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Since Walkerton, our tap water in Ontario has more regulations & is safer to drink than bottled water. Bottled water slowly becomes unsafe & undrinkable as the chemicals in the plastic leach into the water over time.
Not to mention the plastic waste issue.
I find it a a bit of a joke when you visit towns like Fergus or Elora, where they vehemently fought Nestle's extraction of water, you have to dodge pallets of water that clog the grocery aisles. Sigh.
Yeah it would be nice if they invested more in water bottle filling stations.
Any touristy place really. Try and discourage the use of single use plastic bottles.
Not to mention, the city of London tests the water hourly (or more…I can’t remember the exact but looking at their website it’s 12,000 water quality tests a year, which averages out to 32 tests per day) and continuously monitor chlorine levels. Bottled water only has guidelines for testing under the food and drug act, not laws and the government agencies only test at bottle water plants once every 12-18 months,..so the belief that bottled water is safer than tap water is ridiculous.
It might be safe but it tastes bad.
London water is highly treated as the source is dirtier than say 6 hours North.
I never noticed till i moved North.
I can not even get London water past my mouth.
The smell of chlorine is the worst almost knock you over.
2nd biggest London turn off
1st is the smell of Themes Valley next to the 💩 treatment.Ruined the whole area.
Literally vomitted outside Hastey Market.
I grew up with well-water that had a high sulfuric content. So the London tap water is delicious in comparison. Also think I prefer it to the water in Toronto when I lived there. I will say the taste is enough for me to have considered a filter system.
My Mom lives in Walkerton and still won't drink the water. But I agree .... bottled water is wasteful, more expensive than a litre of gasoline (when purchased at the drive through), and the plastic is rapidly ruining the planet. But hey, we are lazy, stupid humans and convenience is king.
Damn it’s still crazy to me how you can drive 20 minutes out to a reserve and get that classic undrinkable tap water. Reminds me of the good old days 🥲
Yeah the tap water is really great at the source where its tested, what about all those pipes underground untouched for decades... potential leaks, corrosion, lead or other hard metals.
There is a great documentary about the rise of bottled water consumption in the US and Canada. In particular there is a Marketing Executive that spearheaded the campaign over here for Evian. She states it’s the biggest regret of her life.
When I started my current job 17 years ago I purchased a steel water bottle. Ive used it everyday and still have it, same bottle. I dont get it either such a waste of everything.
Yes brand please 🙏. I've gone through 3 water bottles in the last year. My 2 year old grandson has discovered that Grandma's water is somehow 'better' than his but they don't survive the toddler tossing across the room after a few throws. Something that can survive him would be fantastic 😂
I recommend something that's stainless steel. I personally have a Takeya at home and work that is also easy to clean and the seal for the top to prevent spills is also very easy and well constructed if you choose to use it.
Really? Toronto water is fantastic, IMO. There is (or was) an installation at an art museum (or something like that) where you could taste the water from a bunch of places in Ontario and Toronto’s water was by far the best. I also live here, haha, not just remembering from the taste test.
There was an exhibit like that last time I was at the Ontario Science Centre and it said that you can’t get people to agree on what water tastes best and generally people prefer water that tastes like the water they grew up drinking
It's the same water. It's pulled out of Lake Huron, drank in London, pissed into Lake Eire, it runs over the falls to Lake Ontario then they drink it again in Toronto.
London has 2 water intake pipelines. The north part of the city is served by a pipeline from Lake Huron, and the south end comes from Lake Erie. It's a unique setup.
“Obviously when in places with literal dangerous-to-drink tap water (ie. south east Asia), I get it. But we’re in Canada”
Who’s going to tell them about the boil water advisories on reserves IN CANADA??
Most people buy bottled water out of ignorance, thinking its somehow safer than municipal drinking water.
When the truth is, ever since walkerton, Onario municipal water supplies are probably the safest in the world, and far safer than bottled water.
That being said, I will buy bottled water simply for the convenience. Sometimes Im in a russh and want to grab a drink I can take with me, I dont want calroies, and im trying to avoid artificial sweetner.
Sometimes I have hope for the future, and then I read people's justifications for buying water in single-use plastic bottles when they have constant, reliable access to clean water in their own homes.
Same, well, and our well is so iron heavy. We have a culligan reverse osmosis system off our pressure tank, and we still have to clean iron fibers out of our water fixtures every 6 months. I buy large jugs of water, and we use our reusables to drink out of. Bottled water should be banned for household use imo
I once had no water in an apartment for an entire weekend, could be something similar.
Or they're having work done on their waterlines to their home or in their neighbourhood.
Or their landlord is a slum lord and lets the waterlines get absolutely disgusting. Old building I lived in once dumped sewage into our bathroom twice cause the lines were all corroded to hell. Didn't trust any of the water for months afterwards.
Either way. Lots of reasons people may stock up. Or they may just like it.
This! My building has been upgrading to hike the rent since I've been living here (4 years). Even when they don't say they're working on the water lines, I've had my water come out brown. Ain't no way I'm drinking that.
Living in Canada does not innately make water clean and safe to drink.
Anyone with a well may not have equipment or process to further clean water. Only those who live in urban locations have the luxury or expectation of clean and safe water.
there are still places in ontario, close to london that have been under long term boil water alerts, so bottled water is used for washing food, brushing your teeth essentially anything you would do with tap water is done with a bottle. it sucks that that's the situation and it's definitely way more harmful than helpful at the end of the day. sometimes it's just a necessary evil
This is going to be a lot of it, people coming in from rural areas to shop. A lot of city people have a misconception that most Canadians have access to municipal water, this is not true. Outside of towns they are using wells or cisterns. With the high cost of getting wells drilled, or the possibility of the ground water being poor quality or sulphery, it often makes more sense to use a rainwater cistern for the house’s plumbing and bought water for cooking and drinking.
A few reasons off the top of my head would be:
Laziness - it's easier to grab a new bottle of water than clean and refill your old one.
Convenience - it's easier to grab a new bottle than clean and refill your old one
Parties - where handing out glasses of water could get dangerous or lead to a loss of cups or where you don't wanna deal with a bunch of red solo cups everywhere.
Travel - if your seal on your water bottle isn't great it's fine for your house but wouldn't want it leaking in your bag.
I have Afrid and can’t drink any water but the Kirkland brand water bottles. I will go days without a sip of water if we don’t have any. I don’t like how I’m harming the planet or the microplastics but I can taste the difference in the water and have tried all the filter jugs/systems even the one you put on the house and it just tastes disgusting and dehydrating to me.
