Tap Water v. Bottled Water

[MrMon]

Didn't CR do a blind taste test a few years ago in which NYC tap water beat all the bottled waters in taste?

[TravestyFund]

FIJI PLEASE

[New001]

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Didn't CR do a blind taste test a few years ago in which NYC tap water beat all the bottled waters in taste?

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It wouldn't surprise me, but it would seem to me that someone who drinks tap water most often will be more inclined to say tap water tastes better in part because they're more used to it. The reverse for someone who drinks bottled water more regularly. Is this the case? And if so, was this controlled for in the test?

Either way, I drink bottled water because it's not a problem financially, it's more convenient for me, and I think it tastes better. I used a Brita filter for a while but I drink a lot and I like my water cold, so it was a bit of a hassle. I still use it for making tea though.

[John Feeney]

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One point I'll add to your Distilliation > RO is that not all RO systems are created equally. The same goes with the waste water. There are systems that have only a 1:1 waste ratio. Also, another concern is that RO systems store their water in a plastic bladder in a holding tank. I like the idea that many manufacters have of putting a 0.5 micron carbon block filter after the holding tank as the water goes to the faucet.

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Those are good additional points.

I'll add that in the last couple of years I've seen a couple of filters that claim to reduce arsenic. (Typically, you've needed RO or distillation to do that.) But I haven't looked into them in any detail.

[QTip]

www.nsf.org is a great place to check these things out.

http://www.nsf.org/consumer/drinking...ogram=WaterTre

Has a great contaminant Guide and also has a "Search for NSF-Certified Products" section where you can look for certified products by contaminant removal/reduction or you can check out a certain manufactures.

http://www.nsf.org/Certified/DWTU/

At any rate, the Kinetico Reverse Osmosis System Plus Deluxe is by far my favorite equipment. Lots of great features and the longest warranty in the industry by a long shot at 7 years.

http://www.kinetico.com/Kinetico/EN/Resi...em+Plus+Deluxe/

That's what I use in my home anyway.

[tufat23]

interesting. i prefer the taste of bottled water too, although i drink both tap and bottled water equally happily, just whichever is closest when i want it.

by the way, can water 'go off'? sounds stupid but sometimes if i drink say 1/2 a bottle of water and then forget about it for 2 days, when i find it again i dont drink the rest, just toss it

[New001]

I've noticed the exact same thing with bottled water even if it gets opened and then put away for a couple days with the cap on. I don't know if it's some sort of weird psychological difference or if there really is a difference.

[pkr2k5]

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The best bottled water I've tasted is the Fiji water. It's expensive, but wow is it ever good.

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QFT

[JPinAZ]

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by the way, can water 'go off'? sounds stupid but sometimes if i drink say 1/2 a bottle of water and then forget about it for 2 days, when i find it again i dont drink the rest, just toss it

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In a way it does. What happens is that the dissolved air in the water slowly outgasses over time. The same sort of thing as a soda going flat. While the water doesn't go bad, it does affect how it tastes.

[MrWookie]

This is somewhat true, but it's not the whole picture. It's true that water does contain dissolved gasses, and these gasses affect the flavor. Have you ever drunk boiled water, say, while out camping or something? It tastes pretty bad, having lost almost all dissolved gasses. Bottled water, though, is going to be pretty close to equilibrium when it's bottled (if there was much of an exess of dissolved gasses, we'd call it carbonated water), so there's not much outgassing that can occur UNLESS it warms up. An open bottle of water in your fridge won't outgas hardly at all, but if it warms up to room temperature, its capacity for holding dissolved gasses diminishes, and it'll lose some.