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Tap water or bottled water

154 replies

Lara96 · 16/07/2026 22:15

I need to try drinking more water but obviously bottled water everyday is expensive so does everyone drink tap water.

OP posts:
Mischance · 16/07/2026 23:58

I am honestly completely mind blown to learn here that there are people who drink bottled water all the time! I know of no-one who does this apart from occasionally getting a small bottle when they are out and about and get thirsty.
All that plastic! ... all for nothing!
What is this about?!

pinkpony88 · 17/07/2026 00:00

I’m actually not keen on bottled water. I live in a very hard water area and have always just drunk tap water but I know I lot of people don’t like the taste of hard water. I guess it’s just what I’m used to. I keep big kilner bottles in the fridge so it’s always nice and cold.

ThingsCouldBeEasier · 17/07/2026 00:02

Get a stainless steel gravity filter eg Berkey or a cheaper brand, then you get the best of both worlds.

Reading2gether · 17/07/2026 00:07

Straight from the tap, obviously. I’m in Scotland.

JBJ · 17/07/2026 00:28

Tap water into a Brita jug in the fridge as I hate the taste of chlorine.

AnyDayNowChuckJacksonNSoul · 17/07/2026 01:28

Tap..Ne Scotland.
Appreciate tap water quality varies across UK.

HelenaWilson · 17/07/2026 01:38

Do you not have recycling facilities in your county?

What do you think is the environmental impact of manufacturing vast quantities of bottled water and transporting it around the country, and then sending lorries out to collect the empties?

I'm in the SE and my tap water is very nice. I'm on chalk; it probably depends on your geology.

Plump82 · 17/07/2026 01:42

Reading2gether · 17/07/2026 00:07

Straight from the tap, obviously. I’m in Scotland.

Same! I don't understand why anyone buys bottled water here. Fully understand why other areas need to buy it though.

ScoliMum55 · 17/07/2026 01:52

CharlotteStreetW1 · 16/07/2026 22:24

I decant tap water into re-usable bottles and store in the fridge. It means it's always deliciously cold.

Why would anyone not drink tap water un the UK?

It tastes absolutely awful - smells like a chlorinated swimming pool. Couldn’t pay me to drink it. We use a combination of filtered Brita jugs and bottled - admittedly I am a water snob and can easily tell the difference between Evian, Volvic etc

ScoliMum55 · 17/07/2026 01:53

Mischance · 16/07/2026 23:58

I am honestly completely mind blown to learn here that there are people who drink bottled water all the time! I know of no-one who does this apart from occasionally getting a small bottle when they are out and about and get thirsty.
All that plastic! ... all for nothing!
What is this about?!

All to not taste/smell chlorine!! If the worst thing I do is buy an unusual amount of Evian then so be it..

TwiceAsMuchAgain · 17/07/2026 01:57

Reassuring thread. Many of my overseas students drink bottled water because it's not occurred to them that tap water is safe. I always try to inform them.

EconomyClassRockstar · 17/07/2026 02:04

Do people honestly not have fridges with filtered water and ice cubes on tap in the UK? Even now?!!

ClayPotaLot · 17/07/2026 02:23

We keep glass bottles of filtered tap water, fizzed up with a soda stream, in the fridge. Really nice and not too expensive, though the dentist tells me I should really have flat water most of the time.

When I was at uni one of the projects every first year of my course did was testing a bunch of waters. Generally speaking, tap water was significantly healthier than the bottled waters, which have a bunch of contaminants that don't tend to be in tap water, like arsenic and heavy metals, pharmaceuticals, etc.

Nowadays, the majority of bottled water you can buy, especially the cheaper stuff, is just tap water that's been bottled, but it's worse for you because it sits in plastic bottles, often exposed to the sun and heat, and that means plastics and chemicals from the plastic leach into the water.

I'm okay drinking water straight out of the tap but I do prefer it cold and I can taste the chlorine in it which I don't particularly like, so that's why we filter. But I understand just having it sit in a glass jug for a few hours will get rid of most of the chlorine.

selffellatingouroborosofhate · 17/07/2026 02:25

Fifiesta · 16/07/2026 22:23

We keep a Brita filter jug, in the fridge and keep it refilled with tap water all day.
It nukes the taste of undesirable chemicals such as chlorine in the water supply.

Why would you do that? It tastes wrong without the chlorine. The chlorine is one of the things that tells me that this is safe fresh "rising main" water and not from some grim attic tank§ or water tower full of legionella and dead pigeons or private reservoir with no water treatment€.