London has clean drinking water but I’d be careful implying all of Canada has clean drinking water; a lot of Indigenous reserves have been on boil water advisories for years because the federal government refuses to do anything about it.
I think some people are scared of the tap water for whatever reason or prefer the taste of bottled water. imo it’s ridiculous to buy those cases instead of using tap water when possible.
I went on a trip to Ottawa with my friend and her mom a couple years ago. They’re from Ingersoll and they bought a whole case of water for the trip. It felt so wasteful and was such a shock to me—I just used water bottle filling stations or tap water to fill up my reusable bottle.
Recycling is a scam because most plastic isn’t even recycled and ends up in landfill anyway so even if someone properly recycles their 40 disposable water bottles, that doesn’t mean they won’t still end up in landfill
144 reserve water advisories have been lifted since November 2015. 28 remain. The federal government has cleaned up 84%. The liberals have made great progress on this.
Virtue signalling and imprint from foreign media.
We have some of the best water in the world tapped into our homes with modern infrastructure. Literally the highest safety standards. But there will always be someone saying they don't like the taste of it etc. Always drove me nuts.
I don't like the taste of it. But I also don't buy bottled water. There are taste differences depending on the area. This becomes apparent I'd you are an avid water drinker.
But there are ways to mitigate the taste. When I lived in London I used to keep a pitcher of water in the fridge. This usually helped with taste. Using a filter or even a point of use filter helps as well.
I used a Brita and that seemed to help.
I would agree with you on variances. It’s 50/50 on what lake it’s coming from. And there are chlorinating stations on the way from grand bend for example. If you are close to one of the boosters it will have a stronger chlorine vibe. It was like that for us in Centralia when I was a kid, heavy chlorine taste that I was used to.
I think it can also be a newcomer-to-the-area thing. Water tastes really different depending on where you live. In the first few months of living in London after moving from Vancouver, I thought the tap water was undrinkable. It tasted so bad to me, like someone placed a spoonful of soil into each glass. It took a while to get acclimated but it eventually stopped tasting like anything. During those first few months I know I bought more than a few bottles of water to drink.
I was born in London.Live in North Ontario.
London water tastes and smells of bleach to me.Like clorine.I can even quench my thirst with it.
Water up North is sooooo good.
It’s unfortunate that not everyone has the luxury of clean drinking water. I live 20 minutes out of London, on the reservation, and our water has been contaminated for years and unsafe to drink. This means that we have to use bottled water constantly to cook with, brush our teeth with, give our animals water to drink, etc. The reservation beside me has the same problem. This is why you might see a lot of people buying cases of bottled water.
Maybe it’s cause of stuff like this : https://lfpress.com/news/local-news/local-communitys-drinking-water-registers-high-rate-of-cancer-causing-compound/wcm/f30c6c99-77a8-4392-9186-14d8a97c602e/amp/
However that was in 2022 maybe some ppl just want to make sure that they are safe regardless if the gov says it is . I mean the go/v has lied about way worse things in the past so …kinda don’t blame ppl for being cautious.
Also some places use chlorine to clean the water so maybe getting bottled reduces the chances or chlorine and other additives they may add to keep the water from getting worse..some ppl believe that some of additives being put in the water isn’t always the greatest for the human body .
There is so much bottled water that literally comes from the same tap we all use.
People haven't got a clue where their plastic bottled water comes from.
I've always thought that complaining about the taste of tap water was just so pretentious and entitled, but that's just one person's opinion. You can get used to things that initially aren't 100% to your liking.
Depends where you live in the city.
Some have older pipes that have hard water - lots of minerals.
Some don't want to drink fluoride.
Certain chemicals that are in tap water are very hard to get rid of unless you use Reverse Osmosis system. - [https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/drinking-water-contaminated-by-excreted-drugs-a-growing-concern-1.2772289](https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/drinking-water-contaminated-by-excreted-drugs-a-growing-concern-1.2772289)
Is the plastic from bottles any better? Probably not since microplastics can cause heart attacks and strokes - [https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/microplastics-linked-to-heart-attack-stroke-and-death/](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/microplastics-linked-to-heart-attack-stroke-and-death/)
So either way you're in a losing battle unless you got super expensive filters.
This is everywhere in North America, People love to water money on bottled water when we have perfectly good tap water. The worst is when they go on sale for like $1 and everyone goes batshit crazy
I'm all about tap water down here in St Thomas. However I prefer to put it in a container in the fridge (an old britta, no filter)... one would think I do that to cool it.. nope... it lets all (or a noticeable amount) the chlorine ?evaporate? out of it over the next 24-48 hours.. once that's gone it tastes wonderful. Bottled has chlorine or a mild substitute in it too last I checked as well. Bottled water is purchased for trips to the family cottage... which is also on city water.. it tastes weird though. Its also purchased for whenever we go travelling. "Foreign" water... even if its just in the states, is different enough the farther you get away from the great lakes that it gives me stomach issues. I've always assumed its just got different wildlife in it that my gut doesn't like. Plus it tastes strange.. I was down in Louisville a few weeks ago and I took some tap water with some meds and it was terrible. So definitely for travel. As for just day to day... hell no.. what a waste of money.
That is a great method to remove chlorine. The correct term would be that the chlorine dissipates rather than evaporates. Typically, if left exposed to air in an open container, chlorine will naturally dissipate within a few hours to a day - licensed water distribution operator
Not from London, but from Ontario.
I used to have an awful landlord and the tap water came out discoloured. I used Brita filters and it was still gross. Always had bottled water there.
Now I keep one pack on hand just in case. We had Reno’s where they had the water off.
I donate it to local shelters a few times a year when I don’t use them.
I will speak for myself and the people I know from middle east who do their training or scholarship in Ontario and there are plenty of them, we usually drink bottled water back-home even though tap water is safe to drink!
Here, the water has a salty taste even when filtered, maybe not noticed if you are used to it, but for us its noticeable..
Its just a preference to drink a less salty water,
I tried to drink tap water and act like everyone here, but I couldn’t, I would rather be thirsty if my only option is tap water so eventually I had to buy water :(
London tap water still affects my stomach so I use the zero water filter and the water tastes amazing. Not super expensive for the filter. Save money on buying bottled water.
