To ask for decent alternatives to bottled water?

[b123p]

Will start this by saying:

I know I'm a privileged snowflake.
I also know that plastic bottles are horrible for the environment, and drinking out of them is said to not be good for the human body too.

But I drink the best part of three litres of water a day, and have found that Brita water filters don't take the edge off tap water for me. If I try and wean myself off the bottled water, I don't drink as much, and my body feels terrible.

Does anyone have any water filter/filter tap recommendations, or alternatives to bottled water that still taste nice? Lakeland has this fancy one

www.lakeland.co.uk/73247/ZeroWater-5-Stage-Water-Filter-Jug-with-Free-TDS-Meter-1-7L

but reluctant to take a punt without knowing more, and the price of the filters is quite nausea-inducing!

Thanks in advance.

"I drink most of my water as tea, don't live in a hot contry so don't need 3 litres a day."

Same here. My office is usually quite cold, so I never fancy a cold drink. Tea is my choice of regular drink.

I'm confident that in a blind taste test I can tell the difference between different waters. I don't really care but I can tell they taste different.

Just drink gin, wine, beer or another alcoholic drink then the water doesn't matter ( only slightly tongue in cheek!!).

I never drink tap water, only have it boiled with tea or coffee. I do drink bottled water, but it's generally from glass bottles which can be recycled.

We use a Berkey Filter. Filters tap water and takes all the chlorine and stuff out but leaves the minerals in, you just dump tap water in the top and it filters it. Lasts years and years so the investment (€300 ish in Ireland) is worth it to us, especially as we also have fluoride added to our water in Ireland 🤨

I love our London tap water
Where do you people with horrible water live??

Bobble bottle is good. Tap water at work has an odd taster which the bottle seems to fix.
We have lovely water in Derbyshire. My parent's is unpleasant in East Anglia.

Another vote for a bobble bottle

We have horrible water here in Sussex.

But my Mum (who lives 1.5 miles away) has lovely water, weirdly.

......Tap Water.............

Maybe a daft question but have you tried your tap water at different times? A couple of times a year ours tastes like antiseptic because they are doing something with the pipes. It's vile.

Do you have hard or soft water?

For those using charcoal filters - have a look at plain charcoal filters like these: charcoalpeople.co.uk/buy-water-filters/. Exactly the same as Brita but cheaper and less impactful on the environment.

Have you seen this too?
Other water companies have similar pages.

www.nwl.co.uk/your-home/your-services/tastes-and-smells.aspx

I spent the first 30 years of my life drinking tap water quite happily and then moved to Berkshire and the tap water is AWFUL. Tastes like actual bleach. I don't think I'm being a princess as I've exclusively drunk tap water my whole life! Those who are privileged enough to have decent tap water, don't preach to those of us who don't!

Another vote for Berkey filters here, had ours for a year now.. only wish I had bought one sooner!

What does the tap water actually taste of?
(I have worked in the water industry)

Swimming pool

I've lived in many different places in the UK and Europe, and frequently used to work all over the UK. I drink a lot of water. Almost always tap. About three litres a day.

Tap water does of course taste different in different places but in the UK it's all very high quality and safe to drink. I used Brita filters years ago when I lived in London and now have a fridge with a built in filter. It lasts six months rather than one with a Brita so there is less waste.

It's absolutely true that the chlorine smell dissipates very quickly. Usually in minutes but if it's bad a few hours in the fridge or overnight sort that out.

I honestly can't countenance being so oblivious to the environment that I'd drink three litres of water from a plastic bottle by choice, every day. Teach your palate to like a different taste or talk to your water company about what's wrong with your supply. You'll soon get your money back by fixing what ever the problem is.

I personally prefer the Aqua Optima water filter to Brita for taste and speed of filtering. Cheaper jug, much cheaper cartridges. Wilko does a good price but big cheaper packs of filters are available on Amazon. I buy a few mineral waters, drink them, then rinse and refill them using the filter jug. I find it helps to filter in advance and keep them in the fridge. Also makes nicer tea but strangely not coffee.

I also will Milton the bottles occasionally although I'm probably poisoning myself there.

@MrsMoastyToasty
Depends.

• chalk
• antiseptic
• bleach
• undefined chemically taste
• Volvic x1000. V hard, almost solid timescale water)
• slimy. Well not slimy exactly but sort of too smooth and slippery. Not a water quality issue, just v soft water.

I've lived over England and Wales and have always drunk tap water (don't drink much else). As someone said above, tap water can be pretty unpleasant tasting even if it is safe.

I know we are v lucky to have safe drinking water just waiting for us when we need it.

Chlorine is drip fed into the water supply at the treatment works and I'd extremely carefully controlled. Chlorine taste is usually due to being at the end of the network. We live in a cul de sac and the water company come over regularly to flush the main by opening up the nearest sluice valve or fire hydrant and letting some go.
. Another cause of taste problems is usually due to water reacting with washers that aren't drinking water compatible, usually resulting in a TCP taste.
NB if you filter water to remove chlorine you should use the water straight away as you have removed the purifying effect of the chlorine.

Soda stream tap water if you like fizzy water gives it a slightly different taste

Infuser water bottle with cucumber and mint is also lush

It depends on what you’re used to. My mum is from Yorkshire and thinks the soft water there is delicious - we always used to come away from my gran’s house with a few bottles of it to take home. She now lives in Sussex and thinks the hard water there and at my house in London is disgusting.

DH on the other hand grew up in London and loves the taste of tap water here. When we visit Yorkshire he hates the softness of the water, says it tastes “fluffy”.

Just start drinking tap water, you’ll be used to it in a week or two.

I know what you mean op I can only drink tap water from the city I live in, other areas taste minging to me except rural Wales where its amazing.

@MrTrebus I speak from experience, and it may not affect you. I hope you noticed you may get statement too.

I changed from a lifetime of room temperature sparkling water (around 2 litres a day) I now use a Brita filter. I find it tastes better if cold. I did try some years ago to get on with a soda stream (using filtered water) but found the fizz really weak).
About once a week I’ll have a small bottle of very fizzy for old times sake.

I live in Scotland and my tap water is nice. When I visit my dad down south, it tastes rank so I buy bottled water.
Could you try sliced cucumbers or fruit in a reusable water bottle ?