[telegraph.hill]

Do you drink tap/fawcett water or bottled water?

In the UK since the management of the water supplies was privatised, people reckon that there are sometimes problems with the quality of the water.

And then you hear stories of bottled waters from springs not being so good after all due to pollution.

It's difficult to know what to choose.

In some countries, such as France and Spain, people have no choice as the tap water is not considered to be good for drinking.

Generally I drink tap water, but I'm wondering if some sort of water filter would be a good idea.

Do you worry about the pollution of drinking water?

[Turtle Girl]

Distilled water is always a safe bet -- you may not get the trace minerals you get from good spring water, but the distillation process itself removes all impurities so you know that water is safe, and it's cheaper too!

[horselover]

We use the Brita filter for our water.

[Turtle Girl]

Brita is good if you're in a relatively safe area without the threat of natural disasters (i.e. floods and hurricanes) but some of the microbes that cause illnesses are too small to be caught by the filters -- then, only boiling or bleaching the water and then filtering it works. Distilled is always safe, if you can get it. Bleach water is an acquired taste.... it's very mildly bleached, but a necessity in certain situations.

[horselover]

We don't have those issues here. I'm glad we don't. With my schedule I don't have time to boil water for anything.

[Turtle Girl]

Not many, or any, of us do -- it's just something that happens. I was conducting research on a Caribbean island a few years ago whe we got hit by a Cat 5 storm -- we had no choice but to find time to boil water in the midst of rebuilding friends homes (in the Caribbean, this often doesn't mean much more than plywood and corrugated tin), moving ourselves to a new home (ours was destroyed, but our sponsors provided a new house), cleaning up and re-establishing our study. It's not fun!

[Matc]

I've had to do the boiled water thing when travelling before. The local supply hasn't agreed with me in certain places. You get used to having to do it.

[Turtle Girl]

Boiling water isn't all that inconvenient when you consider the consequences... And medical care is not always as reliable or as readily available when traveling.

[saturnsc]

At home and around town it is always tapwater for me. Sure, sometimes it reaks of chlorine. I figure if it kills me then at least society will wake up more to the fact that they have potable water problems. I fully understand that while travelling bottled or boiled water is best. But here, i refuse to pay the price for corporate water. It truly is (or at least could be) an evil industry.

[fleabitn]

In Western Canada, we enjoy some of the finest tap water you can get. Buying bottled water here is a total waste of money, its actually more of a status thing/lifestyle accessory item.

People in North America waste water horribly, as there is a real fondness for backyard swimming pools, washing cars, and the people who really drive me nuts, the people who enjoy washing down their driveway. As a homeowner, once you pay your city taxes, cold water is essentially free and people use it as so.

The geography helps the city keep mountain resevoirs,then pumped downhill. We are so dependent upon the winter snow cycle in this part of the world that too much warming/drought would be disasterous for tourism and forestry, two mainstays of the economy 'round these parts.

D.