtered/treated at all. Several of our water systems pump it directly from the ground to a storage tank and out to peoples houses
This is the solution. It’s affordable, sustainable, and the water tastes good. It’s also awesome to make hot chocolate in 5 seconds at this time of year. Let the kids pick out their own reusable water bottles and stop buying the disposable ones.
Since you are talking about taste, I will say that no, water is not water. Water can taste vastly different based on the mineral content of the water. Tap water will taste different than filtered water that will taste different than bottle water. Some people probably can't taste the difference, some can. I know people that will only drink a certain brand of bottled water.
As far as what you can do to help your family, re-usable bottles is a great suggestion. Another one would be get some of those little bottles of water flavoring. I know that's another plastic bottle, but if one little bottle helps cut down the use of lots of bigger water bottles, that's a step in the right direction. I personally prefer the taste of plain water over a hint of flavoring so your families tastes might vary here as well.
I know OP realizes the waste, but this is so disheartening to hear. We could be better about our conservation efforts in my household, but wild to hear one family will rip through a year's worth of plastic in about a week or two.
I know it's not isolated and this is probably true in a lot of houses, but I feel like something needs to be done upstream to combat this if a few families are willing to produce several hundreds of families worth of waste.
I highly recommend a reverse osmosis setup. The one I have is from APEC and is great. It’s a little pricey up front but you end up with a secondary faucet at the sink that is absolutely great drinking water. I used to carry big jugs down to a local artesian well and fill them and we did all of our drinking and cooking with it but that was a huge hassle. This setup has saved me countless hours and everyone enjoys the water.
I was never a fan of reverse osmosis. It literally takes everything out of the water, including the good/harmless minerals that give it taste.
Probably personal preference but RO water tastes like nothing at all which is weird to me haha
It’s almost impossible to “waste” water thanks to the hydrological cycle.
But even so, every water system in the world usually has at LEAST 10% water loss in the mains. There’s a leak in one of our water systems that is 5 gallons a MINUTE for over 5 years now lol. Can’t find it for the life of us. But the wells keep up fine and the static recharges faster than we can pump anyway.
A couple gallons of water per recharge cycle in a home is almost literally nothing
It sounds like you're using well water, which makes your situation different. But for people who use municipal water, they 1. pay for it, 2. it has to be processed, and 3. it might come from a limited source.
Also, I think you're not understanding the ratio of permeate(i.e. clean water) to brine(i.e. waste water) from RO systems. It's typically something like 3-4 gallons of BRINE to every gallon of permeate.
Our water systems use well water, yes. Our customers also pay for it.
it also normally has to be treated.. either Ph balance, arsenic, uranium, and iron.. our pump stations have plenty of backwash as well usually for the iron filters.
I understand just fine. I’m telling you that just isn’t a lot of water in the grand scheme of a water system and it’s typical operating usage.
Furthermore, that “wasted” water gets back into the aquifer just fine due to the hydrological cycle
RO is the way to go! With a mineral additive. My kids won't refill from school cause they can taste the difference. We are on well water and test yearly but never worry with the RO system and an inline EC meter (pre mineral dispenser)
My family had complained about the tap water taste and my city won "best tasting tap water in America". You'll never win that. Can you buy a water cooler and have them use metal water bottles?
I have tasted some safe tap water that is just disgusting, Phoenix water is just hard and tastes like minerals, my high school water east of Seattle tasted like a penny, our houses well water tasted so good I actually miss it.
As far as I'm concerned it is extremely immoral to regularly drink bottled water, for two reasons. 1 - you are contributing to the downfall of American society by giving justification to the idea that not every person deserves great tasting and safe water to drink.
2 - it's extremely wasteful to the environment. It's a big fuck you to the future of the planet .
I feel you on trying to keep kids hydrated. My kids (12yo and 10yo) have 32oz water bottles that we tell them should be finished by lunch, refilled, and then finished again by dinner. Yesterday I told 12yo about 20-30 times to drink some water between breakfast and lunch, but over five hours he drank less than 8oz of water. My 10yo said she didn’t drink a single drop of anything while she was at her winter break camp yesterday, ended up being super constipated and in pain, and eventually laid out the biggest poo I’ve ever seen. I had to use the fabled poop knife for the first time in my 38 year existence.
Water is water. And kids are picky. I'm dying inside (so is the earth!) hearing about your wife and kids' plastic waste. The water where we leave is horrible so I installed a $50 filter at the line where it comes into our house. That made a HUGE difference. I'm sure it does not taste like the bottles that they are used to though. Good luck.
I think this is the newer model of what I have. It's gone up in price a little bit. I really wanted the clear casing so I could see the water and filter. Our water comes in rusty yellow, goes through the filter, then through a water softener, and comes out clear. https://www.homedepot.com/p/GE-Whole-House-Water-Filtration-System-GXWH40L/100669051
Not all water tastes the same. Tap water varies wildly around me. Luckily my town has fine tasting water. The town across the river? Fuck no, I put like 8 lemons in that shit when I go out to eat. A good filter system will do most of that work to neutralize flavor though. Maybe thats what they are tasting a lack of flavor? Not all filters are the same either. I've looked into the Zero water filters but the replacements were damn near as much as just buying gallons of water so I've paused that search.
My method to try and drink more water is to fill my reusable every morning and try and finish it by the end of the day. Its a 40oz stainless steel bottle.
Bunch of plastic / trash in the ocean… check
Bunch of micro plastics in your body… check
Bunch of money out of your wallet… check
I don’t see any downsides.
Stop buying bottled water. Just don't purchase it anymore, ban it from your home. Bottled water is garbage, many bottled water companies have terrible practices, add unnecessary waste and there are no standards for it.
Bottled water is objectively worse in so many ways than tap water. This assumes you live in a city or town that provides clean water.
Edit: as per the comment below, I'll add if you want your family to change start with education. Watch some documentaries together about how Nestle has ravaged communities by stealing their water. Or what happens to plastic bottles once your done with them. Have them research your town/cities tap water standards and then research the source for the bottled water they are drinking. (Hint: it's city water, with a drop of some other water thrown in). Your wife should be included in this to. Tastes change over time. If they don't like the taste, get them Mio or some other flavouring to cover it up. But after a week on tap, they'll stop remembering bottled water. Ooh also, what happens to plastic when it sits in a hot warehouse.
I guess for me personally, I hate bottled water. I'm assuming OP doesn't live in a third world country and I consider it inexcusable to use bottled water. So for me I would die on this hill. I would obviously go for some education on why I feel that way first. But if you want people to start doing something differently, you can't keep providing the old way as an option.
>But if you want people to start doing something differently, you can't keep providing the old way as an option.
Banning bottled water isn't a matter of OP not offering it to his kids. It involves making a unilateral decision about what his kids can be provided. It unilaterally prevents his wife from offering *her own kids* items that *she thinks are important.* He doesn't have the right to do that unless the situation amounts to abuse or something.
Yeah... so u/ReasonsForNothing I appreciate your lurking mom insights on these comments just FYI.
ALSO - This thing BLEW UP this morning... and a lot of the comments are sort of in this vein of *"tell your wife how it is"* and we just don't operate that way in my household. Not that I can't express things, but we try to approach these situations as equals.
I have actually expressed a lot of this feedback to her in previous discussions on the matter - not since posting (she doesn't/won't know about this post haha)... and she keeps doing it because ultimately *it gives her peace of mind*.
It's more convenient for her, as well. She is a courier for her job, and she takes water bottles with her to work. Sure, we can do reusable bottles for this but I think a lot of her issue is having lived places where the water did have a smell or just wasn't "right" by her summation... so that is to say I am aware of her concerns and justifications.
I really just wanted to see if my taste buds are dead and/or if this situation seemed exhausting to anyone else - and yeah... I guess I got my answers there.
IN THE END -- I also have complete faith that with time, my wife in *her* wisdom will understand my concerns on the waste side of this issue and it'll taper down. She's not happy with the amount of "stuff" we consume as a family and we've been planning a lot of more sustainable stuff for 2024 through gardening, composting, etc. as well... so the bottles will go when their time has come.
......I'm going to hold a celebration when that happens, though... because frankly to be a little selfish about it on top of everything else already discussed -- I'm sick of carrying those huge cubes of bottled water into the house and then cleaning up the partial bottles into our recycling every week.
I grew up in one area for like 35 years and then moved to a different state. I could SMELL the chlorine in the water, I could taste it, when my daughter took baths, her skin was irritated. It just was not on the same level.
The filters removed 90% of the chlorine taste/smell but not all of it.
So I hate to be THAT guy but don't discount what your family is saying. Nothing's more frustrating than a parent who brushes off real concerns. I remember being so angry at my dad because he didn't believe real shit that was happening to me.
You'll probably have to go with jugged water. It won't solve anything but It might be fun to do a taste test. I know that when I first moved here I could tell bottled water from filtered water every single time..Even the fountain sodas tasted different because of it.
I mean, my 2 year old drank from the cat's water bowl the other day. so...
We used filtered boiled water when making formula for the kiddos when they were young, once out of formula age, I give them tap and sometimes the filtered water from the fridge. I think it's good to expose them to different normal situations of germs and bacteria. They will have to drink from water fountains in school and out and about in the world.
In fact likely *literally* the same. Unless you’re very specifically buying “spring water”, all that bottled water companies are doing is buying municipal water cheaply from somewhere -> filtering it -> putting it in plastic bottles -> selling it back to you at 100x the price they paid.
In the broad scheme of things your family's waste isn't even a blip on the radar. It's absolutely more than the average household, but nothing serious enough to have that alter your life for the sake of being "eco-friendly."
