Anyone else see lots of people buying bottled waters?

[lovesthosebeeps]

Like those 1 or 2 litre multipack bottles?

I've just been to Tesco express (it's tiny) and two separate customers were complaining that there wasn't any big bottles of water about

I thought that was a coincidence, but thinking about it, I keep seeing lots of people in Asda and Aldi doing this too!

I mentioned it to the guy at the till and he said he'd seen an increase for sure, though he wasn't sure why. Last time he saw it was during the first lockdown and they ended up restricting the amount you could buy at once anyway

I know people like bottles water for various reasons, and I have a friend who's DS won't have anything else due to his autism. But surely this is unusual?

Those of you who don’t like drinking the tap water do get a bamboo charcoal stick for it and pop it in a jug it then is so soft and clean no chlorine smell at all and the charcoal lasts for months

To add to my previous post, apart from the emergency ones I just drink tap water

When the bottled ones are getting that they've been there a while I use them to top up my car screenwash if I've forgotten to rotate the bottles. Then keep the empty bottle as it's the easiest way to fill up the washer bottle!

I just don't want to be in the situation again with no bottled water in the shops, the tap water not being safe to drink and wondering WTF to do. I'm immunocompromised so had to use bottled water or cooled boiled water for the 3-4 weeks we had no tap water for everything from teeth cleaning to rinsing toothbrush to drinking to rinsing crockery to washing my face

down to the preppers probably

Preppers (I'm not one, but in my experience), often don't buy bottled water. They have filtration systems and tablets etc. and frequently bottle water themselves rather than buy it.

I'm of the mind that Brexit-related transport problems and recent memory of Covid shortages just mean that people are changing their shopping habits.

The idea of plastic bottles of water is just awful now, but tap water is an issue for some people. House/tap filters are a better idea, imo.

@PumpkinKlNG

I always buy bottles of water in my weekly shop, for my kids for school, I’ve tried all the water bottles you can buy and every one leaks, every single one, so I buy bottled water for them, I’ve noticed it’s been hard to get it the last few months actually and often they would say it was available in my online shop

That sounds like a lot of user error

I don't think it's just water buying that has an impact on the environment though. Apparently Britain gets through 2.5m coffee cups a yr.

"only one in 400 cups end up being recycled, with the vast majority going straight to landfill. This suggests that coffee cups that end up in the UK’s landfill sites produce an annual carbon footprint equivalent to over 152,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide, similar to what 33,300 cars produce in a year."

@NotMyCat

I always have some after our water wasn't drinkable for 3 - 4 weeks! Fine saying go and buy some but there was none left as everyone was affected and the shelves were bare Since then I've kept a couple of bottles, I drink and replace them You don't realise how often you go to turn your tap on until you can't use the water

Exactly, everyone needs a store in their house for emergencies, particularly parents need to be prepared - but it is not for daily use. No one with any sort of conscience uses bottle water daily

@NotMyCat doesn't your water company provide bottled water if there is a problem with your water supply?

When we have had water supply problems Yorkshire Water have dropped pallets of 2 litre bottles of water in our village, at no cost to the inhabitants.

@PumpkinKlNG

I always buy bottles of water in my weekly shop, for my kids for school, I’ve tried all the water bottles you can buy and every one leaks, every single one, so I buy bottled water for them, I’ve noticed it’s been hard to get it the last few months actually and often they would say it was available in my online shop

what rubbish. Why do people keep sending their children in to school with water in any case - totally unnecessary. This is just a stupid fad initiated by the big bottled water companies. NO CHILD needs a supply of drinking water available in the classroom. A small water bottle for collecting a drink from the water fountain at lunch time, drink on the spot, carry the water bottle completely empty - problem solved.

PumpkinKlNG

I always buy bottles of water in my weekly shop, for my kids for school, I’ve tried all the water bottles you can buy and every one leaks, every single one, so I buy bottled water for them, I’ve noticed it’s been hard to get it the last few months actually and often they would say it was available in my online shop

"That sounds like a lot of user error"

I agree. DD is on medication that gives her a dry mouth, so she always carries a water bottle - usually one of those metal oness you see for sale everywhere. None of the refillable bottles she has used has ever leaked.

The only time that she had had to have a clear bottle was during GCSEs and A levels when the invigilator needed to be sure that the students didn't have anything on their desks that could contain anything that would enable them to cheat.

I can't work out the reason, between lorry drivers Brexit etc. Shame so many people buying plastic though.

I must live in an unusual place as I have seen less buying of bottled water since the start of the pandemic.

