The bottled water phenomenon is ridiculous. All hail potable tap water!

Fiji water contains Silica, a naturally occurring element not found in other bottled water. We drink Fiji water exclusively, up to a gallon a day. All hail Imperialist consumerism.

@Boss Hogg: If you want silica, couldn't you just eat sand?

The benefits of silica as a preventitive for cancer is VERY debatable.

Yeah, munch on sand. Mmmm, silica...

You guys have been spending too much time on NPR

[www.npr.org]

....Or maybe I spend too much time on NPR.

Nice to see you posting this... the message should go out to all bottled water drinkers and I was one of them!

I don't care for Fiji, you can actually see the sand floating in the water. ick. Also fiji is no better than typical tapwater, and may infact have more arsenic, yum! [www.abcnews.go.com]

How did reading the article lead to the conclusion that one should actually forego using products from Fiji in order to help the Fijians? Unless NYC tap is magically correlated with the Fijian economy. But you don't have to read the article, just gain an understanding of basic economics.

now, here's my issue with tap water. The tap water in my area smells AND tastes like sewage. Would you happily guzzle that down? Hell no! Bottled water it is

In theory, however, I'd much rather use a nalgene and tap water to keep hydrated, but sewage-scented water just isn't that appealing...

...I drink Nestle water because I'm a capitalist whore?

At least it isn't imported. >>

Hey, our subways may suck here in SF, but at least we have really good tap water!
The only time I really buy bottled water is when I want some carbonated goodness or need to run off somewhere.

Bottled water is convenient, but using your own refillable bottle is also convenient, cheaper, and better for the environment. My boss got rid of the Poland Springs cooler at the office after realizing the costs (to the firm and to the planet) -- we have a filter on the tap and it's just fine.

Funny about Nestle -- if I'm not mistaken, there was a boycott of Nestle some years ago, because in marketing their baby formula to third world countries, they tried to convince mothers that Nestle formula was superior to breast milk.

I grew up on a farm, where I had to endure drinking horrible, sulfurous water - certainly a good argument for drinking the bottled stuff.

But, in NY, tap water is as good as it gets.

Funny, though - bottled water as a 'status' symbol: I know(by association) a wealthy New York socialite couple who *only* allow their daughter to drink Fiji water. I tried to give her tap water one time, and they flipped. Because, of course, only the 'purest' water is good enough for their child.

In area, I wouldn't want to do dishes or brush my teeth with the tap water, nuch less drink it. It's just gross.

God, this isn't just the bottled water phenomenon, this isn't just conspicuous consumption, this is colossal ignorance.

Pacific islands aren't exactly known for the quality or quantity of their water.

Also, I grew up with sand and iron in my tap water. I'd sooner do with out. (And up in the hills they got arsenic to go with it, and/or sulfur.)

@BrigitteT: "Purest?" God, purest what?

You know, New York has a reputation for having excellent tap water, and it seemed pretty good to me the one time I went. They should fucking kick everyone out who doesn't drink it. Your friends of friends really need the shit kicked out of them.

Anyhow, they're not the greatest books in the world, and the author is a damn pedo pervert, but the Conrad Stargard books by Leo Frankowski had one part I really liked. The hero has travelled back in time to medieval Poland. Among other things, he sets up a breeding program to enhance livestock. A local nobleman, to show how wealthy he is and always have the best table, keeps buying and slaughtering the prizewinning animals. Conrad's accountants grab the guy and beat the shit out of him.

This is the same sort of thing, and the same response seems like a very good idea.

Sorry about the double post, but I forgot to note that we tried the filter-on-tap thing, but we went through filters every couple of weeks. On a side note, I really wish that there was an Edit button....

Same here the water from the tap is HORRID strate. It smells and tastes funny. If you throw in some flavoring it's fine, but if you want strait water, you basically need to drink bottled.

Or I do because I canot STAND the taste of teh tap water.

We bought a counter top water distiller for about $100. Tastes better and I don't have to haul flats of water home from the store. It paid for itself in about two months.

Count me among the non-drinkers of bottled water--tap water with a filter is cheap and tasty. Where the hell do you people live where water tastes like sewage? Tijuana? Damn, I've lived in the Midwest and on the West Coast and always have had good tap water.

Another water filter owner here. The thing rocks. F bottled water.....

You guys have got to be kidding. Wasn't there a story on Consumerist that said bottled water was marked up some 300%? On top of that the government is squeezing more money out of you, and you're probably paying more for taxes on the water than it is out of the tap. I have a filter on my fridge and that's where I get my water. Tap for life.

I only use steam distilled bottled water. I don't like spring or mineral added water. time to watch That Penn & teller BS episode on Water...lol!

Whatever happen to boil your water? My Mom did it religiously and have influenced me into drinking only boiled water. Heck, even in a hot summer day, I drink tap water about 10 minutes off the boiler...Then again, maybe my kind is rare...

I drink a lot of bottled water because it's convenient, I grab a bottle from my case of 48 or whatever and go.

I don't go around spouting the revitalizing virtues of bottled vs. tap and I don't delude myself with BS about it being better for my health. I drink it purely because I'm too lazy to buy a nalgene and fill it so I grab a bottle and chuck it after I'm done. If I wasn't so lazy I'd happily drink tap like I did growing up.

I go for bottled water because the tap water in Los Angeles is foul.

I am a sucker for the square bottle. Fiji for Meji

I drink bottled water because our tap tastes like chlorine.

However, I will be drinking Fiji water no more.