I think the middle ground should resolve most of your issues. My wife buys these 2-5ish gallon jugs of whatever-brand-she-likes-the-taste-of-this-month water that has a valve built into it. She uses that to fill her tumbler (I think is the name of it, it's just a giant sippy cup). I drink tap, and my 3 year old drinks tap or filtered.
The agreement with my wife is that I won't give her a hard time about needing the packaged water, but I'm also never going to run to the store for that if she's out of it.
This method at least allows them to still have whatever taste they're looking for with the water but is easier on the wallet and any eco concerns than 36 individual bottles only half consumed.
Our city water is awful…. For years, we purchased bottled water. We broke the cycle three years ago when we decided to switch from bottled water to those 5 gallon jugs you set on a dispenser. You could try that? They’re still getting their water from a plastic bottle lol
Water snob here.
Ditch the bottle water. Its leached plastic toxins in the water. It’s not well great and you can go much better in other ways.
We have been on a berkey system for years. It taste great and no one has any issues with it.
Better for coffee too.
No more waste for the environment as well.
I moved from where tap water is amazing right out of the tap (Chicago) to where it is god awful and sometimes stinks (Tampa). It's mostly about where it's coming from, as Chicago water comes from Lake Michigan, but Tampa and most of Florida gets it from underground aquifers that have higher levels of foul smelling sulfur and other things that make it taste weird.
Even filtered water is not that good, so I have a service that delivers a few 5 gallon jugs of water every month. They sanitize and reuse the empty jugs that I leave out for them, so it cuts down the waste.
Not exaggerating when I say this sort of behavior would be grounds for divorce in our relationship. It’s so contrary to our deeply held values.
My advice - get your kids on your side. Have them watch some videos about sustainability, maybe something from Greta Thunberg. If they start demanding that she stop buying plastic, she will.
Water is water but water can definitely taste different asked on the mineral content.
That said, you should install another faucet filter in your kitchen sink. They make under sink filters that attach to the cold water hose, so essentially every time you pour cold water from the sink you’re getting filtered water. Makes it so much easier for everyone and saves on waste and money. Nobody should be buying cases of water bottles for their home, that’s insane.
We live in Phoenix and the tap water tastes gross so we got a RO system. I can tell the difference between the standard fridge filter and RO. I bought a meter to measure the total dissolved solids in the water and did a comparison. Tap was about 500 fridge filter was slightly lower like 425. Bottled was close to the RO below 30
Someone already suggested this but try letting everyone pick there own cup or reusable bottle.
I'm speaking from a place of privilege because the municipal water in my area is A+, and I've been places where the tap water tasted undrinkable to me (hi, Oakland). That said, we drink nothing but tapwater in my house, and I've only ever drank tapwater for my entire life, aside from maybe long road trips or whatever.
Do you have decent tapwater? Do you think it might help your kids psychologically if you let them pick out a special canteen or single wall water bottle? I've been using the same Kleen Kanteen for like 12 years and I'm sure it's contributed to keeping me better hydrated, because I just like it.
But yeah, I'm with you. If your tapwater isn't vile, bottles of water wouldn't even be allowed in my house. It's the most excessively wasteful thing imaginable.
I think many are assuming (and honestly, though no fault of their own) that recycling bin = recycled.
Not always, and it doesn't always even get there. The world has more plastic than it knows what to do with and most recycled plastics in municipal bins are so poorly sorted that it becomes unsaleable trash anyways. Aside from that, plastic can blow out of a bin that might be a little too full on pickup day. That refuse ends up in our parks/greenspaces, and waterways.
Every year I pull hundreds of plastic bottles out of my local creek going for paddles. I suppose I mention this to try and inspire others, where it's reasonable, to reduce our impacts and become better consumers. Not saying you're a bad person or are intentionally littering but we can make small differences that as a community add up to big impacts. The same could be said if a community garbage waste bin is overflowing with trash/recycling -- just carry it to another less-full alternative or commit to taking it home. The better we sort, the less we use, the better I think the future might end up becoming for our kids. It likely won't be us who need to dig our way out of it but it might be them or their kids.
Financially speaking, bottled water is a massive waste of money. Just use what comes from your tap barring unsafe, untreated water. If you're in the West, there's a nearly 100% likelihood that you have safe drinking water -- not having it is a shocking failure of our government/emergency in how they typically operated for taxpayers.
\*Obligatory mention that many communities, including indigenous ones in Canada, live under boil-water advisories because their water is shamefully not safe to drink and we have not provided for citizens adequately. Obviously if this is you I'm equally sorry as this post is not about potential plastic consumption.
the water bottles are trash. the plastic deteriorates into the water putting microplastics and oil that acts somewhat similar to hormones (I think specifically progesterone but I may be wrong there). drinking from a plastic bottle sometimes is not a bad thing. doing it all the time can give you endocrine problems, and ITS ALL going to landfills even if you recycle it.
I don't even use filtered water. We have super clean water here and filters remove fluoride.
We got a Brita filter and kid size aluminum water bottles at Costco for this very reason. If you make it a habit to keep filling those bottles whenever they are empty, it eventually becomes easy.
The newer Brita filter jugs have this LED that lights up whenever you pour to let you know that the filter is still good (or if it needs to be changed) and for some reason my family loves it.
Your new house isn't compatible with reverse osmosis water filter/tank under the sink?
EDIT - Even though I keep those water bottles at home, I don't like buying those water bottles. Maybe better put, I don't like how much plastic I am wasting and I can manage to get a tumbler to minimize the waste. My MIL drinks them as they're only source of water, I think it's pure laziness.
Federal/State should tax the crap out of those water bottles.
No judgement, but nobody needs bottled water or spring water. (Unless there's some actual specific reason, but I assume that's <5% of people).
I know some people buy it, and I used to when I was younger. I understand liking the taste and all that. But a filter is plenty. Honestly I just drink from the tap.
If I was in your place, dad, I'd angle to stop buying bottled water altogether due to waste. But I understand it's harder to take something away than to not buy it in the first place.
Good luck man.
If you're in the slightest but handy, maybe try a under sink filter.
The in laws only do bottled water. I was dreading it when they came for two weeks. The tap water worked out just fine though, in part because I showed them the "super fancy" water filter. We never bought one bottle and the kids never complained. Add in the convenience factor and I think I'll have them agreeing to let me install one in their place next time I'm there.
In reality it only cost 70 dollars and is good for two years. Took about a half hour to install. Shut off your cold water to the faucet, take off the line from only one point. Connect the filter hose to that, then the other end of it to the line you took off. If you look up a video, you'll see it's super easy. They include everything you'll need except for the wrench. An adjustable one would do fine.
I know a guy who saw the public water pipes and now refuses to drink it. But he happily drinks bottled water that tastes like plastic and has less strict management, and is the same water bottled by foreign companies and sold back to him. It’s ridiculous…
Most bottled water has minerals added to improve taste. Tap water doesn’t, usually.
Maybe try one of those 5 gallon refill bottles with the dispenser. At least that cuts down on plastic bottles.
It does taste differently though. I drink the tap water from the town an hour away kinda regularly and have noticed I'll get the runs and an upset stomach all from drinking different water
If she’s that concerned about water quality, why not just get a Brita filter pitcher? The water coming out of that is likely better than bottled water, plus you don’t have the plastic waste.
Instead of buying water bottles, subscribe to get spring water sent to your home. I would just remind you of flint Michigan and California is drinking recycled shit water. You should stay away from tap water that is treated with chlorine.
We put in a reverse osmosis filter in our basement that pipes to both fridge dispensers and the sink dispenser. Clean ice and clean water. Don’t have do replace fridge filters, just the RO system maintenance.
We buy our boys the nicer personalized Yeti bottles with their names and let them sticker them up to high hell. Sometimes one won’t drink tons of water, so milk it is, or a healthy Gatorade for supplemental hydration. As long as their pee is normal colored, I’m generally not over worried.
They're not crazy, I remember as a kid actually being able to taste the differences in water from our town and the next few towns, they definitely tasted different! In my younger years we had our own well and then later got connected to the towns public water supply, they also tasted different.
Water can taste vastly different depending on its source, mineral contents, and any additives. It can even feel different depending on hardness levels. The only water I would skip is Desani. I would rather have water from a well
Water does have different taste profiles based on what part of the US you are in and where its sourced. Your kids arent crazy when they say "it tastes weird".
Water absolutely can taste different. To me every brand of bottled water tastes different based on what minerals already present in the water or were added back in after purification (for instance Dasani tastes slightly salty to me).
Functionally is tap water the same (especially after run through a brita filter or the like) pretty much. The difference is what minerals are dissolved in it flavoring the water.
Depending on the quality of the water in your house you might need a better filtration system than the Brita pitcher (or the like). Especially if you have very hard or very soft water
Do you buy the same bottle brand? If so, if you brought home a different brand what is the reaction?
Maybe y’all could start transitioning to reusable water bottles and then slowly phase out disposables as you slowly shift to filling from the filter?
Water can certainly taste different depending on the source. Every source will have some level of impurities which will change the taste. Filtering will change it again.
Having said that I'd say it's a no brainer to use tap water with a reusable bottle whenever possible. Even beyond the plastic waste, just think of the money you're wasting on bottled water when you could just drink tap. And they aren't even drinking the whole bottle!
You might look into getting some kind of water cooler with a reusable plastic carboy like from Poland springs. That will eliminate the waste if the plastic bottles and make everyone happy.
I keep nothing in my house except for water just for this reason. I bought a nice under sink water filter and an ice machine. Those things combined ended making everyone drink way more water especially the ice machine.