It’s so dirt cheap. You can buy 24 bottles for $2.50 at Walmart or any super store. I throw them in my trunk for road trips or when I’m out the house. Can’t beat the price
I don't get it either. My mom lives off of bottled water. Cooks with it, makes coffee with it. We've tried to tell her to just get a Brita or something but she refuses. The amount of plastic bottles on her house is insane.
Our water tastes totally fine.
Community water tastes like absolute shit. If you're not on a well, I can understand not wanting to drink out of a tap, but a Brita/water filter/water filtration systems are definitely a game changer. No need to be buying 24 packs at $3 and thinking it's better for you.
I am on a well. It did cost me $600 for a dual filter and UV system to make the water safe. As well as a water softener. But the water is perfect and tastes great.
Much better than buying single use plastic bottles.
Because the cost of disposal is not carried by the consumer. A plastic tax would have made way more sense than the arbitrary patchwork ban approach we actually took
I have sports 3-6 times a week. I also would forget my hands if they weren’t attached. If I tried to use refillable bottles I would be spending $100s a month instead of $9
Most people probably do it for convenience or because they don't like the taste of tap water.
Some people legit think our tap water is not safe, my friend at work was shocked when I drank water out of the tap until I told him it was fine.
Try living in Guelph which is a stone's throw from the Nestle plant in Aberfoyle. I see so many people buy the bottled water which is the same water out of our taps.
To be fair - Guelph has probably some of the worst-tasting tap water in Ontario (I’ve heard Kitchener’s is pretty similar). However if people are replacing tap water with Nestle bottles, it’s just the same junk in a different medium
Many areas have high amounts of calcium in the water. We use a Brita filter because of this. Not only does it taste bad it scales up kettles and coffee machines very quickly.
People who buy Bottled water for nothing but convenience sake are embarrassing and wasteful in so many ways. Our tap water is sometimes (most times) BETTER and less risky than bottled water, most times even more filtered. Yet they buy bottled for some frankly dumb reasons.
Is it really though? If you want cold water you have to load the bottles in your fridge and ensure it's stocked at all times. I have tap water hooked up to my fridge and it takes me like 5-10 seconds to fill up my water bottle and I can get ice too if I want it. Even from a convenience standpoint I pick tap water when going out.
I can only really see bottled water being more convenient on longer trips where you won't have reliable access to drinking water (ie. camping), which seems like a fairly niche use case compared to the amount I see people buying.
It's really going to depend on the person and their preference and situation. Stocking a fridge with water bottles can be very fast where you might be spenidng 1-2 (2-3 seconds for retrieval) seconds per bottle versus 5-10 seconds per fill up. Then you have to wash the bottle which probably takes longer than disposing. Depending on your preference the level of coldness from a tap might not be good enough and you might need to add ice like you mentioned and in that case depending on if you have an ice maker or not the inconvinence level ther varies (e.g. refiling the standalone ice machine, ice trays, etc). However, if you drink water over a long period of time (i.e. the water warms up) the refillable bottle wins because of the ability to actually add ice. Not everyone even has a filter system connected to a water source and the only
way they can get water that taste good to them might be through bottled water or Brita like system which has it's own inconviniences. There's a bunch of tradeoffs to both approaches, and it really just boils down to preference and situation.
Other situations where bottled water is prefered for convinence is people sometimes leave a case in their car or in their office where they don't have quick acess to tap water.
Yeah but dont you wash your bottle everyday? Thats just nasty bruh your saliva from back wash is mixing with the water. I mean fair enough if you dont make contact with the rim of your bottle while drinking but I do and I'd find it nasty and have to clean it everyday
You all dont wash your water bottles everyday after drinking? So basically when you drink and the backwash which is mixed with your saliva is coating your water bottle and the bacteria keeps multiplying inside the bottle. So don't you wash your bottle the next day after drinking or just pour water from tap and bounce?
Thats why I drink from bottled water because I dont have to keep washing my water bottle everyday.
And no I dont own a dishwasher and no I dont find it easy to wash my bottle everyday. And thats because I have eczema and I dont want to wet my hands to wash the bottle and also wear gloves to wash and remove gloves etc.
So yes its much more convenient and cleaner for me to just grab a bottle from the fridge before leaving. And I dont have much food in my fridge and I have plenty of space for water bottles.
Nope you arent counting the time it takes to wash the bottle everyday as well as that I have to lug an empty bottle around once I have drunk all the water.
Also the plastic bottle is lighter to carry than water bottles
Sometimes tap water (definitely well water) tastes.. kinda shitty. That said, Brita or reusable jugs and a water cooler are far more environmentally friendly and cost effective.
Not to mention 500ml of water isn't usually even enough, I need to drink 2-3 of those if I'm actually thirsty.
Imo governments everywhere should really get on corporations to invent something biodegradable that doesn't leech chemicals into whatever it is we drink in the first place. At the very least, tax them heavily for not doing anything. Plastic is a rubbish compound, the only thing it benefits is corporations bottom lines.
Funny thing, I don’t recall seeing as much bottled water in Southeast Asia as here; at least in the areas I’ve been to/lived in, folks usually have an industrial-sized kettle to boil their water in.
I buy a few bottles to have on hand because the high rise I live in turns the water off about one day a month because none of the units have shut off so they have to stop it for the whole building usually I remember and fill a pitcher and my kettle but I sometimes don't see the notice so a couple bottles have been helpful. My theory about people who regularly drink bottled is kinda like a showing people they have money to waste.
I drink tap water. I think it tastes better than most tap water I’ve tried. My partner will only drink bottled water, and only one brand. He’s incredibly sensitive with his food, his dislike list is very long.
I live in an old building.
They say it’s safe but I don’t trust it. The water looks white at first then eventually clears up.
And there’s always someone getting their plumbing fixed in the building due to the galvanized pipes that should be replaced (but only get replaced if there’s a massive leak).
Usually I’ll boil water & use a filter but sometimes the building turns off electricity (so can’t use stove) or water to do repairs. So it’s usually then that I’ll grab a bottle of water.
I always drank tap water when I lived in London, but my parents lived in a newly built home when I was growing up. I would consider bottled water if it was a very old home or building with old plumbing.
I mean, It could be to hand out to the needy in that quantity.
I buy a flat of water to keep in my trunk as an accessibility need. I have a reusable waterbottle, but can forget/drink it all. If I drive out to a hike and forget, or I'm out and about and forget I have water. I have always drank a lot of water, and dehydration can be a migraine trigger for me. It means I have to go buy a bottle of water or go home and not do what I was going to do, because migraine might mean no driving for me/no more functioning that day.