@MrsSkylerWhite

buckeejit

I'm amazed how many people regularly buy bottled water when we have drinkable tap water . Why wouldn't you just buy a filter if it tastes bad? I feel pretty guilty about the environmental impact on the rare occasion i but bottled water.@lovesthosebeeps
Ours is in glass bottles. As I understand it, glass can be recycled forever more.
Some tap water is horrible. My mums in a London suburb tastes awful.

Glass still takes enormous amounts of energy to recycle and transport. Just because it doesn't involve plastic, it doesn't stop it from being environmentally irresponsible.

Anyone who 'doesn't like tap water' needs to take a good hard look at themselves. We are so incredibly fortunate that just about every property in the country has clean safe water literally on tap, that is affordable to just about everybody. Billions of people in the world aren't as fortunate.

It really isn't necessary to store bottled water in your house. If your supply is interrupted, your water company will provide a temporary supply.

But if you find yourself buying bottled water more than very occasionally, you should really look into alternatives to any sort of bottles so you can cut down massively. Soda stream if you want fizzy water more than the odd pack a year, filter jugs, fancy tap, whatever.

It shouldn't be possible to buy a large bottle of water for 17 p, it really shouldn't. It should be taxed to take into account the environmental damage and make people think twice about buying it and look for alternatives.

I've just moved to a new area and buy 12 1.5 litres a week. The water here is disgusting🤢

@NannyAndJohn

Stocking up in preparation for the next lockdown, most likely.

Have you stocked up for Christmas Nanny?

SIGG bottles don't leak for the poster who claims that all reusable bottles leak.

For chilled water at home, I bought a bottle of Voss sparkling water (nice stylish slim glass bottle, cost £1.50) drank the fizzy water with cordial and now I just keep it filled with tap water in the fridge.

@newnortherner111

I must live in an unusual place as I have seen less buying of bottled water since the start of the pandemic.

Do you work in a shop or in water bottle plant?

That's a very peculiar thing to have noticed otherwise. Are you sulking around with clipboard in the soft drink aisle?

There have been supply issues for just over a month. Several supermarkets are back to limiting amount of water blight (if they have any). Also signs up in most on the empty shelves saying transport problems causing stores to reduce ranges. Water is bulky to sell and store and transport. They are prioritising other things. Recently saw news story that over 100,000 transport/haulier vacancies and that the army was ready to assist but had not been called in as yet.
It’s Brexit and pingedemic and summer holiday related.
Not sure why the pretty awful San Pellegrino seems still to be available in some shops - wondering if hospitality (who use it a lot) supplies are being diverted ?

@overtherainbo

I've just moved to a new area and buy 12 1.5 litres a week. The water here is disgusting🤢

I think in your situation, I'd get a filter jug or plumbed in supply to avoid carting around and storing that amount of water, even if I didn't care enough about the environmental damage to stop buying all that water.

@overtherainbo you could buy a water filter or a charcoal stick. If the water smells of chlorine you can leave some in a jug and the smell dissipates.

Water is bulky to sell and store and transport

Exactly. They can't be making much, if any profit on a 17 p bottle of water. Plus it's completely unnecessary. I've moaned myself because our Co-op had no crisps at all for about three weeks, but if they reason for that was that so they could bring actual food to the shop instead, I'm fine with that.

We haven’t had bottled water in my work for about a month (I work in a store)

It’s a very popular item

Barbara very flummoxed by your post. It seems to indicate that crisps are not ‘actual food’. Will need to ponder that. I’ve clearly misread. Another coffee might clear my head.

A small water bottle for collecting a drink from the water fountain at lunch time, drink on the spot, carry the water bottle completely empty - problem solved.

My DC’s school doesn’t have a water fountain. I’ve been inside a lot of schools and don’t recall seeing one since I was attending my own primary school many moons ago. Even less likely to be used in Covid times I would have thought! I wonder if they’ll make a comeback

Why do people keep sending their children in to school with water in any case - totally unnecessary. This is just a stupid fad initiated by the big bottled water companies. NO CHILD needs a supply of drinking water available in the classroom

Well in my DC’s case it was a requirement to send them on with a bottle of water. You had to buy a water bottle with the school logo on and fill it each morning. It had nothing to do with buying water from bottled water companies.

our water has a very high iron content and looks like wee so we don’t drink it- it’s so bad it stains our white clothes in the washing machine, we recently installed rain water harvesting system and it’s not suitable for consumption. I feel very guilty that we buy so much bottled water but there really isn’t anything we can do.
Oh my God condolences, we lived with this for a year and a half. Our only neighbour was a 90 year old farmer and his son. The dad said 'it's not great but it hasn't done me a harm and the son said, for God's sake don't drink it. When my mum came to visit she gagged when she saw it . She lives in Dublin where even now, when we live in a place with ok water, her water is a hundred times fresher!!