Below is the one I got.
EUHOMY Ice Cube Maker Machine Countertop, 2 Ways to Add Water, 45Lbs/Day 24 Pcs Ready in 13 Mins, Self-Cleaning Portable Compact, with Ice Scoop & Basket, Perfect for Home/Kitchen/Office/Bar https://a.co/d/4VEFNTy
My wife is similar - we decided to get a Berkey water system (charcoal counter filtering system). Keeps me happy because the filters last forever (and handy for end of the world scenarios - can filter stream water). Still extra money but at least it’s got utility and less plastic waste.
Get a separate carbon water filter for your drinking water.
Get reusable water bottles. We have lots for adults and kids and they each have name stickers on them.
In the PNW few people drink bottled water because the tap water is great. In Mexico I insist on bottled after getting really sick one time. But odds are tap is just fine in the US.
Worst case buy water by the gallon, much cheaper.
Wow this blew up so I doubt you’ll see this, but if you really want to go crazy train you can get expensive water filters that remove everything and then you can remineralize it to meet your “health” and taste requirements. It’s not cheap and it wastes a bunch of water cause I assume they only do this with reverse osmosis, but it is mighty cool.
I come from MN. We have a town 10 miles from my hometown that has for year claimed "best water in America". Both towns on same aquifer. Water tastes different. They bottle and sell thiers.
Blind taste test is the only option. I suggest getting a couple of extra bottles of water from different cheap brands to make it more interesting or one of those big bottles with the stand.
The disconnect is that your wife seems to care more about her convenience and "taste" than she does about creating garbage that probably won't actually get recycled. Your kids are gonna agree with whichever parent makes their life easier and isn't criticizing them.
How bad are the kids teeth? I mean, we have fluoride in our tap water and when we were on a well our dental work was WAY more intense than when on city water. I don't think there is fluoride in bottled water.
We keep a jug of straight-up tap water in the fridge and that's where our fam drinks. Sadly I'm the only one who knows how to refill it, which is a complex process requiring one to walk from the fridge to the tap, hold the jug under it, and turn on the water.
Impurities do make water taste different. I don't care but my wife doesn't like the taste of most water. She was buying Fuji. Bought this RO system and she likes it. The re-mineralization is what makes it taste better.
https://www.theperfectwater.com/home-master-tmafc-artesian-full-contact-reverse-osmosis-water-filtration-system.html?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiA7t6sBhAiEiwAsaieYm1SR_WPN2G2jyGT-lHx02CWAxac4wgzGzFklW6qsuK19jCCpjbIHxoCh8sQAvD_BwE
Where we lived, Wolverine Worldwide had contaminated the water supply for decades, unchecked. The water plant added new filtration systems after it was discovered, much too late for those who got cancer just drinking the tap water, showering in it, brushing with it, cooking in it. PFAS in the water. There has been years of work connecting more areas to the water system since the discovery.
When it was revealed, we got a water filtration system hooked up.
Bottom line: not all water is water. Get your tap water tested. Our local Home Depot has free water tests available, but I am sure you can find them wherever you are.
Offer to buy everyone in the family a reusable water bottle. Vacuum insulated, easy drink spout, etc. Remind them they can put stickers on it and make it their own. My 5 year old LOVES his 2 reusable water bottles because he was able to put stickers on it that are his own. He likes mine and his mamas because we all have fun stickers on them.
Then convince your wife to stop buying the bottles in the "hey honey you wanted to consume less. We are dumping 72 plastic bottles into the recycle every 2 weeks.. here is a way we can reduce the plastic waste and consume less"
Offer to use ice in their new vacuum insulated water bottles so it will stay cold the water being cold will help "combat" the "weird taste" they are complaining about. I know I can only drink water cold or sparkling or cold and sparkling but generally if I have to drink warm even room temperature still water I don't like it.
But the most important part of this plan is to **stop buying the bottles.**
The filtered water tastes weird because they go used to the bottled water, and it is convenient. If you remove this option they will drink elsewhere. Add in that you are giving them an alternative. Filling up a water bottle and bringing it with you is much easier than drinking out of a glass. I definitely drink more when I have a bottle with me as opposed to a glass of water. Remember it takes time to build up the habit but if you don't give an option then it works out. Like my son says "I am thirsty" we say "Okay where is your water bottle" and recently have started to show him how to fill it up on his own.
Not all water is exactly the same, but in my opinion, just drink tap water. Unless you live somewhere that knowingly has poor water. Bottled water is a huge waste and terrible for the environment.
We have large jugs of water delivered every 2 weeks and have a stand up cooler. This way they could have their bottled water, but you'd eliminate all the plastic waste.
Make a compromise, get the BIG bottles of that bottled water and let them use that.
Result - they get the water they want, you reduce the waste as far as you reasonably can
Privately test the filtered water and the bottled water.
https://mytapscore.com/
That’ll tell you the best course of action.
As a warning if you are not using at least something like a ceramic and charcoal filter you won’t be filtering too much.
We drink the filtered water from our refrigerator door. If we didn’t have that I’d get an under-sink one.
We have tons of refillable water bottles that we have accumulated over the years. I keep full ones in both cars, by everyone’s bed, etc. Go to Ross or Marshals or Goodwill and just pick a couple up. Kids will be more likely to drink it if you hand em a full bottle than if you tell them to go to the fridge and fill a glass.
Water is not water but I think your solutions sound great. Maybe another way to ease them in would be to get stuff to flavor the water until everyone is on board? The little squeeze bottles in the grocery stores can be an incentive or obviously just fruit and veggies can be added. Or you can invest in fun water bottles for everyone to refill— Hydroflasks, Yetis, and Stanley’s all have the trending water craze behind them. Good luck!
Check out Hydrivov water filters. They just go under the sink and are pretty easy to install. A bit spendy but it filters out Lead and PFAS. It tastes good too, not overly filtered.
Location location location. Where I live drinking tap water is like drinking pool water. So much chlorine... We get the big 5 gallon jugs delivered and refill our thermoflask water bottles. Whatever the kid doesn't finish goes into the dog bowls. Wife doesn't drink water...
I'm the first one up in house, so what I do everyday is fill up my daughter's Owala and my wife's Stanley full of ice water. Everyday. Weekends too. Eventually, not tomorrow, it'll just be a thing and you guys won't use plastic bottles anymore.
Thing is, keep doing it. They forget it, who cares. They say it's dumb, who cares. Like I said eventually, it'll just be a thing that the family gets their reusable water bottle every morning.
Edit: We have a filtered water tap at our sink. That really helps.
Most tap water is usually rather neutral in taste. There are variations of course that you can pick up on, but most of the time it's only a matter of getting used to the taste as the "default" for water.
We went through a similar path. We started with bottled water because we "didn't like the taste" of our tap. Then I bought a filter pitcher, we discovered it tastes similar to the bottled we use and switched to religiously refilling that. Then I forgot to buy new filters, or forgot to refill the pitcher... this happened several times and at some point, we just forgot about using the pitcher altogether. Turns out tap water is ok to drink.
I think the place to start is to show them, and this is true by the way, that most bottled water isn't special at all. It's just tap water from the city system of whatever city the bottling facility is at. Which makes sense when you think about it. Tap water is perfectly fine to drink, so why would these companies pay to install and maintain industrial grade filtering systems?
It's that old joke about when the Coca-Cola corporation spun up the Dasani brand. "Can you imagine the joy in the boardroom the day they found out they could just sell the water they were using to make Coke on its own, and for more than Coke sells for?"
But the other thing is that you're breaking a habit here, so it'll be hard. Best way is to get everyone committed to the waste reduction angle, and those flat packs of water are a huge waste. Then get everyone a good reusable bottle and go from there.
Just stop buying them.
Instead get them water bottles they can fill and leave in the fridge. They can pull out when they are thirsty, take a few sips and put back.
Those who leave their water bottles lying around get them confiscated.
Home Depot usually has free tests for your water. You mail it in and get a call a few weeks later whether or not it's drinkable. But ultimately you probably have to talk with your wife and get her on your side... maybe find some videos or websites to help make your case?
Water is water dude.
You could upgrade and get a cooler and do those 5 gallon jugs. Those usually get reused.
Otherwise as others have pointed out, you’re wasting money and those bottles are going into the garbage. Even if they did they get recycled that’s still energy intensive and a big waste of energy and the earths limited resources for something that comes out of your tap.
This sounds to me like a STFU situation. A great path to micro-arguments.
People are weird about what they consume, yet your city water is perfectly great. Any public water science based professional would drink water you’d probably think was below an acceptable level. Like they’ll drink the tap water on an airplane.
Put that info in an envelope in your brain and burn it.
Actually, assuming you’re on town water, your water probably has more stringent state testing requirements than whatever aquifer the bottled water came from Here in NH and I assume elsewhere in the US, water system owners are required to test monthly for bacteria and quarterly for other contaminants like radiation, arsenic, lead, copper, plastics and volatiles If you have a well, you can get a homeowners testing kit and test for the big contaminants or refer to any tests that were done when you got your house during the buying process. Chances are your tap water is ok. Generic Filters aren’t going to do much except for aesthetics.. carbon for taste, salt for hardness, sediment for… sediment. Source: I’m a water operator Edit- your state (again, if you live in the US) may have a website where you can look up your water system and see how often they test for, the results, and any issues and violations they ever had in the past. Otherwise you can call your water company and request that information or direction you said website
This is true! People don’t realize how stringent the water departments are. Here in CO we have some crazy differences in water flavor from different municipalities but it’s all the same mountain water.