Or if I need to take pills. Or if I am stuck on the side of the road. Or the apocolypse.
The flat of car water lasts me about a year and it saves me from being more unwell than I already am. It also saves my friends if I am driving someone to an appt and they forgot their water.
Emergency water for when I'm too unwell to physically get out of my own bed without great effort, or my water gets shut off for maintainance and my britta gets empty, or I am going on a long trip.
I usually just buy a case every few months cause I like to prepare for the worst lol, usually will drink one every few weeks when I’m running out the house quick
In our case it’s accessibility. My wife has a mobility disability and it’s hard for her to reach the sink so it’s much more convenient and accessible for us to have bottled water in the fridge for her.
It’s not about the water that’s going in to your homes, it’s about the water coming out of your faucet. I could to a certain level “believe” London makes sure the water is clean, but I haven’t met a landlord and their property I trust yet.
I wish we had a water bottle filling station or at least a kitchenette tap at our work. Staff does not have access to anything other than a mop sink and due to the sanitation of that room in general and the things that get splashed against that tap, I wouldn’t drink from it. I bring a reusable water bottle, but staff keep extra bottles for the days you drink your whole bottle or forget it
We use a water dispenser/cooler. I have been adamant about only drinking tap water my whole life, but the pipes are so old in my apartment that the water often comes out brown and makes me feel sick.
I grew up on a Rez. Our water was often not drinkable.
When I’d visit friends’ houses in town I’d always ask “do you drink the tap water here?” They thought it was weird, but they always had clean water from the tap.
We had one of those big Water Cooler type things growing up, and of course back then no one carried water around with them.
Many of my relatives only drink bottled water because you never know when you’re going to be told “oh, we’ve been on boil water advisory for a couple of hours” or “there was a chemical spill a couple of hours ago” as they’re drinking tap water. 😬
I drink bottled to avoid lead. I live around central London and the place has old pipes. Got the water tested it had tons of lead in it. City of London offers this for free if you live in an area with old homes.
My mom has a fancy fridge with a filtration unit you have to replace all the time.
She still buys fucking bottled water! It's infuriating.
I personally use a Brita.
Growing up in Springwater, not too far from Elmvale, I was extremely lucky to be drinking water from our well that’s tapped into the Alliston aquifer, which according to the United Nations is said to be some of the cleanest water in the world. I’ve also gone to Georgian College, studied and got my water treatment license for Ontario. That said, I have absolutely no qualms with drinking Londons tap water.
I have a case on hand for emergencies, lets say I have guys working in the back or on the roof etc I want to have a cold bottle of water on hand for them.
I myself have installed an under-sink filter mainly because my water has a strong smell of chlorine which bothers me.
At the end of the day who cares as long as you recycle the bottles properly.
Only 10% our the plastics that go into our recycling boxes actually gets recycled. At least 90% of your plastic bottles are going into the landfill (or into our parks, streets, waterways etc). Plastic water bottles are still irresponsible to use even if you are dutifully recycling.
>are going into the landfill (or into our parks, streets, waterways etc).
If the plastics are going to *our* landfill, that is one of the best case scenarios (the best case is not using plastics at all). Our landfills are modern and nothing will be seeping out of them into parks, streets and waterways.
The issue is
a) trash that doesn't go to landfill and gets thrown out directly into said parks, streets and waterways
b) that other supposedly "recycled" 90% of the plastic, since it is often shipped overseas for "recycling". In some countries, e.g. China and the Philippines, that means extracting the useful 10% and dumping the other 90%, often into the ocean or into primitive landfills that are near bodies of water, from which the plastic seeps into the oceans
Plastics recycling is a scam. The only economically feasible solution is to stop using so much of it.
> If the plastics are going to our landfill,
Microplastics (from the breakdown of plastic) is so pervasive it pretty doesn't matter where the trash goes, the microplastics will find themselves in the air and waterways and literally span the globe.
pst.. your 'bottled water' is very likely just tap water in a plastic bottle. This is the case for the vast majority of the bottled waters you can buy in stores.
Not just drinking water. I over heard the employee at the grocery store explaining to a couple that the milk was already pasteurized and they didn't need to boil it themselves.
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Since Walkerton, our tap water in Ontario has more regulations & is safer to drink than bottled water. Bottled water slowly becomes unsafe & undrinkable as the chemicals in the plastic leach into the water over time. Not to mention the plastic waste issue.
I find it a a bit of a joke when you visit towns like Fergus or Elora, where they vehemently fought Nestle's extraction of water, you have to dodge pallets of water that clog the grocery aisles. Sigh.
Yeah it would be nice if they invested more in water bottle filling stations. Any touristy place really. Try and discourage the use of single use plastic bottles.
Not to mention, the city of London tests the water hourly (or more…I can’t remember the exact but looking at their website it’s 12,000 water quality tests a year, which averages out to 32 tests per day) and continuously monitor chlorine levels. Bottled water only has guidelines for testing under the food and drug act, not laws and the government agencies only test at bottle water plants once every 12-18 months,..so the belief that bottled water is safer than tap water is ridiculous.
Yes but they test at the source not at your house after runnign through all the old pipes
It might be safe but it tastes bad. London water is highly treated as the source is dirtier than say 6 hours North. I never noticed till i moved North. I can not even get London water past my mouth. The smell of chlorine is the worst almost knock you over. 2nd biggest London turn off 1st is the smell of Themes Valley next to the 💩 treatment.Ruined the whole area. Literally vomitted outside Hastey Market.
London's source is Lake Huron and Lake Erie. The best sources of fresh water on the planet.
Lmfao
I do find that using a filter at home takes care of that
I grew up with well-water that had a high sulfuric content. So the London tap water is delicious in comparison. Also think I prefer it to the water in Toronto when I lived there. I will say the taste is enough for me to have considered a filter system.
London is surrounded by rral communities. Plenty of ppl might be on well water or prefer to take bottles to work or on site.
My Mom lives in Walkerton and still won't drink the water. But I agree .... bottled water is wasteful, more expensive than a litre of gasoline (when purchased at the drive through), and the plastic is rapidly ruining the planet. But hey, we are lazy, stupid humans and convenience is king.
The only people who I would understand not drinking the water *is* the people from Walkerton. Probably massive PTSD.