§ Yes, these still exist. See also: "outward bound" type centre based in a former hotel that was no longer up to minimum legal hotel standards, and a residential college I trained at.

€ See also: camping on a farm as a child. Dad gave us unboiled water from the farm tap as well as drinking it himself. With an elsan latrine in a tent as the only toilet and no shower or launderette onsite. Reader, mum divorced him.

selffellatingouroborosofhate · 17/07/2026 02:32

Fifiesta · 16/07/2026 22:28

It is very variable taste wise around the country- some of it is downright unpleasant.
If your water is good in your area, perhaps you are not aware of this?
That’s why I filter it (see above) and keep it chilled in the fridge.

I've lived and stayed in many parts of the UK. Nowhere has had undrinkably awful tasting water, or even particularly bad water. It is worse Darn Sarf than it is in the North, by and large, but never undrinkably awful.

Now Corfu, that was undrinkably awful, really sulphury, like trying to drink a gas leak. Florida is pretty nasty too, but drinkable if you had to.

selffellatingouroborosofhate · 17/07/2026 02:35

JapanesePotWeed · 16/07/2026 23:24

Should also mention that my Water Company offered to regularly deliver bottled drinking water or heavily reduce the water bill. I chose the latter and buy my own drinking water.

I would have preferred the lead pipes switched out permanently (outside my property) alas Water companies really are not that interested in improving their infrastructure - no surprises there!

How is supplying nonpotable water to a domestic property even legal?

HelenaWilson · 17/07/2026 02:55

It is worse Darn Sarf than it is in the North, by and large, but never undrinkably awful.

Depends where you are - as I said above, I'm in the SE and my drinking water is very nice. Worst water I ever came across was in the NW. Don't know what it was like to drink, but you couldn't make a decent cup of tea.

Fooshufflewickjbannanapants · 17/07/2026 06:12

In the land of Yorkshire and its council pop all the way, buying bottled water never enters my head unless we go to that there London or somewhere with limescale

Morepositivemum · 17/07/2026 06:23

Our water is horrible, a bit nicer when filtered so I drink
it for the environment but my god I love Aldi bottled water!!!

CordwainerBird · 17/07/2026 06:40

selffellatingouroborosofhate · 17/07/2026 02:35

How is supplying nonpotable water to a domestic property even legal?

Dumping sewage into watercourses doesn’t bother them, so why would this?

I quite often see people buying enormous pallets of bottled water from Costco and I live in a nice-tasting water area, so idk what’s up with that. I drink plenty of tap water and take a metal water bottle with me. I would love a filter tap!

RampantIvy · 17/07/2026 07:26

Chlorine dissipates from tap water if you leave it uncovered in a jug. You don't even need a carbon filter.

IwanttoWFH · 17/07/2026 07:29

I drink tap water, but have a filter jug. Water goes into that and then in the fridge so it’s icy cold and delicious!
I can’t stand the metallic tang of unfiltered tap water. I’m in the SE and work in London. The tap water from work is particularly bad!

Kamilaa · 17/07/2026 07:31

Tap but I don’t like it in the uk. I am from a country with really nice tap water and know Uk water tastes crap in comparison. I am in London.

dizzydizzydizzy · 17/07/2026 07:57

Tap water.

To those who say use a filter jug - this is not as safe a drinking the water straight from the tap, especially if left out in a hot room because they can be a breeding ground for bacteria, especially as they often remove some of the chlorine which acts as disinfectant. (And please don’t come at me with “I have been using a filter jug for 40 years and I’m still alive”. Scientists have studied this: https://www.dwi.gov.uk/research/completed-research/other-reports/assessment-of-the-effects-of-jug-water-filters-on-the-quality-of-public-water-supplies/

Also, in hard water areas, tap water is an important source of calcium.

hellospring26 · 17/07/2026 07:57

CordwainerBird · 17/07/2026 06:40

Dumping sewage into watercourses doesn’t bother them, so why would this?

I quite often see people buying enormous pallets of bottled water from Costco and I live in a nice-tasting water area, so idk what’s up with that. I drink plenty of tap water and take a metal water bottle with me. I would love a filter tap!

I’m guilty of the cost co pallets but it’s usually for school events where tap is not practical plus we can mark up and make some £.

Im in SE London. We have a filter in the fridge and use our Yeti bottles with ice.

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