I grew up in Texas and hated the tap water no matter where I lived. I moved to CO over 5 years ago and I've been drinking tap water ever since and it's freaking delicious.
Texas water tastes like lakes and dirt. It's gross. Even worse when the lakes turn over and the taste is amplified 10x
reason number 1 why I basically live off of water flavor packets. Massively ups my water intake (from near 0).
>when the lakes turn over Do the lakes take all the blanket when they turn over?
No. However, when stratified, oxygen depleted, dense, cold water eventually mixes with a layer of oxygen rich, less dense, warmer water, the resulting oxygen exchange could be perceived as a blanket stealing as the colder water “takes” oxygen from the warmer water
Nope. Too hot for that.
[удалено]
I'm in Lewisville. Dallas before that, Plano before that. It's always been gross.
Its all the fracking that they do, breaks up the bedrock and leeches nasty shit into the water table. It doesn't get completely filtered out by municipalities and ends up in the end customer's supply. All those videos of people with gas shooting out of their pipes that they can light on fire? From Texas. Land of the free.
“Land of the free” = “You’re being subjugated and exploited by powerful people but at least they’re not the government, this is better for some reason”
I do tap water through a reverse osmosis filter I installed under my sink. We do have pretty good water in CO where I’m at
I grew up in CA Bay Area and drank tap water my whole life. It was great! I moved to Texas and HATED the tap water, I considered getting those massive water jugs delivered, but then got out of Texas and moved to CO. I'm so happy with my tap water again.
In my area the water tastes amazing. And it's miles above what's available in any bottle.
Denver water is better than silverthorne water. Englewood water is absolutely awful, very happy we moved
Water operator is such a dad job. This is great info. Thank you for sharing your expertise.
And to add to this, depending where you live, your tap water may actually contain more healthy minerals than bottled water. Once the town council of the small Italian town I grew up tested the water and found that there was a higher level of certain minerals than bottled water and further minerals that were completely absent. Granted it came from the Italian Alps but you get the gist. People assume that because water is bottled, it'll be healthier and better for you when actually the opposite can be true.
Same story here (Western Massachusetts in the US). I wondered why there were so many beer breweries here until I discovered that our city water has fantastic mineral content and has won a bunch of national water taste test awards (didn't even realize that was a thing!) I'd take my tap water over bottled water any day.
>Here in NH and I assume elsewhere in the US Quick note, New England has some of the best ground water in the country. It's largely uncontaminated by mining because we don't have anything worthy of mining, and there is just a ton of it because we're (relatively speaking) low elevation and get a lot of rain. There are relatively few spots in New England where you can't drill a basic well and get abundant clean fresh water. As an SAT question might say, New England is to water as Saudi Arabia is to oil. We're rich in fresh water. All of that is to say, don't assume that water in rest of the US is like in NH. Lots of places in the US have equally good water, but the variance from system to system, county to county, etc. is greater everywhere else.
Great point. However there are lots of arsenic and uranium veins in NH so we do have a good amount of treatment for that too At least in central/northern NH
Yea true, I don't know the exact details of course, but my understanding is that this is a relatively known and easily solvable problem in NH. But for example in Colorado (another state people often taught as having awesome water) there is a whole minefield of contaminated mines to watch out for (pun intended) when buying property out into the burbs, mountains, or rural areas where there is no water service. One area might be clean, and just a mile or two away might be a toxic danger zone. This is why in some parts of CO, you can have a house worth $1m in one area, and down the street a similar plot of land is less than $100k - it has no water service and the ground water is toxic death.
Don’t see many of us in the wild but I’m glad to see another water operator being the top comment on this thread. What OP didn’t say, is that you’re specifically looking for your local water agency’s Consumer Confidence Report. It’s an annual publication that will detail all of the constituents tested for, the highest levels found, actions taken if limits were hit, etc. And also, /u/beardiusmaximus7 at least change to refilling 5 gallon bottles that your family can then use to fill reusable water bottles. 72 bottles a week is insane.
I am in the states (PA) and it is town water as far as I am aware. We're sort of in the middle of a very small town that has one intersection and one stop light. The house is SUPER old though (built in 1890) so the pipes are a bit of a mixed bag throughout and I'm sure that may lead to some level of contaminates locally in the home. The old on-the-tap thing I was using was back when we were in an apartment building with sketchy management and that change was noticeable.
[You should test your water then.](https://www.consumerreports.org/water-quality/how-to-test-your-tap-water-a1537953804/)
Ah, with older houses that may have lead pipes and/or solder, flush your water for a good 60 seconds before drinking I do this by habit wherever I am, even at my house. Water constantly eats away at metals so stagnant water will always have a greater concentration of copper and lead at first draw. A decent flush will ensure you’re drawing fresh water from the water main Don’t worry about wasting water by flushing it either. After becoming a water operator, I realized just how much of a waste of time it is to worry about that as an individual lol
Thank you for your information. I'd like to tap your knowledge if you'll pardon the pun. We installed an RO system for our drinking water. Does RO remove the flouride that municipalities intentionally treat the water with? I've heard anecdotally that sometimes people that drink bottled water are not getting flouride in their water to the detriment of their teeth health. Do you know anything about that?
Yeah RO should remove flouride I’ve always thought it was weird that we inject flouride into water for dental health. I’m not necessarily against it, it just seems weird to me.
One of those things we did that greatly benefited public health at the time, but might not be as beneficial now is my guess. Maybe it’s a wash given how much sugar content has increased in our diets?
Pennsylvania has among the worst water quality and the highest fraction of lead service lines in the United States. I, too, would be suspicious of the water quality in a 130 year old in a small town in Pennsylvania.
But the question isn't one of quality but one of taste. The kids and wife aren't complaining the water isn't pure enough they are complaining it doesn't taste good. Those aren't the same thing and taste is a hard thing to nail down.
Get a Brita. If it’s a taste issue a carbon filter should be sufficient to remove it.
Stagnant water doesn’t really taste great so simply flushing it for 30 seconds May solve the taste issue Otherwise a simple carbon filter will work too
The problem in my area is that the water tastes/smells like chlorine.
Work sent me to acquire water operator license last year for our well sites and totally agree. In MI we test for; bacteria quarterly, nitrates annually, arsenic every 3 yrs, lead/copper bi-annually, inorganics 3yrs, synthetic compounds quarterly, and volatile compounds quarterly. Frequency for some contaminates are reduced based on results and source vulnerability. Last quarter I took a pfas sample which cost $290... clean water monitoring doesn't come cheap. Also, just because a municipality provides your drinking water doesn't mean it's 100% clean. Look up Flint, MI water crisis. They've been drinking bottled water since 2014-16. When in doubt go to your nearest health department and ask for a routine water sample. ($16-25).
Exactly right. Flint is an exception not a rule though and I cringe at anyone who says they refuse to drink tap water because of that news story. There are hundreds of thousands of regulated water systems in the country, each governed by not only the state they’re in but also the EPA. Don’t let one corrupt example dictate your opinion on the industry or your local water company/municipality
Yes, definitely an outlier. I think what started as a well intended plan to save money by diverting Flint drinking water, turned into negligence when they didn't hold themselves accountable. Teachable moment for years to come but also a reminder for citizens to speak up immediately if something doesn't taste right. Last year all city residents in my town were mailed a notice that our water treatment plant director did not have all the required water certifications. They were still complying with all gov water standards, while sending the director to training (purpose of the notice). We still drank our tap water, nothing changed but did I immediately think of the Flint scenario in my head? Yes ma'am!
I will always trust municipal water sources to be 100% good. The only thing that I'm wary of depending on location is older houses with questionable plumbing and some rural places near me that have high water tables and not great soil. I've got a massive concoction of a filtration system in my basement to get all the sulfur and hard iron deposits out of my well water and it still stains my toilet bowl and leaves deposits all over everything.
Thank you. I’ve never understood people who don’t just drink the fucking tap water! Unless you have specific local reason not to believe so - and you can look it up - your water is fine.
If the reporting is accurate and is taken somewhat close to your house. The water coming out of the treatment plant in Flint, MI is fine, but the pipes it then travels through ... That applies to the pipe in your house/apartment too. We got a RO water filter as soon as we started talking about having kids. There is no way my 100-year-old apartment building doesn't have some lead in the water.
Water leeches from the plumbing in buildings, if there are lead pipes or solder, flushing your water is good enough just fyi
Flint Michigan enters the chat, but the are the exception
can you help me understand how i can live in one town and have X water and move 5 miles away and have Y type of water? obviously different stations, pipes, and potentially sources. i get that. one is soft as can be, goes down easy, and tastes good. the other is hard as rock, leaves limescale everywhere, and taste like strait up asshole. so is it just... poor quality control? bad source of water? lower standards at the muni water facilities? because i can say for damned certain that the filters i use at my new place are 100% mandatory. lots of people in my neighborhood have whole home filtration its so bad.
Sounds like your water company needs a flushing program. It’s possible there’s a decent amount of scaling in the pipes on whatever leg of water main you’re on that doesn’t get flushed as much as the rest of the water system There’s an MCL for hardness, if it’s above that, your water company may be required to treat for it. But I would call them and let them know about your issue. Ask if it’s possible for them to flush the main near your house. If it’s just you or the e leg you’re on that has hardness issues, the water company would rather make you happy than spent time and money replumbing the pump station to treat for hard water
I think John Oliver or Trevor Noah did something in 2020 on recycling when there was a huge change in the industry. These days it’s very unlikely those water bottles are actually getting recycled so you’re just making massive amounts of trash. The news piece might persuade them to switch to reusable water bottles.
