To think this isn't panic buying?

[AtomicBlondeRose]

https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/devon-cryptosporidium-outbreak-school-closed-hundreds-ill-latest-updates/

This is an awful situation in Devon, but why on earth is people buying bottled water in a situation where the water is undrinkable "panic buying" - it seems like perfectly sensible buying to me? Every single person needs the equivalent of multiple bottles of water every day, and I would say those who have the ability to buy it are actually being fairly considerate in leaving stocks of the bottled water being provided by the water companies for those who need it.

Not all stocking up is panic buying! It is sometimes a very rational response to the situation you're in.

Raw milk contains parasites (including the parasite that’s responsible for the Devon outbreak) that are killed during pasteurisation. Meat can contain parasites that are killed by cooking. Fish can contain quite large worm-like parasites that again are killed off by cooking or freezing. Even fruit and vegetables can harbour parasites.

This is why you keep.a good supply of food (just an extra couple of tins/rice/pasta a week) , lots of loo roll, the freezer full, uht milk, powdered milk, and bottled water....also get a water filter that kills bugs....

Not a lot of money....and whilst every other twat is storming Sainsbury's, your drinking one of the 50 bottles of wine you've also prepped!

For those in areas with water running out, most people in Uk don’t drink sparkling water, so do look if that’s still in stock. Plus for kids buy extra milk or other soft drinks for a few days to increase liquid available.

We had similar about 2 years ago where we lived, and it was restricted in supermarkets to 2l each Max. But other liquids were unrestricted. I don’t mean go crazy on those either, but 1l milk, 1lemonade, 1l Fresh Orange might help.

We always keep a large 5l water and a few smaller 1l as back up, and did before our water turn off. It’s helped a lot actually as we only had 3 days off, so starting with 7-8l meant we could relax a little

This is pretty much the definition of panic-buying, though, so the article is right to use the term.

Panic-buying is buying something out of unfounded fear, or mistrust of information, rather than making a rational decision based on fact. That’s what people are doing by refusing to accept the scientific advice that the water is drinkable once boiled.

Not just parasites, we ingest a load of other dead microorganisms every time we eat or drink as well!

Tbh, I'm far more worried about the microplastics which we are all ingesting these days than a few dead parasites. The plastics might sound less icky, but they're almost certainly far more harmful.

I agree. It is panic buying.

The problem here isn't the people buying water. The problem here is the water company poisoning folk with water that makes them sick.

Well two days ago they were told that the water was perfectly safe when it wasn't boiled, and that nothing was wrong with it. Sucks to be the ones who believed that particular bit of scientific advice.

Someone bought absolutely tons of water in Aldi at Bristol today . I wondered why now I know . Obviously they are off on holiday to Devon or they are going to drop some off to someone.

Well I don’t really think I’d call it unfounded fear given this water board took several days to act, and has a history for covering things up and not telling the public.

It’s not comparable to Panic buying when five flakes of snow fall and Tesco’s gets cleared within an hour.

And as proved by other posters on this thread, the general public have no idea about water based bacteria and their treatments. Some might try putting water purification tablets in which will do nothing against cryptosporidium.

Personally I’d be buying bottled water, even if I had to drive to the midlands for it.

I would rather just buy the bottled, even on this thread someone was giving bad advice about using tablets that don't work for it. Also for cold drinks it's a lot of bother to boil it, maybe you could use it with tea and coffee and teeth cleaning.

Well, I stock up.

Other people panic buy.

you don't know that the sole or even main reason they are buying water is because they don't trust the advice about boiling it though. It could just be that buying it is a lot easier and more convenient than faffing around boiling it when you've only got one kettle, nothing to store 10 litres of water in, and 5 people's worth of water to boil, cool, and decant.

And no wonder people don't accept scientific advice provided by the government - how much of the "follow the science" advice we were originally told to follow during Covid was later proven to be completely inaccurate? (not a Covid denier or conspiracy theorist, I'm sure most of the advice given was genuine based on what was known at the time, but that doesn't change the fact lots of it was eventually found to be wrong!)

panic buying suggests irrationality, buying when there isn't actually a need for it.
Water is pretty much the most essential need!

People were probably buying for a few days, not everyone has time to traipse to the supermarket hoping to buy a couple of bottles of water each time, especially as it's not something easily carried on foot that you could just get if you were walking past.

Or in raw chicken. The heat kills the parasites, it doesn’t remove them.

Not sure why anyone is buying it, SW Water are giving it away. I picked up 12 litres this morning, dropping GS off to work and no queues so I drove in they put the six bottles in my car and I drove off.

Depends if it's on your way? I bought 16 litres today for £3, it's very cheap. Realised my three day supply is a few months out of date so I'm using it for plants and replacing it.

I always keep a supply of bottled water under my kitchen floor space for either camping or emergencies and it is now out of date; I assumed it would still be perfectly fine to use (I’d probably drink it in an apocalypse!) just wondering if it is actually a risk to consume if it’s past the best before? It’s water I don’t get what can be so wrong with it. Although I always eat stuff past the ‘best before’ dates as a rule.

DH and I have just been discussing, we are in the South and there was an incident last year where some swimmers in a local river got poisoned as sewage was emptied there (we’ve taken our small children river swimming locally). We’ve decided to start boiling water, filling all our water bottles (we have metal ones for us and the kids) and just keeping in the fridge to drink from now, just to be precautionary. The trust we place in these private companies for an absolute basic human need is scary, surely it needs to be nationalised now after so many of these disasters, and taken back in to public ownership.

Even washing your salad in this water you could be seriously ill. It’s terrifying, frankly. I’m emetophobic so not always rational about these things but I think anyone would find this scary.

@hazandduck
I don't know if it would eventually be unsafe to drink or maybe just not taste good. New bottles have a two year expiry on them though. £1.55 for four 2L bottles, so depending on how much you choose to keep in, it's not much to replace them.

I remember that peoples hair was going green and everything

The risk, theoretically at least, with drinking bottled water that’s out of date is to do with the plastic degradation over time. If it’s stored somewhere cool and dry I can’t imagine this being an issue for many years after the expiration date, though.

They’ve told locals that boiling it isn’t killing the parasite - initially they said it did but then they said it didn’t… whether it does or not, at this stage, no one will believe it or trust that advice.

What counts as cool? I don't have anywhere in the house that won't get into the twenties in summer. Garage is separate from house and the temperature more variable so not suitable.

As long as it’s not getting hot in direct sunlight I’m sure that’s fine. I wouldn’t worry about it at all.