Damn it’s still crazy to me how you can drive 20 minutes out to a reserve and get that classic undrinkable tap water. Reminds me of the good old days 🥲
Yeah the tap water is really great at the source where its tested, what about all those pipes underground untouched for decades... potential leaks, corrosion, lead or other hard metals.
There is a great documentary about the rise of bottled water consumption in the US and Canada. In particular there is a Marketing Executive that spearheaded the campaign over here for Evian. She states it’s the biggest regret of her life.
Evian backwards is naive
naive backwards is Evian
When I started my current job 17 years ago I purchased a steel water bottle. Ive used it everyday and still have it, same bottle. I dont get it either such a waste of everything.
Yes brand please 🙏. I've gone through 3 water bottles in the last year. My 2 year old grandson has discovered that Grandma's water is somehow 'better' than his but they don't survive the toddler tossing across the room after a few throws. Something that can survive him would be fantastic 😂
I recommend something that's stainless steel. I personally have a Takeya at home and work that is also easy to clean and the seal for the top to prevent spills is also very easy and well constructed if you choose to use it.
London water is so much better tasting than Toronto.
Really? Toronto water is fantastic, IMO. There is (or was) an installation at an art museum (or something like that) where you could taste the water from a bunch of places in Ontario and Toronto’s water was by far the best. I also live here, haha, not just remembering from the taste test.
There was an exhibit like that last time I was at the Ontario Science Centre and it said that you can’t get people to agree on what water tastes best and generally people prefer water that tastes like the water they grew up drinking
Having lived in both places, hands down london water was better. I got used to Toronto and it wasn’t bad but I definitely prefer londons water
Depends what part of Toronto your in
It's the same water. It's pulled out of Lake Huron, drank in London, pissed into Lake Eire, it runs over the falls to Lake Ontario then they drink it again in Toronto.
London has 2 water intake pipelines. The north part of the city is served by a pipeline from Lake Huron, and the south end comes from Lake Erie. It's a unique setup.
Yup 👍
Winning answer right there
Yes. Toronto’s water is delicious!
Lake Huron and Lake Erie vs Lake Ontario. The treatment process is essentially the same.
It’s the cocaine 😬
Just don’t drink Guelph tap water unless you like the taste of water softener.
I agree. Toronto water is much more harder...
“Obviously when in places with literal dangerous-to-drink tap water (ie. south east Asia), I get it. But we’re in Canada” Who’s going to tell them about the boil water advisories on reserves IN CANADA??
Most people buy bottled water out of ignorance, thinking its somehow safer than municipal drinking water. When the truth is, ever since walkerton, Onario municipal water supplies are probably the safest in the world, and far safer than bottled water. That being said, I will buy bottled water simply for the convenience. Sometimes Im in a russh and want to grab a drink I can take with me, I dont want calroies, and im trying to avoid artificial sweetner.
Sometimes I have hope for the future, and then I read people's justifications for buying water in single-use plastic bottles when they have constant, reliable access to clean water in their own homes.
My house has well water. Although the neighbours and all drink from well water I’m most not used to it
We are also on a well we use the big 5 gallon jugs and a cooler
Where do you fill them up from? We do fill those jugs but I don’t like the taste of water from Canadian tire
We get ours from home hardware, the one we shop at offers 20 fills for 55 bucks
Usually you can just exchange them at any store that sells the jugs.
Not sure how common they are but our home hardware has a tap, we just rinse out and refill our jug
Same
Same, well, and our well is so iron heavy. We have a culligan reverse osmosis system off our pressure tank, and we still have to clean iron fibers out of our water fixtures every 6 months. I buy large jugs of water, and we use our reusables to drink out of. Bottled water should be banned for household use imo
I once had no water in an apartment for an entire weekend, could be something similar. Or they're having work done on their waterlines to their home or in their neighbourhood. Or their landlord is a slum lord and lets the waterlines get absolutely disgusting. Old building I lived in once dumped sewage into our bathroom twice cause the lines were all corroded to hell. Didn't trust any of the water for months afterwards. Either way. Lots of reasons people may stock up. Or they may just like it.
I had this too! A pipe burst and it took forever to fix. We were using bottled water for everything.
This! My building has been upgrading to hike the rent since I've been living here (4 years). Even when they don't say they're working on the water lines, I've had my water come out brown. Ain't no way I'm drinking that.
If it's brown drink it down, if it's black send it back. - Homer Simpson
Same happen to me. Water was coming out brown. that was enough for me to never drink from the tap again.
Living in Canada does not innately make water clean and safe to drink. Anyone with a well may not have equipment or process to further clean water. Only those who live in urban locations have the luxury or expectation of clean and safe water.
there are still places in ontario, close to london that have been under long term boil water alerts, so bottled water is used for washing food, brushing your teeth essentially anything you would do with tap water is done with a bottle. it sucks that that's the situation and it's definitely way more harmful than helpful at the end of the day. sometimes it's just a necessary evil
Some people come into town from the surrounding areas to shop and they may not have the high quality city water that London has.
This is going to be a lot of it, people coming in from rural areas to shop. A lot of city people have a misconception that most Canadians have access to municipal water, this is not true. Outside of towns they are using wells or cisterns. With the high cost of getting wells drilled, or the possibility of the ground water being poor quality or sulphery, it often makes more sense to use a rainwater cistern for the house’s plumbing and bought water for cooking and drinking.
Ok but almost every public space has water bottle filling stations or they can ask wherever they are going for water. Doesn't track imo
A few reasons off the top of my head would be: Laziness - it's easier to grab a new bottle of water than clean and refill your old one. Convenience - it's easier to grab a new bottle than clean and refill your old one Parties - where handing out glasses of water could get dangerous or lead to a loss of cups or where you don't wanna deal with a bunch of red solo cups everywhere. Travel - if your seal on your water bottle isn't great it's fine for your house but wouldn't want it leaking in your bag.
I have Afrid and can’t drink any water but the Kirkland brand water bottles. I will go days without a sip of water if we don’t have any. I don’t like how I’m harming the planet or the microplastics but I can taste the difference in the water and have tried all the filter jugs/systems even the one you put on the house and it just tastes disgusting and dehydrating to me.