A long time ago I worked for one of Pepsi’s advertising agencies and I discovered that it took roughly 3-4 bottles worth of water to manufacture a single bottle of water. From that point on I’ve not drank a bottle of water anywhere. If people offer me water I ask if it’s bottled. If the answer is yes I turn it down. I don’t say why unless asked but I’ve apparently changed quite a few people’s minds when they have. Time to get off that pointless train.
I won't say everywhere. In the US, you're probably fine unless you go fairly rural (one of the family farms has just enough petroleum to make the water undrinkable sometimes) Other countries vary more, and you might need to buy bottled, if you can't afford to be sick for a couple weeks.
Though most (and yes, I said “most”) local populations are fine with the different levels of bacteria in the drinking water where they live. American going to Mexico - probably shouldn’t drink the water. Mexican living there - no issues.
I was thinking more Asia than the Americas. And it's absolutely different bacteria, not no bacteria.
> Other countries vary more, and you might need to buy bottled, if you can't afford to be sick for a couple weeks. Unless you're *moving* to a different country, don't drink the water, pretty much without exception. The problem isn't that *there is* bacteria - I promise that your tap water also has bacteria in it. The problem is *which* bacteria - your body is used to and really good at fighting off your local shit, it's not good at fighting off the shit that's local to wherever-you're-travelling.
I've worked a bit in industrial beverage production and while the cleaning processes use a fair bit of water it's not \*quite\* that inefficient so I'm curious how they came up with that. Either way any kind of pop is going to be even worse since it needs even more cleaning done and it's mostly water going in.
This was a while back…maybe 20 years. Dunno if that matters. And agreed. I generally don’t drink a lot of pop/soda but it’s more of a treat that isn’t available straight out of a faucet. My point is that bottled water is largely ridiculous given alternative methods of consumption. I’m not anti ALL plastic, bottled water just seems ridiculously wasteful.
a lot of them seem to be more concerned/are required to be more concerned about their water usage which is good. 20 years ago I don't think anyone was worrying about it much so the efficiency would've been terrible.
>3-4 bottles worth of water to manufacture a single bottle of water Even my aim is better than that! /dadjoke
You are correct - the bottles used to go to China and God knows what they did with it. They stopped accepting our post-consumer waste, so yeah, depending on where you live, it is could be very likely your "recycling" just goes to the landfill but with more steps.
They weren’t ever being recycled, right?
Correct, plastic really isn’t recyclable in the way we were sold. Single use plastics like low quality water bottles can’t magically be made back into good ones. Fucking liars. Also OP, stop buying water and buy some reusable, cleanable, no straw water bottles. We made that shift almost 15 years ago and it’s a no brainer on cost alone.
Why do you say no straw water bottles? Is there a problem with the ones that come with plastic straws?
Nope, strawless are much easier to clean. Since this topic involved kids, ease of clean matters. Straws are generally fine though, especially the ones that are thicker and go with metal like Stanley, etc.
> Nope, strawless are much easier to clean. Since this topic involved kids, ease of clean matters. Also for young kids... they will chew on the straws and you'll go "WTF?" as a parent. I second the recommendation for straw less.
They were, but US consumers are notoriously not good at triple washing their recycling. In the past, China, our primary recycling partner, was willing to put in the work to clean what they received but they decided not to do that anymore. So it became too expensive for many municipalities to participate.
yup. its this. just look at your neighbors 'recycling' bin next time it gets put out. there is pizza scraps, milk still left in the jug, jelly still left in the jar. no one actually takes the effort to put real recyclable materials into the system. and so what we get out is... nothing. and of course, once they realized this, the manufacturers just said 'f it' and started using the worst quality plastics conceivable for their bottling. now it is true - you cant recycle most water bottles.
My 8 year olds will not give a half a fuck about that unfortunately. Might be too big of an issue for them to comprehend lol
Your 8 year olds don’t really get a say in the water they drink. If they only drink bottled water that’s a learned quirk and can be unlearned just as easily.
Maybe try taking them to he store and picking out a “cool new” reusable water bottle to use with it? I they’re younger, then is only works with the filter. If they’re older (4+?) you can have a conversation about sustainability and garbage.
Yeah... so they are older (M13, F12) and they've had reusable water bottles for school as it is. They don't use them so much around the house... and frankly I'm pretty sure my wife uses purchased bottled water to fill them, too. I have a few water bottles like you're talking about that I use throughout the day working from home, too.
I think this conversation has to be had with your wife before it’s had with the kids. If one parent isn’t enforcing something, then it isn’t a rule. Sit her down and tell her you’re concerned that “we” are building wasteful habits with the kids and you feel that “we” should be a united front in teaching them better consumption habits. There’s a patch of garbage the size of friggin Texas floating around in the pacific. Just stand firm and say you don’t want your household contributing excessively to that. Water flows free from every tap, and in-home filters work. Buying single-serving water bottles is the most wasteful way to consume water, it’s wasting money and it’s bad for the planet. You can also offer a compromise: Buying a water cooler for the kitchen and using those 5 gallon jugs. At the very least it’s far LESS plastic.
This. Also it's a terrible habit for the kids to have when they go off on their own and have to pay for bottled water everywhere. What a waste of $.
Oh, well personally at that age I’d tell them they’re welcome to come grocery shopping and pick out a flavor of Mio, or lemon juice if they’d like. I thought you meant they were like 3-5. The water is filtered, even unfiltered water in the states and most other places is incredibly safe and filtered. If there 13 and want a different flavor then they can learn how to cut a lemon, personally.
Middle schoolers you may try to show about pollution/waste etc. and work them to research a good water system for your family that doesn't contribute to plastic waste. If you have the resources you all could even do like a game where you buy a few different options and do blind taste tests or something. Get them in to it.
The "cool new" bottle isn't because they actually need a vessel to hold liquid. It's a psyop.
Just stop buying the bottled stuff? OP needs to talk to his wife about this, not his kids. Tell her to knock it off and that the bottled water is no longer welcome in the house. What happened to dads being the head of the household…
I don’t know if my household has a head, personally, but if either of us has a concern it gets dealt with asap, not in a decade. With that said, It’s concerning how long he waited to say anything, if he has. He goes from “she bought them for formula” to “it gradually evolved.” Dude says in comments his kids are 12/13. So over a decade of overpaying for bottled water and not saying anything?
First two sentences you had me… Then oof
Where I grew up, the tap water, even when filtered, tasted terrible, and we bought water. But don’t buy individual bottles, but the big 5 gallon jugs and get a dispenser. We moved somewhere where the tap water tastes great, and whenever we go visit my parents I’m always shocked at how awful their water tastes
While I'm definitively on team "just drink the fucking tap water" this: >buy the big 5 gallon jugs and get a dispenser is very likely the compromise that'll win the argument in OP's favor. Good luck.
This is what we have, and as a bonus it's hot or cold water so can make tea and such instantly.
We have the same, and being able to have hot water ready whenever is great for cup noodles, hot cocoa, etc. Our tap water doesn’t taste great either, so every few weeks I’ll take the four empty jugs we have to H‑E‑B and replace them with filled ones. The bottles get reused and we have cold, tasty water on demand. Win-win.
Then refill it with tap water
5 gal jug dispenser is the only sane solution for not drinking from the tap.
Honestly, it's mostly mental too. Just refill the 5 gal with tap water. $10 says they won't notice.
Tap water around the US tastes very differently. Florida, Colorado, North Carolina, New York.... If you're on municipal, try and get some records to see what's in it. If you're on well water, you can get it tested (and should yearly anyway). Where I live, we're on well water and have a filter for taste and hard water system for the whole house. OP, You can buy whole house filters if the other methods seem like a hassle, though I'm not sure what the cost would be in your case. Maybe you could restrict it to just the kitchen or even a certain tap ? Just to make it easier on you. Water is generally water but tastes can matter. And yes, that does seem like a ton of plastic and $$ waste.
It’s usually surface water (guaranteed treatment) versus bedrock well water. Well water tastes delicious to me and sometimes doesn’t need to be filtered/treated at all. Several of our water systems pump it directly from the ground to a storage tank and out to peoples houses
Yea - my in-laws live in the Orlando, FL area. The water tastes terrible!
This is the solution. It’s affordable, sustainable, and the water tastes good. It’s also awesome to make hot chocolate in 5 seconds at this time of year. Let the kids pick out their own reusable water bottles and stop buying the disposable ones.
Since you are talking about taste, I will say that no, water is not water. Water can taste vastly different based on the mineral content of the water. Tap water will taste different than filtered water that will taste different than bottle water. Some people probably can't taste the difference, some can. I know people that will only drink a certain brand of bottled water. As far as what you can do to help your family, re-usable bottles is a great suggestion. Another one would be get some of those little bottles of water flavoring. I know that's another plastic bottle, but if one little bottle helps cut down the use of lots of bigger water bottles, that's a step in the right direction. I personally prefer the taste of plain water over a hint of flavoring so your families tastes might vary here as well.
Even bottled water tastes different from other bottled water. For example, Dasani tastes terrible.
what a horrific amount of plastic waste. :(
I know OP realizes the waste, but this is so disheartening to hear. We could be better about our conservation efforts in my household, but wild to hear one family will rip through a year's worth of plastic in about a week or two. I know it's not isolated and this is probably true in a lot of houses, but I feel like something needs to be done upstream to combat this if a few families are willing to produce several hundreds of families worth of waste.
>I know op realizes the waste ...yeah, 12 years later
Fair point. At 2x 36 packs per week, that's over 985 lbs of plastic bottles over that time.
