Bottled Water: scam or necessity?

I think bottled water is one of the greatest scam of our time. Especially in the developed part of the world i.e in Europe and America. I can understand when people in third world countries drink bottled water but in the developed countries where tap water supply agencies claim their water to be as good as bottled water, why people still waste money? Mostly I receive two excuses. 1. Chlorine/Flouride and 2. Convenience.

Yes, tap water has minuscule amounts of chlorine and often flouride but it has benefits for health and teeth. I never felt any negative effect on my health and I almost all the times drink tap water. Convenience, yes, I also use bottles but I reuse them by filling with tap water untill I lost them or bottle gets old. On the downside, look at the amount of plastic in landfills, it is ridiculous.

Scam.

I just have one proper water bottle I bought, and I always put tap water in it before I leave anywhere. Its really stupid actually, I dunno why tehre are so many water bottle companies and how they make so much money.

Dasani, Aquafina, Poland Spring, Deer Park...

Funny thing is some companies just fill the bottles with tap water and claim it to be 'spring' water like Pepsi and Coca Cola.

Evian spelled backwards is naive
I drink tap water but I do keep some bottled water at home for people who visit

There are new studies which suggest that the plactic which contains the bottled water leaks harmful elements into the water and it may even be worse than regular water in regular water.

I live in Vancouver, a place where the need for bottled water should be slim to none yet still we find that people mostly drink bottled water.

Aquafina will now label it's bottled water to show that it comes from the same source as tap water.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/...EWS07/707280305

$11 billion!

That's the # Americans spend on bottled water! In most states it's a total waste of money.

you can get a simple water filter for under £25 ( from wickes)..where you can attach it to the mains to filter the water.


also tap water has flourine added to it for dental hygiene. water boards who have added flourine in its catchment area ..people have better teeth according to studies done.

I thinks its a mental thing + advertising.

SCAM unless you live somewhere where water is really terrible

I used to only drink bottled water when I was in London because the quality of the tap water was abysmal.

But in Luton, I'm happy to drink tap water, so as Sabika says its about where you live too.

Use bottled water in the ME cause tap water there really isnt drinkable. Have tap water in Sydney without a problem. A couple of months ago they were doing some repairs on the water mains and for a few days the water was initially muddy then had a sulphuric sort of smell to it so for about a week I had to get by on bottled water.

My dad and brother though arent usually comfortable with the concept behind drinking tap water after living in the ME for so long but I never had such problems and agree that it is quite a scam

in pakistan all bottles except nestle and aquafina are scams and filled from the taps or rivers.

that must mean a lot of sick people. Many years ago (meaning when bottled water was not there or a common thing) in Pakistan you couldn't drink tap water without boiling it first unless you want to risk it. When you go to restaraunts what you get in a glass is anyone's guess

In Pakistan, it is still not a good idea to drink tap water without boiling in any city.

Middle East probably has the world's cleanest drinking water. It comes bottled in the taps.

Well Pakistan has (or had) bigger problem. There was no water. People had to pay people to get tankers in to fill up the water tank. There are/were no regulations. Any where are these people bring water from in trucks. Are they just pumping it from a lake or paying someone to stop the water so they can fill up and make money. What water is going to the drinking fountains in schools?

but if you grow up there your immune system is probably a lot better than someone who visits the country every 2 years. In consumption of both food and water.

The water bottled from taps isnt generally available in all homes. I remember when in Saudi we would often go to this place where people would fill up large bottles with water from these taps but the water at home (and this was the case in Dubai and Bahrain) was quite hard

I remember that place. Are you talking about the one in Khobar - close to the Sabzi Mandi

Yep

When I used to live in Dubai, drank tap water and was readily avaliable and my parents still insisted in buying Asafi bottled water to take with me during school, as the water there was supposedly unsafe to drink...

Dasani is tap water as well

Oh yeah, your defenitly right, I do remember now when I was in Taif Dad used to go to fill up the 'barmeels' haha

Then later on I moved to Yanbu Industrial City and had thier own plant there proving clean water to whole city.

There was a report on TV that bottled water may be more harmful than tapped water because it lacks the important minerals that the body needs..

Funnily but Bottled water is also available in those valleys in Pakistan from where the water is bottled and where the water available is the best in Pakistan (probably best in world). Drinking bottled water in cities might be a necessity, but i was astonished when i saw a person drinking bottled water at the end of a glacier which by all measurement is a better water resource then all bottled waters

Its a scam. They go out and create a product then in order to sell the product they create a "need" which wasn't there before. Its all about making each and everyone of us into just a consumer thats it, nothing more nothing less.

I'm lucky because I drink Zam-Zam here in KSA but in Pakistan its a real pain to find clean water.

its the biggest scam in modern history.(especially in australia, europe, americas etc)

i

watch Penn & Teller on bottled water
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfPAjUvvnIc

I don't drink bottled water in UK but in Pakistan I have to drink Nestle otherwise things go terribly wrong! My wife and kids drink bottled water and guess who has the strongest teeth? Me! There was a time when charging for drinking water was considered very bad in Pakistan. Now everything goes. You could knock at any door and ask for water. Refusing a drink of water at any time and to anybody is a criminal offense in England according to a law passed by Henry VIII almost five hundred years ago!