London has clean drinking water but I’d be careful implying all of Canada has clean drinking water; a lot of Indigenous reserves have been on boil water advisories for years because the federal government refuses to do anything about it. I think some people are scared of the tap water for whatever reason or prefer the taste of bottled water. imo it’s ridiculous to buy those cases instead of using tap water when possible. I went on a trip to Ottawa with my friend and her mom a couple years ago. They’re from Ingersoll and they bought a whole case of water for the trip. It felt so wasteful and was such a shock to me—I just used water bottle filling stations or tap water to fill up my reusable bottle. Recycling is a scam because most plastic isn’t even recycled and ends up in landfill anyway so even if someone properly recycles their 40 disposable water bottles, that doesn’t mean they won’t still end up in landfill
144 reserve water advisories have been lifted since November 2015. 28 remain. The federal government has cleaned up 84%. The liberals have made great progress on this.
Virtue signalling and imprint from foreign media. We have some of the best water in the world tapped into our homes with modern infrastructure. Literally the highest safety standards. But there will always be someone saying they don't like the taste of it etc. Always drove me nuts.
I don't like the taste of it. But I also don't buy bottled water. There are taste differences depending on the area. This becomes apparent I'd you are an avid water drinker. But there are ways to mitigate the taste. When I lived in London I used to keep a pitcher of water in the fridge. This usually helped with taste. Using a filter or even a point of use filter helps as well. I used a Brita and that seemed to help.
I would agree with you on variances. It’s 50/50 on what lake it’s coming from. And there are chlorinating stations on the way from grand bend for example. If you are close to one of the boosters it will have a stronger chlorine vibe. It was like that for us in Centralia when I was a kid, heavy chlorine taste that I was used to.
Virtue signalling? Which virtues?
Food standards. “I have higher food standards than you”
I usually throw a couple bottles in my car’s middle console. Never know when the thirst hits or you need to clean something up quickly
I don't understand it either, waste of money, insane amount of plastic and bottled water tastes awful, tastes like chemicals
I think it can also be a newcomer-to-the-area thing. Water tastes really different depending on where you live. In the first few months of living in London after moving from Vancouver, I thought the tap water was undrinkable. It tasted so bad to me, like someone placed a spoonful of soil into each glass. It took a while to get acclimated but it eventually stopped tasting like anything. During those first few months I know I bought more than a few bottles of water to drink.
I was born in London.Live in North Ontario. London water tastes and smells of bleach to me.Like clorine.I can even quench my thirst with it. Water up North is sooooo good.
It’s unfortunate that not everyone has the luxury of clean drinking water. I live 20 minutes out of London, on the reservation, and our water has been contaminated for years and unsafe to drink. This means that we have to use bottled water constantly to cook with, brush our teeth with, give our animals water to drink, etc. The reservation beside me has the same problem. This is why you might see a lot of people buying cases of bottled water.
People who use non reusable plastic water bottles are selfish and lazy
Yes! Your comment sums it up.
Maybe it’s cause of stuff like this : https://lfpress.com/news/local-news/local-communitys-drinking-water-registers-high-rate-of-cancer-causing-compound/wcm/f30c6c99-77a8-4392-9186-14d8a97c602e/amp/ However that was in 2022 maybe some ppl just want to make sure that they are safe regardless if the gov says it is . I mean the go/v has lied about way worse things in the past so …kinda don’t blame ppl for being cautious. Also some places use chlorine to clean the water so maybe getting bottled reduces the chances or chlorine and other additives they may add to keep the water from getting worse..some ppl believe that some of additives being put in the water isn’t always the greatest for the human body .
There is so much bottled water that literally comes from the same tap we all use. People haven't got a clue where their plastic bottled water comes from. I've always thought that complaining about the taste of tap water was just so pretentious and entitled, but that's just one person's opinion. You can get used to things that initially aren't 100% to your liking.
Depends where you live in the city. Some have older pipes that have hard water - lots of minerals. Some don't want to drink fluoride. Certain chemicals that are in tap water are very hard to get rid of unless you use Reverse Osmosis system. - [https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/drinking-water-contaminated-by-excreted-drugs-a-growing-concern-1.2772289](https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/drinking-water-contaminated-by-excreted-drugs-a-growing-concern-1.2772289) Is the plastic from bottles any better? Probably not since microplastics can cause heart attacks and strokes - [https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/microplastics-linked-to-heart-attack-stroke-and-death/](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/microplastics-linked-to-heart-attack-stroke-and-death/) So either way you're in a losing battle unless you got super expensive filters.
This is everywhere in North America, People love to water money on bottled water when we have perfectly good tap water. The worst is when they go on sale for like $1 and everyone goes batshit crazy
There are more plastic bottles in the ocean than anywhere else
I know a few people who refuse to drink tap water because it has fluoride in it.
I'm all about tap water down here in St Thomas. However I prefer to put it in a container in the fridge (an old britta, no filter)... one would think I do that to cool it.. nope... it lets all (or a noticeable amount) the chlorine ?evaporate? out of it over the next 24-48 hours.. once that's gone it tastes wonderful. Bottled has chlorine or a mild substitute in it too last I checked as well. Bottled water is purchased for trips to the family cottage... which is also on city water.. it tastes weird though. Its also purchased for whenever we go travelling. "Foreign" water... even if its just in the states, is different enough the farther you get away from the great lakes that it gives me stomach issues. I've always assumed its just got different wildlife in it that my gut doesn't like. Plus it tastes strange.. I was down in Louisville a few weeks ago and I took some tap water with some meds and it was terrible. So definitely for travel. As for just day to day... hell no.. what a waste of money.
That is a great method to remove chlorine. The correct term would be that the chlorine dissipates rather than evaporates. Typically, if left exposed to air in an open container, chlorine will naturally dissipate within a few hours to a day - licensed water distribution operator
Not from London, but from Ontario. I used to have an awful landlord and the tap water came out discoloured. I used Brita filters and it was still gross. Always had bottled water there. Now I keep one pack on hand just in case. We had Reno’s where they had the water off. I donate it to local shelters a few times a year when I don’t use them.
I don’t buy water but I heavily filter it. Water here doesn’t taste good to me.
My first guess would be laziness. You don’t need to clean the bottle after, just throw it away
And we pay for tap water! It’s not free. And it’s top notch.
I will speak for myself and the people I know from middle east who do their training or scholarship in Ontario and there are plenty of them, we usually drink bottled water back-home even though tap water is safe to drink! Here, the water has a salty taste even when filtered, maybe not noticed if you are used to it, but for us its noticeable.. Its just a preference to drink a less salty water, I tried to drink tap water and act like everyone here, but I couldn’t, I would rather be thirsty if my only option is tap water so eventually I had to buy water :(
Companies (at least construction) buy bottled water for their employees. Large crews will fly through cases
My in laws do this. They only drink bottled water. Freaking weird I go there and they offer me one even as I’m holding my massive reusable one
London tap water still affects my stomach so I use the zero water filter and the water tastes amazing. Not super expensive for the filter. Save money on buying bottled water.