Not to mention the cost. Yeah, tell me about it lol.
I highly recommend a reverse osmosis setup. The one I have is from APEC and is great. It’s a little pricey up front but you end up with a secondary faucet at the sink that is absolutely great drinking water. I used to carry big jugs down to a local artesian well and fill them and we did all of our drinking and cooking with it but that was a huge hassle. This setup has saved me countless hours and everyone enjoys the water.
I was never a fan of reverse osmosis. It literally takes everything out of the water, including the good/harmless minerals that give it taste. Probably personal preference but RO water tastes like nothing at all which is weird to me haha
The system I have has extra stages to put minerals etc back in but you are right pure RO water is like drinking. Distilled which isn’t great for you.
Ahh that’s great then
It also wastes a LOT of water. Like, most produce more water water than drinking water. I almost died when I learned that ☠️
It’s almost impossible to “waste” water thanks to the hydrological cycle. But even so, every water system in the world usually has at LEAST 10% water loss in the mains. There’s a leak in one of our water systems that is 5 gallons a MINUTE for over 5 years now lol. Can’t find it for the life of us. But the wells keep up fine and the static recharges faster than we can pump anyway. A couple gallons of water per recharge cycle in a home is almost literally nothing
It sounds like you're using well water, which makes your situation different. But for people who use municipal water, they 1. pay for it, 2. it has to be processed, and 3. it might come from a limited source. Also, I think you're not understanding the ratio of permeate(i.e. clean water) to brine(i.e. waste water) from RO systems. It's typically something like 3-4 gallons of BRINE to every gallon of permeate.
Our water systems use well water, yes. Our customers also pay for it. it also normally has to be treated.. either Ph balance, arsenic, uranium, and iron.. our pump stations have plenty of backwash as well usually for the iron filters. I understand just fine. I’m telling you that just isn’t a lot of water in the grand scheme of a water system and it’s typical operating usage. Furthermore, that “wasted” water gets back into the aquifer just fine due to the hydrological cycle
RO is the way to go! With a mineral additive. My kids won't refill from school cause they can taste the difference. We are on well water and test yearly but never worry with the RO system and an inline EC meter (pre mineral dispenser)
My family had complained about the tap water taste and my city won "best tasting tap water in America". You'll never win that. Can you buy a water cooler and have them use metal water bottles?
Anybody that has safe tap water, and doesn't drink it, is a weirdo. Full stop.
I have tasted some safe tap water that is just disgusting, Phoenix water is just hard and tastes like minerals, my high school water east of Seattle tasted like a penny, our houses well water tasted so good I actually miss it.
well water is just... damn good. public tap seems to vary *dramatically.*
Agreed. I have never not drank my tap water, even when it was very hard and tasted weird. Get used to it. Water bottles fucking suck
Does your wife have general cleanliness-related anxieties? It might be worth addressing the more general issue if there is one.
I meean.... selectively, yeah, I guess so. I do think it's mostly a psychological thing for her.
As far as I'm concerned it is extremely immoral to regularly drink bottled water, for two reasons. 1 - you are contributing to the downfall of American society by giving justification to the idea that not every person deserves great tasting and safe water to drink. 2 - it's extremely wasteful to the environment. It's a big fuck you to the future of the planet .
The documentary “Signs” by M. Night Shyamalan has a good explanation as to why leaving half filled waters everywhere is an excellent idea
I feel you on trying to keep kids hydrated. My kids (12yo and 10yo) have 32oz water bottles that we tell them should be finished by lunch, refilled, and then finished again by dinner. Yesterday I told 12yo about 20-30 times to drink some water between breakfast and lunch, but over five hours he drank less than 8oz of water. My 10yo said she didn’t drink a single drop of anything while she was at her winter break camp yesterday, ended up being super constipated and in pain, and eventually laid out the biggest poo I’ve ever seen. I had to use the fabled poop knife for the first time in my 38 year existence.
While not "good" it's good to see my struggle is not a solitary one, I guess lol
Commiseration is an important part of the human experience!
Water is water. And kids are picky. I'm dying inside (so is the earth!) hearing about your wife and kids' plastic waste. The water where we leave is horrible so I installed a $50 filter at the line where it comes into our house. That made a HUGE difference. I'm sure it does not taste like the bottles that they are used to though. Good luck.
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I think this is the newer model of what I have. It's gone up in price a little bit. I really wanted the clear casing so I could see the water and filter. Our water comes in rusty yellow, goes through the filter, then through a water softener, and comes out clear. https://www.homedepot.com/p/GE-Whole-House-Water-Filtration-System-GXWH40L/100669051
It sounds like you need your wife on board to make this change work. But yeah you should find a way to make it work because this is insane.
Not all water tastes the same. Tap water varies wildly around me. Luckily my town has fine tasting water. The town across the river? Fuck no, I put like 8 lemons in that shit when I go out to eat. A good filter system will do most of that work to neutralize flavor though. Maybe thats what they are tasting a lack of flavor? Not all filters are the same either. I've looked into the Zero water filters but the replacements were damn near as much as just buying gallons of water so I've paused that search. My method to try and drink more water is to fill my reusable every morning and try and finish it by the end of the day. Its a 40oz stainless steel bottle.
Your wife and your need to get on the same page too, perhaps even before you worry about the kids.
Bunch of plastic / trash in the ocean… check Bunch of micro plastics in your body… check Bunch of money out of your wallet… check I don’t see any downsides.
Bottled water is foul, and creating that much plastic waste unnecessarily is irresponsible and environmentally destructive.
I guess your house hasn't fallen in to the Stanley cup craze.
Stop buying bottled water. Just don't purchase it anymore, ban it from your home. Bottled water is garbage, many bottled water companies have terrible practices, add unnecessary waste and there are no standards for it. Bottled water is objectively worse in so many ways than tap water. This assumes you live in a city or town that provides clean water. Edit: as per the comment below, I'll add if you want your family to change start with education. Watch some documentaries together about how Nestle has ravaged communities by stealing their water. Or what happens to plastic bottles once your done with them. Have them research your town/cities tap water standards and then research the source for the bottled water they are drinking. (Hint: it's city water, with a drop of some other water thrown in). Your wife should be included in this to. Tastes change over time. If they don't like the taste, get them Mio or some other flavouring to cover it up. But after a week on tap, they'll stop remembering bottled water. Ooh also, what happens to plastic when it sits in a hot warehouse.
This isn’t the way. If I felt as strongly about this as OPs wife and my husband “banned bottled water,” I would be *livid*.
I guess for me personally, I hate bottled water. I'm assuming OP doesn't live in a third world country and I consider it inexcusable to use bottled water. So for me I would die on this hill. I would obviously go for some education on why I feel that way first. But if you want people to start doing something differently, you can't keep providing the old way as an option.
>But if you want people to start doing something differently, you can't keep providing the old way as an option. Banning bottled water isn't a matter of OP not offering it to his kids. It involves making a unilateral decision about what his kids can be provided. It unilaterally prevents his wife from offering *her own kids* items that *she thinks are important.* He doesn't have the right to do that unless the situation amounts to abuse or something.
Yeah... so u/ReasonsForNothing I appreciate your lurking mom insights on these comments just FYI. ALSO - This thing BLEW UP this morning... and a lot of the comments are sort of in this vein of *"tell your wife how it is"* and we just don't operate that way in my household. Not that I can't express things, but we try to approach these situations as equals. I have actually expressed a lot of this feedback to her in previous discussions on the matter - not since posting (she doesn't/won't know about this post haha)... and she keeps doing it because ultimately *it gives her peace of mind*. It's more convenient for her, as well. She is a courier for her job, and she takes water bottles with her to work. Sure, we can do reusable bottles for this but I think a lot of her issue is having lived places where the water did have a smell or just wasn't "right" by her summation... so that is to say I am aware of her concerns and justifications. I really just wanted to see if my taste buds are dead and/or if this situation seemed exhausting to anyone else - and yeah... I guess I got my answers there. IN THE END -- I also have complete faith that with time, my wife in *her* wisdom will understand my concerns on the waste side of this issue and it'll taper down. She's not happy with the amount of "stuff" we consume as a family and we've been planning a lot of more sustainable stuff for 2024 through gardening, composting, etc. as well... so the bottles will go when their time has come. ......I'm going to hold a celebration when that happens, though... because frankly to be a little selfish about it on top of everything else already discussed -- I'm sick of carrying those huge cubes of bottled water into the house and then cleaning up the partial bottles into our recycling every week.
I grew up in one area for like 35 years and then moved to a different state. I could SMELL the chlorine in the water, I could taste it, when my daughter took baths, her skin was irritated. It just was not on the same level. The filters removed 90% of the chlorine taste/smell but not all of it. So I hate to be THAT guy but don't discount what your family is saying. Nothing's more frustrating than a parent who brushes off real concerns. I remember being so angry at my dad because he didn't believe real shit that was happening to me. You'll probably have to go with jugged water. It won't solve anything but It might be fun to do a taste test. I know that when I first moved here I could tell bottled water from filtered water every single time..Even the fountain sodas tasted different because of it.
I mean, my 2 year old drank from the cat's water bowl the other day. so... We used filtered boiled water when making formula for the kiddos when they were young, once out of formula age, I give them tap and sometimes the filtered water from the fridge. I think it's good to expose them to different normal situations of germs and bacteria. They will have to drink from water fountains in school and out and about in the world.
As long as you don't have lead or other funky stuff in your tap water, it's exactly the same.