I have drunk tap water all over various islands in Fiji. No problem. The large city of Suva has ongoing water supply problems unrelated to quality. Fiji brand water is available in stores throughout the islands as well as water from other countries. I was amazed once to buy a bottle of water in the town of Labasa (near where the last "Survivor" was shot) that came from England.

I live in Los Angeles. A few years ago they decided to change our water supply with a new formula to make it more sanitary. The immediate change was a strange new odor and a horrid taste. If you tried to boil it for drinking, it's ok if you drink it right away, but there's stuff in it that can't be boiled away and keeping this tap boiled in the fridge only makes it worse. Sometimes, the tap has a gloopy consistency. Yum. Gimme the bottled stuff. There's a reason why everyone in L.A. drinks bottled water despite the cost.

I would love to be able to drink water from the tap and stop spending so much money on bottled water. Unfortunately, the tap water where I live comes out of the tap cloudy and usually has stuff floating in it. My small, west Texas town doesn't have the best quality control, I guess.

@Boss Hogg: You mean silica, as in pretty much the most common mineral (not element) on earth? Helloooo pseudoscience! Do you also wear magnetic bracelets?

Filter people, filter. Even those lo-fi Britta pitchers do a decent job at filtering chlorinated tap water and thus avoiding the eco-clusterfuck caused by those masses of pastic waterbottles we clog the landfills with year after year.

Filter, whether under the sink or in the fridge, and don't hesitate to request tap water at restaurants, even if they grief you for not consuming somthing from a glacier or an artesian well or mineral spring or even clarvic spring.

All you bottle/filter drinkers are a bunch of pussies.

That's the way it is when beverage manufacturers move into areas where they are not heavily regulated. A few years ago a human rights watch organization posted about places in India that were experiencing severe water shortages because the majority of the local supply was being diverted to a Coca-Cola factory. At least most of what was made was not intended for export...

Is this were we have gotten too? Criticizing people who drink tap water? Bravo. Now can we get back to something important, like Pepsi vs. Coke?

Thank God for George Carlin.

Let me tell you a true story about immunization ok. When I was a little boy in New York city in the nineteen-forties, we swam in the Hudson river. And it was filled with raw sewage! OK? We swam in raw sewage, you know, to cool off. And at that time the big fear was polio. Thousands of kids died from polio every year. But you know something? In my neighborhood no one ever got polio. No one! EVER! You know why? Cause WE SWAM IN RAW SEWAGE! It strengthened our immune system, the polio never had a prayer. We were tempered in raw shit!

Personally, I find NYC tap water to be just as good, if not better than some bottled waters. Considering it's transported from reservoirs in rural upstate NY, this isn't surprising.

If you're going to quote from the article on Fiji Water, you should do so fairly:

"Fiji Water often quietly supplies emergency drinking water in such cases. The reality is, if Fiji Water weren't tapping its aquifer, the underground water would slide into the Pacific Ocean, somewhere just off the coast. But the corresponding reality is, someone else--the Fijian government, an NGO--could be tapping that supply and sending it through a pipe to villagers who need it. Fiji Water has, in fact, done just that, to some degree--20 water projects in the five nearby villages. Indeed, Roll has reinvested every dollar of profit since 2004 back into the business and the island."

Tap water in my neck of the woods is so heavily chlorinated it's revolting -- it's fine after filtering through my trusty Brita, though.

Still, I don't see how avoiding Fiji Water helps the people of Fiji. According to the article, 200 (soon to be 250) Fijians are employed at the plant, and entry-level jobs pay twice the minimum wage. It also says that Fiji Water buys local packaging, engineering services, landscaping, and security. But I guess that doesn't mean anything. Corporations are always evil, right?

A few months back I bought a case of Fiji water to drink with a bottle of good absinthe I had just gotten, and I have never looked back. That stuff tastes really good . . . even without booze in it.

Don't the proceeds go toward raising the level of the Fijian economy in some way? Make whatever puns you will regarding "trickle-down" and the aquifer, it's too early for me.

If we stopped importing Fiji water, how many Fijians, or whatever you call people from Fiji, would lose their jobs?

If you saw the water that comes out of my tap at home and at work, your ass would be drinking bottled water too. Shitty Alabama water supply.

Firstly does anybody care where that quote come from, because you can put anything in quotes and it looks more reliable.

"And in Fiji, a state-of-the-art factory spins out more than a million bottles a day of the hippest bottled water on the U.S. market today, while more than half the people in Fiji do not have safe, reliable drinking water. Which means it is easier for the typical American in Beverly Hills or Baltimore to get a drink of safe, pure, refreshing Fiji water than it is for most people in Fiji."

I don't doubt that in developing countries it's difficult to get access to safe potable water but, Fiji seems to be a pretty popular vaction/honeymoon spot these days and the above quote sounds like propaganda to me.

And in my opinion the water tastes much better than my filtered tap water.

I think if you HAD actually tried the water, we wouldn't even have this post to rant and rave about.

P.S. I do NOT work for Fiji water, though I would love to to, heck it's in Fiji for goodness sake.

Well, just follow the advice of W.C. Fields...

"I don't drink water. Fish poop in it." (or some version thereof)

For the record in New York we try to call our tap water Bloomberg Water.

I believe most of NYC municipal water is recycled ("reclamed"). We still use a carbon filter, one of those above-the-counter models that has a replaceable filter. It's interesting actually seeing the dirt/impurities that get trapped.
New filter = white. 6 months later - brown.
I still hope they one day faze out flouride.

@The Nature Boy:

Where in Alabama are you? My grandparents used to live in Demopolis (not far from Selma).

Best.tap.water.EVER.

Penn & Teller BS episode on bottled water was the best.