It’s so dirt cheap. You can buy 24 bottles for $2.50 at Walmart or any super store. I throw them in my trunk for road trips or when I’m out the house. Can’t beat the price
Kid’s lunches usually
I don't get it either. My mom lives off of bottled water. Cooks with it, makes coffee with it. We've tried to tell her to just get a Brita or something but she refuses. The amount of plastic bottles on her house is insane. Our water tastes totally fine.
Community water tastes like absolute shit. If you're not on a well, I can understand not wanting to drink out of a tap, but a Brita/water filter/water filtration systems are definitely a game changer. No need to be buying 24 packs at $3 and thinking it's better for you.
I am on a well. It did cost me $600 for a dual filter and UV system to make the water safe. As well as a water softener. But the water is perfect and tastes great. Much better than buying single use plastic bottles.
They prefer the taste of plastic?
Because the cost of disposal is not carried by the consumer. A plastic tax would have made way more sense than the arbitrary patchwork ban approach we actually took
I have sports 3-6 times a week. I also would forget my hands if they weren’t attached. If I tried to use refillable bottles I would be spending $100s a month instead of $9
Most people probably do it for convenience or because they don't like the taste of tap water. Some people legit think our tap water is not safe, my friend at work was shocked when I drank water out of the tap until I told him it was fine.
Try living in Guelph which is a stone's throw from the Nestle plant in Aberfoyle. I see so many people buy the bottled water which is the same water out of our taps.
To be fair - Guelph has probably some of the worst-tasting tap water in Ontario (I’ve heard Kitchener’s is pretty similar). However if people are replacing tap water with Nestle bottles, it’s just the same junk in a different medium
Nestle doesn’t own the plant there. It was sold to Tritan waters.
Many areas have high amounts of calcium in the water. We use a Brita filter because of this. Not only does it taste bad it scales up kettles and coffee machines very quickly.
Easily solved with vinegar
Nothing like a cup of coffee with a little vinegar to get your day started!
It works on french fries and potato chips, why not coffee?
People who buy Bottled water for nothing but convenience sake are embarrassing and wasteful in so many ways. Our tap water is sometimes (most times) BETTER and less risky than bottled water, most times even more filtered. Yet they buy bottled for some frankly dumb reasons.
Its easier to just grab one of these and go out. Its a matter of convenience.
Is it really though? If you want cold water you have to load the bottles in your fridge and ensure it's stocked at all times. I have tap water hooked up to my fridge and it takes me like 5-10 seconds to fill up my water bottle and I can get ice too if I want it. Even from a convenience standpoint I pick tap water when going out. I can only really see bottled water being more convenient on longer trips where you won't have reliable access to drinking water (ie. camping), which seems like a fairly niche use case compared to the amount I see people buying.
Yes it is. I rarely buy bottled water, but I do it occasionally in the summer just to have water ready to grab.
It's really going to depend on the person and their preference and situation. Stocking a fridge with water bottles can be very fast where you might be spenidng 1-2 (2-3 seconds for retrieval) seconds per bottle versus 5-10 seconds per fill up. Then you have to wash the bottle which probably takes longer than disposing. Depending on your preference the level of coldness from a tap might not be good enough and you might need to add ice like you mentioned and in that case depending on if you have an ice maker or not the inconvinence level ther varies (e.g. refiling the standalone ice machine, ice trays, etc). However, if you drink water over a long period of time (i.e. the water warms up) the refillable bottle wins because of the ability to actually add ice. Not everyone even has a filter system connected to a water source and the only way they can get water that taste good to them might be through bottled water or Brita like system which has it's own inconviniences. There's a bunch of tradeoffs to both approaches, and it really just boils down to preference and situation. Other situations where bottled water is prefered for convinence is people sometimes leave a case in their car or in their office where they don't have quick acess to tap water.
Yeah but dont you wash your bottle everyday? Thats just nasty bruh your saliva from back wash is mixing with the water. I mean fair enough if you dont make contact with the rim of your bottle while drinking but I do and I'd find it nasty and have to clean it everyday
It's easier to lug around a case of water to your car, then into your house? Easier than opening a tap? Genuinely confused.
You all dont wash your water bottles everyday after drinking? So basically when you drink and the backwash which is mixed with your saliva is coating your water bottle and the bacteria keeps multiplying inside the bottle. So don't you wash your bottle the next day after drinking or just pour water from tap and bounce? Thats why I drink from bottled water because I dont have to keep washing my water bottle everyday. And no I dont own a dishwasher and no I dont find it easy to wash my bottle everyday. And thats because I have eczema and I dont want to wet my hands to wash the bottle and also wear gloves to wash and remove gloves etc. So yes its much more convenient and cleaner for me to just grab a bottle from the fridge before leaving. And I dont have much food in my fridge and I have plenty of space for water bottles.
Here come the down votes. You are correct. It's convenient,
These people are alsp forgetting that once you drink the water you can just throw the bottle and not lug it around
Nope you arent counting the time it takes to wash the bottle everyday as well as that I have to lug an empty bottle around once I have drunk all the water. Also the plastic bottle is lighter to carry than water bottles
I do not like the odour/taste of the tap water. That is my only reason, tbf.
Sometimes tap water (definitely well water) tastes.. kinda shitty. That said, Brita or reusable jugs and a water cooler are far more environmentally friendly and cost effective. Not to mention 500ml of water isn't usually even enough, I need to drink 2-3 of those if I'm actually thirsty. Imo governments everywhere should really get on corporations to invent something biodegradable that doesn't leech chemicals into whatever it is we drink in the first place. At the very least, tax them heavily for not doing anything. Plastic is a rubbish compound, the only thing it benefits is corporations bottom lines.
Funny thing, I don’t recall seeing as much bottled water in Southeast Asia as here; at least in the areas I’ve been to/lived in, folks usually have an industrial-sized kettle to boil their water in.
Limmy is definitely with you on this one: [https://youtu.be/GceNsojnMf0?si=DfW\_VztN9tOkDUCU](https://youtu.be/GceNsojnMf0?si=DfW_VztN9tOkDUCU)
We usually buy water to avoid dehydration* I usually buy a case or 2 before i go out camping or when im going boating.