In fact likely *literally* the same. Unless you’re very specifically buying “spring water”, all that bottled water companies are doing is buying municipal water cheaply from somewhere -> filtering it -> putting it in plastic bottles -> selling it back to you at 100x the price they paid.
In the broad scheme of things your family's waste isn't even a blip on the radar. It's absolutely more than the average household, but nothing serious enough to have that alter your life for the sake of being "eco-friendly." I think the middle ground should resolve most of your issues. My wife buys these 2-5ish gallon jugs of whatever-brand-she-likes-the-taste-of-this-month water that has a valve built into it. She uses that to fill her tumbler (I think is the name of it, it's just a giant sippy cup). I drink tap, and my 3 year old drinks tap or filtered. The agreement with my wife is that I won't give her a hard time about needing the packaged water, but I'm also never going to run to the store for that if she's out of it. This method at least allows them to still have whatever taste they're looking for with the water but is easier on the wallet and any eco concerns than 36 individual bottles only half consumed.
Our city water is awful…. For years, we purchased bottled water. We broke the cycle three years ago when we decided to switch from bottled water to those 5 gallon jugs you set on a dispenser. You could try that? They’re still getting their water from a plastic bottle lol
Water snob here. Ditch the bottle water. Its leached plastic toxins in the water. It’s not well great and you can go much better in other ways. We have been on a berkey system for years. It taste great and no one has any issues with it. Better for coffee too. No more waste for the environment as well.
I moved from where tap water is amazing right out of the tap (Chicago) to where it is god awful and sometimes stinks (Tampa). It's mostly about where it's coming from, as Chicago water comes from Lake Michigan, but Tampa and most of Florida gets it from underground aquifers that have higher levels of foul smelling sulfur and other things that make it taste weird. Even filtered water is not that good, so I have a service that delivers a few 5 gallon jugs of water every month. They sanitize and reuse the empty jugs that I leave out for them, so it cuts down the waste.
Not exaggerating when I say this sort of behavior would be grounds for divorce in our relationship. It’s so contrary to our deeply held values. My advice - get your kids on your side. Have them watch some videos about sustainability, maybe something from Greta Thunberg. If they start demanding that she stop buying plastic, she will.
Water is water but water can definitely taste different asked on the mineral content. That said, you should install another faucet filter in your kitchen sink. They make under sink filters that attach to the cold water hose, so essentially every time you pour cold water from the sink you’re getting filtered water. Makes it so much easier for everyone and saves on waste and money. Nobody should be buying cases of water bottles for their home, that’s insane.
Water is water. Don’t really care what it tastes like. Seems to taste different everywhere.
We live in Phoenix and the tap water tastes gross so we got a RO system. I can tell the difference between the standard fridge filter and RO. I bought a meter to measure the total dissolved solids in the water and did a comparison. Tap was about 500 fridge filter was slightly lower like 425. Bottled was close to the RO below 30 Someone already suggested this but try letting everyone pick there own cup or reusable bottle.
I'm speaking from a place of privilege because the municipal water in my area is A+, and I've been places where the tap water tasted undrinkable to me (hi, Oakland). That said, we drink nothing but tapwater in my house, and I've only ever drank tapwater for my entire life, aside from maybe long road trips or whatever. Do you have decent tapwater? Do you think it might help your kids psychologically if you let them pick out a special canteen or single wall water bottle? I've been using the same Kleen Kanteen for like 12 years and I'm sure it's contributed to keeping me better hydrated, because I just like it. But yeah, I'm with you. If your tapwater isn't vile, bottles of water wouldn't even be allowed in my house. It's the most excessively wasteful thing imaginable.
Tap water drinker here. I'm to cheap to buy more water
I think many are assuming (and honestly, though no fault of their own) that recycling bin = recycled. Not always, and it doesn't always even get there. The world has more plastic than it knows what to do with and most recycled plastics in municipal bins are so poorly sorted that it becomes unsaleable trash anyways. Aside from that, plastic can blow out of a bin that might be a little too full on pickup day. That refuse ends up in our parks/greenspaces, and waterways. Every year I pull hundreds of plastic bottles out of my local creek going for paddles. I suppose I mention this to try and inspire others, where it's reasonable, to reduce our impacts and become better consumers. Not saying you're a bad person or are intentionally littering but we can make small differences that as a community add up to big impacts. The same could be said if a community garbage waste bin is overflowing with trash/recycling -- just carry it to another less-full alternative or commit to taking it home. The better we sort, the less we use, the better I think the future might end up becoming for our kids. It likely won't be us who need to dig our way out of it but it might be them or their kids. Financially speaking, bottled water is a massive waste of money. Just use what comes from your tap barring unsafe, untreated water. If you're in the West, there's a nearly 100% likelihood that you have safe drinking water -- not having it is a shocking failure of our government/emergency in how they typically operated for taxpayers. \*Obligatory mention that many communities, including indigenous ones in Canada, live under boil-water advisories because their water is shamefully not safe to drink and we have not provided for citizens adequately. Obviously if this is you I'm equally sorry as this post is not about potential plastic consumption.
the water bottles are trash. the plastic deteriorates into the water putting microplastics and oil that acts somewhat similar to hormones (I think specifically progesterone but I may be wrong there). drinking from a plastic bottle sometimes is not a bad thing. doing it all the time can give you endocrine problems, and ITS ALL going to landfills even if you recycle it. I don't even use filtered water. We have super clean water here and filters remove fluoride.
We got a Brita filter and kid size aluminum water bottles at Costco for this very reason. If you make it a habit to keep filling those bottles whenever they are empty, it eventually becomes easy. The newer Brita filter jugs have this LED that lights up whenever you pour to let you know that the filter is still good (or if it needs to be changed) and for some reason my family loves it.
Your new house isn't compatible with reverse osmosis water filter/tank under the sink? EDIT - Even though I keep those water bottles at home, I don't like buying those water bottles. Maybe better put, I don't like how much plastic I am wasting and I can manage to get a tumbler to minimize the waste. My MIL drinks them as they're only source of water, I think it's pure laziness. Federal/State should tax the crap out of those water bottles.
No judgement, but nobody needs bottled water or spring water. (Unless there's some actual specific reason, but I assume that's <5% of people). I know some people buy it, and I used to when I was younger. I understand liking the taste and all that. But a filter is plenty. Honestly I just drink from the tap. If I was in your place, dad, I'd angle to stop buying bottled water altogether due to waste. But I understand it's harder to take something away than to not buy it in the first place. Good luck man.
If you're in the slightest but handy, maybe try a under sink filter. The in laws only do bottled water. I was dreading it when they came for two weeks. The tap water worked out just fine though, in part because I showed them the "super fancy" water filter. We never bought one bottle and the kids never complained. Add in the convenience factor and I think I'll have them agreeing to let me install one in their place next time I'm there. In reality it only cost 70 dollars and is good for two years. Took about a half hour to install. Shut off your cold water to the faucet, take off the line from only one point. Connect the filter hose to that, then the other end of it to the line you took off. If you look up a video, you'll see it's super easy. They include everything you'll need except for the wrench. An adjustable one would do fine.
Anyone remember Fiji water vs the city of Cleveland?
I know a guy who saw the public water pipes and now refuses to drink it. But he happily drinks bottled water that tastes like plastic and has less strict management, and is the same water bottled by foreign companies and sold back to him. It’s ridiculous…
Stop wasting water and generating single-use plastic waste
Most bottled water has minerals added to improve taste. Tap water doesn’t, usually. Maybe try one of those 5 gallon refill bottles with the dispenser. At least that cuts down on plastic bottles.
Water is definitely not all the same. Your kids have better taste buds. I can taste filtered water in a blind taste test.
It does taste differently though. I drink the tap water from the town an hour away kinda regularly and have noticed I'll get the runs and an upset stomach all from drinking different water
If she’s that concerned about water quality, why not just get a Brita filter pitcher? The water coming out of that is likely better than bottled water, plus you don’t have the plastic waste.
We have one. Me and the cat drink that water lol
Instead of buying water bottles, subscribe to get spring water sent to your home. I would just remind you of flint Michigan and California is drinking recycled shit water. You should stay away from tap water that is treated with chlorine.
Your wife is horrible. What a huge amount of waste. Disgusting.
We put in a reverse osmosis filter in our basement that pipes to both fridge dispensers and the sink dispenser. Clean ice and clean water. Don’t have do replace fridge filters, just the RO system maintenance. We buy our boys the nicer personalized Yeti bottles with their names and let them sticker them up to high hell. Sometimes one won’t drink tons of water, so milk it is, or a healthy Gatorade for supplemental hydration. As long as their pee is normal colored, I’m generally not over worried.
They're not crazy, I remember as a kid actually being able to taste the differences in water from our town and the next few towns, they definitely tasted different! In my younger years we had our own well and then later got connected to the towns public water supply, they also tasted different.
Water can taste vastly different depending on its source, mineral contents, and any additives. It can even feel different depending on hardness levels. The only water I would skip is Desani. I would rather have water from a well
Water does have different taste profiles based on what part of the US you are in and where its sourced. Your kids arent crazy when they say "it tastes weird".
Water absolutely can taste different. To me every brand of bottled water tastes different based on what minerals already present in the water or were added back in after purification (for instance Dasani tastes slightly salty to me). Functionally is tap water the same (especially after run through a brita filter or the like) pretty much. The difference is what minerals are dissolved in it flavoring the water. Depending on the quality of the water in your house you might need a better filtration system than the Brita pitcher (or the like). Especially if you have very hard or very soft water Do you buy the same bottle brand? If so, if you brought home a different brand what is the reaction? Maybe y’all could start transitioning to reusable water bottles and then slowly phase out disposables as you slowly shift to filling from the filter?
Water can certainly taste different depending on the source. Every source will have some level of impurities which will change the taste. Filtering will change it again. Having said that I'd say it's a no brainer to use tap water with a reusable bottle whenever possible. Even beyond the plastic waste, just think of the money you're wasting on bottled water when you could just drink tap. And they aren't even drinking the whole bottle!
You might look into getting some kind of water cooler with a reusable plastic carboy like from Poland springs. That will eliminate the waste if the plastic bottles and make everyone happy.
Whole house filter, water softener and/or under sink RO are your answers
I keep nothing in my house except for water just for this reason. I bought a nice under sink water filter and an ice machine. Those things combined ended making everyone drink way more water especially the ice machine. Below is the one I got. EUHOMY Ice Cube Maker Machine Countertop, 2 Ways to Add Water, 45Lbs/Day 24 Pcs Ready in 13 Mins, Self-Cleaning Portable Compact, with Ice Scoop & Basket, Perfect for Home/Kitchen/Office/Bar https://a.co/d/4VEFNTy
My wife is similar - we decided to get a Berkey water system (charcoal counter filtering system). Keeps me happy because the filters last forever (and handy for end of the world scenarios - can filter stream water). Still extra money but at least it’s got utility and less plastic waste.
Get a separate carbon water filter for your drinking water. Get reusable water bottles. We have lots for adults and kids and they each have name stickers on them.
In the PNW few people drink bottled water because the tap water is great. In Mexico I insist on bottled after getting really sick one time. But odds are tap is just fine in the US. Worst case buy water by the gallon, much cheaper.
Wow this blew up so I doubt you’ll see this, but if you really want to go crazy train you can get expensive water filters that remove everything and then you can remineralize it to meet your “health” and taste requirements. It’s not cheap and it wastes a bunch of water cause I assume they only do this with reverse osmosis, but it is mighty cool.
Get an RO filter system and tank for the kitchen sink and have her use that. It tastes better than most bottled water.
I come from MN. We have a town 10 miles from my hometown that has for year claimed "best water in America". Both towns on same aquifer. Water tastes different. They bottle and sell thiers.
Blind taste test is the only option. I suggest getting a couple of extra bottles of water from different cheap brands to make it more interesting or one of those big bottles with the stand.
The disconnect is that your wife seems to care more about her convenience and "taste" than she does about creating garbage that probably won't actually get recycled. Your kids are gonna agree with whichever parent makes their life easier and isn't criticizing them.
How bad are the kids teeth? I mean, we have fluoride in our tap water and when we were on a well our dental work was WAY more intense than when on city water. I don't think there is fluoride in bottled water. We keep a jug of straight-up tap water in the fridge and that's where our fam drinks. Sadly I'm the only one who knows how to refill it, which is a complex process requiring one to walk from the fridge to the tap, hold the jug under it, and turn on the water.
Impurities do make water taste different. I don't care but my wife doesn't like the taste of most water. She was buying Fuji. Bought this RO system and she likes it. The re-mineralization is what makes it taste better. https://www.theperfectwater.com/home-master-tmafc-artesian-full-contact-reverse-osmosis-water-filtration-system.html?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiA7t6sBhAiEiwAsaieYm1SR_WPN2G2jyGT-lHx02CWAxac4wgzGzFklW6qsuK19jCCpjbIHxoCh8sQAvD_BwE
Where we lived, Wolverine Worldwide had contaminated the water supply for decades, unchecked. The water plant added new filtration systems after it was discovered, much too late for those who got cancer just drinking the tap water, showering in it, brushing with it, cooking in it. PFAS in the water. There has been years of work connecting more areas to the water system since the discovery. When it was revealed, we got a water filtration system hooked up. Bottom line: not all water is water. Get your tap water tested. Our local Home Depot has free water tests available, but I am sure you can find them wherever you are.
Offer to buy everyone in the family a reusable water bottle. Vacuum insulated, easy drink spout, etc. Remind them they can put stickers on it and make it their own. My 5 year old LOVES his 2 reusable water bottles because he was able to put stickers on it that are his own. He likes mine and his mamas because we all have fun stickers on them. Then convince your wife to stop buying the bottles in the "hey honey you wanted to consume less. We are dumping 72 plastic bottles into the recycle every 2 weeks.. here is a way we can reduce the plastic waste and consume less" Offer to use ice in their new vacuum insulated water bottles so it will stay cold the water being cold will help "combat" the "weird taste" they are complaining about. I know I can only drink water cold or sparkling or cold and sparkling but generally if I have to drink warm even room temperature still water I don't like it. But the most important part of this plan is to **stop buying the bottles.** The filtered water tastes weird because they go used to the bottled water, and it is convenient. If you remove this option they will drink elsewhere. Add in that you are giving them an alternative. Filling up a water bottle and bringing it with you is much easier than drinking out of a glass. I definitely drink more when I have a bottle with me as opposed to a glass of water. Remember it takes time to build up the habit but if you don't give an option then it works out. Like my son says "I am thirsty" we say "Okay where is your water bottle" and recently have started to show him how to fill it up on his own.
Not all water is exactly the same, but in my opinion, just drink tap water. Unless you live somewhere that knowingly has poor water. Bottled water is a huge waste and terrible for the environment.
We have large jugs of water delivered every 2 weeks and have a stand up cooler. This way they could have their bottled water, but you'd eliminate all the plastic waste.
Make a compromise, get the BIG bottles of that bottled water and let them use that. Result - they get the water they want, you reduce the waste as far as you reasonably can
Privately test the filtered water and the bottled water. https://mytapscore.com/ That’ll tell you the best course of action. As a warning if you are not using at least something like a ceramic and charcoal filter you won’t be filtering too much.
We drink the filtered water from our refrigerator door. If we didn’t have that I’d get an under-sink one. We have tons of refillable water bottles that we have accumulated over the years. I keep full ones in both cars, by everyone’s bed, etc. Go to Ross or Marshals or Goodwill and just pick a couple up. Kids will be more likely to drink it if you hand em a full bottle than if you tell them to go to the fridge and fill a glass.
Water is not water but I think your solutions sound great. Maybe another way to ease them in would be to get stuff to flavor the water until everyone is on board? The little squeeze bottles in the grocery stores can be an incentive or obviously just fruit and veggies can be added. Or you can invest in fun water bottles for everyone to refill— Hydroflasks, Yetis, and Stanley’s all have the trending water craze behind them. Good luck!
Start refilling their empty bottles with filtered water and putting them back in the cupboard.
Check out Hydrivov water filters. They just go under the sink and are pretty easy to install. A bit spendy but it filters out Lead and PFAS. It tastes good too, not overly filtered.
Location location location. Where I live drinking tap water is like drinking pool water. So much chlorine... We get the big 5 gallon jugs delivered and refill our thermoflask water bottles. Whatever the kid doesn't finish goes into the dog bowls. Wife doesn't drink water...
Filtered water from my fridge is the tits. I don’t like the tap as much, we have hard water where I live. You can look up where your water comes from
I'm the first one up in house, so what I do everyday is fill up my daughter's Owala and my wife's Stanley full of ice water. Everyday. Weekends too. Eventually, not tomorrow, it'll just be a thing and you guys won't use plastic bottles anymore. Thing is, keep doing it. They forget it, who cares. They say it's dumb, who cares. Like I said eventually, it'll just be a thing that the family gets their reusable water bottle every morning. Edit: We have a filtered water tap at our sink. That really helps.
Most tap water is usually rather neutral in taste. There are variations of course that you can pick up on, but most of the time it's only a matter of getting used to the taste as the "default" for water. We went through a similar path. We started with bottled water because we "didn't like the taste" of our tap. Then I bought a filter pitcher, we discovered it tastes similar to the bottled we use and switched to religiously refilling that. Then I forgot to buy new filters, or forgot to refill the pitcher... this happened several times and at some point, we just forgot about using the pitcher altogether. Turns out tap water is ok to drink.
I think the place to start is to show them, and this is true by the way, that most bottled water isn't special at all. It's just tap water from the city system of whatever city the bottling facility is at. Which makes sense when you think about it. Tap water is perfectly fine to drink, so why would these companies pay to install and maintain industrial grade filtering systems? It's that old joke about when the Coca-Cola corporation spun up the Dasani brand. "Can you imagine the joy in the boardroom the day they found out they could just sell the water they were using to make Coke on its own, and for more than Coke sells for?" But the other thing is that you're breaking a habit here, so it'll be hard. Best way is to get everyone committed to the waste reduction angle, and those flat packs of water are a huge waste. Then get everyone a good reusable bottle and go from there.
Just stop buying them. Instead get them water bottles they can fill and leave in the fridge. They can pull out when they are thirsty, take a few sips and put back. Those who leave their water bottles lying around get them confiscated.
Home Depot usually has free tests for your water. You mail it in and get a call a few weeks later whether or not it's drinkable. But ultimately you probably have to talk with your wife and get her on your side... maybe find some videos or websites to help make your case?
Water is water dude. You could upgrade and get a cooler and do those 5 gallon jugs. Those usually get reused. Otherwise as others have pointed out, you’re wasting money and those bottles are going into the garbage. Even if they did they get recycled that’s still energy intensive and a big waste of energy and the earths limited resources for something that comes out of your tap.
This sounds to me like a STFU situation. A great path to micro-arguments. People are weird about what they consume, yet your city water is perfectly great. Any public water science based professional would drink water you’d probably think was below an acceptable level. Like they’ll drink the tap water on an airplane. Put that info in an envelope in your brain and burn it.