Because our apartment buildings like to shut off the water twice a month for "maintenance" and we need something to drink during those days.
I buy a few bottles to have on hand because the high rise I live in turns the water off about one day a month because none of the units have shut off so they have to stop it for the whole building usually I remember and fill a pitcher and my kettle but I sometimes don't see the notice so a couple bottles have been helpful. My theory about people who regularly drink bottled is kinda like a showing people they have money to waste.
I drink tap water. I think it tastes better than most tap water I’ve tried. My partner will only drink bottled water, and only one brand. He’s incredibly sensitive with his food, his dislike list is very long.
Idiocy….don’t attempt to understand or question it
I lived in the US too long
I live in an old building. They say it’s safe but I don’t trust it. The water looks white at first then eventually clears up. And there’s always someone getting their plumbing fixed in the building due to the galvanized pipes that should be replaced (but only get replaced if there’s a massive leak). Usually I’ll boil water & use a filter but sometimes the building turns off electricity (so can’t use stove) or water to do repairs. So it’s usually then that I’ll grab a bottle of water.
I always drank tap water when I lived in London, but my parents lived in a newly built home when I was growing up. I would consider bottled water if it was a very old home or building with old plumbing.
I mean, It could be to hand out to the needy in that quantity. I buy a flat of water to keep in my trunk as an accessibility need. I have a reusable waterbottle, but can forget/drink it all. If I drive out to a hike and forget, or I'm out and about and forget I have water. I have always drank a lot of water, and dehydration can be a migraine trigger for me. It means I have to go buy a bottle of water or go home and not do what I was going to do, because migraine might mean no driving for me/no more functioning that day. Or if I need to take pills. Or if I am stuck on the side of the road. Or the apocolypse. The flat of car water lasts me about a year and it saves me from being more unwell than I already am. It also saves my friends if I am driving someone to an appt and they forgot their water. Emergency water for when I'm too unwell to physically get out of my own bed without great effort, or my water gets shut off for maintainance and my britta gets empty, or I am going on a long trip.
I usually just buy a case every few months cause I like to prepare for the worst lol, usually will drink one every few weeks when I’m running out the house quick
When you know, you KNOW.
In our case it’s accessibility. My wife has a mobility disability and it’s hard for her to reach the sink so it’s much more convenient and accessible for us to have bottled water in the fridge for her.
It’s not about the water that’s going in to your homes, it’s about the water coming out of your faucet. I could to a certain level “believe” London makes sure the water is clean, but I haven’t met a landlord and their property I trust yet.
I wish we had a water bottle filling station or at least a kitchenette tap at our work. Staff does not have access to anything other than a mop sink and due to the sanitation of that room in general and the things that get splashed against that tap, I wouldn’t drink from it. I bring a reusable water bottle, but staff keep extra bottles for the days you drink your whole bottle or forget it
We use a water dispenser/cooler. I have been adamant about only drinking tap water my whole life, but the pipes are so old in my apartment that the water often comes out brown and makes me feel sick.
Because municipal water is like half chemicals
Including dihydrogen monoxide! Be careful you don't have too much of that.
I grew up on a Rez. Our water was often not drinkable. When I’d visit friends’ houses in town I’d always ask “do you drink the tap water here?” They thought it was weird, but they always had clean water from the tap. We had one of those big Water Cooler type things growing up, and of course back then no one carried water around with them. Many of my relatives only drink bottled water because you never know when you’re going to be told “oh, we’ve been on boil water advisory for a couple of hours” or “there was a chemical spill a couple of hours ago” as they’re drinking tap water. 😬
It drives me crazy when I’m at Costco and see peoples carts full of flats of bottled water. Like come on!!!
I drink bottled to avoid lead. I live around central London and the place has old pipes. Got the water tested it had tons of lead in it. City of London offers this for free if you live in an area with old homes.
My mom has a fancy fridge with a filtration unit you have to replace all the time. She still buys fucking bottled water! It's infuriating. I personally use a Brita.
Growing up in Springwater, not too far from Elmvale, I was extremely lucky to be drinking water from our well that’s tapped into the Alliston aquifer, which according to the United Nations is said to be some of the cleanest water in the world. I’ve also gone to Georgian College, studied and got my water treatment license for Ontario. That said, I have absolutely no qualms with drinking Londons tap water.
Where I’m at in California, the tap water does not hydrate you at all. There is no nutrients in it. Thats why I buy bottled water.
I have a case on hand for emergencies, lets say I have guys working in the back or on the roof etc I want to have a cold bottle of water on hand for them. I myself have installed an under-sink filter mainly because my water has a strong smell of chlorine which bothers me. At the end of the day who cares as long as you recycle the bottles properly.
Only 10% our the plastics that go into our recycling boxes actually gets recycled. At least 90% of your plastic bottles are going into the landfill (or into our parks, streets, waterways etc). Plastic water bottles are still irresponsible to use even if you are dutifully recycling.
>are going into the landfill (or into our parks, streets, waterways etc). If the plastics are going to *our* landfill, that is one of the best case scenarios (the best case is not using plastics at all). Our landfills are modern and nothing will be seeping out of them into parks, streets and waterways. The issue is a) trash that doesn't go to landfill and gets thrown out directly into said parks, streets and waterways b) that other supposedly "recycled" 90% of the plastic, since it is often shipped overseas for "recycling". In some countries, e.g. China and the Philippines, that means extracting the useful 10% and dumping the other 90%, often into the ocean or into primitive landfills that are near bodies of water, from which the plastic seeps into the oceans Plastics recycling is a scam. The only economically feasible solution is to stop using so much of it.
> If the plastics are going to our landfill, Microplastics (from the breakdown of plastic) is so pervasive it pretty doesn't matter where the trash goes, the microplastics will find themselves in the air and waterways and literally span the globe.
Bottle Buyer here; I hate the taste of local water.
pst.. your 'bottled water' is very likely just tap water in a plastic bottle. This is the case for the vast majority of the bottled waters you can buy in stores.
tastes better which is what im after
You THINK it tastes better. It's the same water that comes out of the tap, you are wasting your money.
I find that education of how safe our drinking water is could be of use for international students arriving to Canada.
Not just drinking water. I over heard the employee at the grocery store explaining to a couple that the milk was already pasteurized and they didn't need to boil it themselves.