I know expecting rigorous science from an entertainment program is always asking a bit much, but the Penn & Teller gourmet-water prank always struck me as flawed given the social dynamics at play. Most people in that situation are going to feel some social pressure to acknowledge some sort of qualities in what they are being served, whether from fear of appearing unsophisticated or simply out of a desire to be polite, even if what they're drinking does consciously taste like tap water to them.

Personally, while I don't buy any branded, single-serve waters, I do actually buy gallon jugs of house-brand "drinking water" from my local grocery store for the taste. Whatever minerals they add "for taste," I prefer it to tap or even spring water.

I used to drink bottled water exclusively, mainly because I thought the taste was unambiguously better. However, three things got me to switch to using filtered tap water.

#1) having to carry multiple gallons from the store to the car to the house was getting to be a chore. given the amount of water of i drank, it was a headache. now that i've switched to filtered tap water, it's so much easier.

#2) i received a brochure from the local water municipality that documented all the steps that the water went through to be purified. It was way more involved than I thought. Plus, the purchased filter literature claims to remove impurities to several significant digits - post coming from the tap.

#3) it's cheaper overall. sure there's a fixed cost to buying a filter system, but once it's up and running, it pays for itself.

If places sold an empty bottle for 5c or whatever that you had to fill up by yourself at a tap, then that's what I would buy.

Sometimes you're out and you want something to drink but you don't have a container, bottled water is kind of an obvious choice. All the purity shit is just capitalist competition in action. And I still don't understand what is worse about it than bottled Coke or whatever.

No commentary about entertainment venues removing/hiding the water fountains and making carry ins (like my refillable bottle) illegal for security theater reasons?

I'm not saying that explains 35 gallons a year unless you go out a heck of a lot more than I do, but it is something of a gateway drug, that once you get used to going to the state fair and spending $7 for a brat and ... $2 for the bottled water to go with it, you're on a slippery slope to buying more bottled water later. Look how cheap the bottles are at the store, why I paid $2 for one bottle at the fair, and I can get a dozen bottles at the food store for $3 what an awesome great deal bottled water is I'm gonna buy some for next time I go out...

Every reason mentioned except the main one - that you can't charge $4 for a cup w/tap water in it? Also when fast food/day-to-day restaurants give you a cup for water, it's tiny and uncovered.

I would prefer tap water in all cases. It is never a convenient choice.

edit: If you wanted to legislate effectively (rather than in a Bloombergian manner), just require that tap water be a first class citizen at restaurants (same cups, same sizes), and that the purchase of soda/bottled water cannot be involved in a package discount, unless tap water would give you the same discount.

Since last year, I have tried my best to avoid any drink that comes in a plastic bottle and as well as saving me a decent amount of money, I feel much better about not adding to the obscene amount of waste and the fact that when i do have a drink out, I am helping independents too rather than fueling the corporate monster..!

There's a big difference between bottled sparkling water, filtered water, and plain old tap water.

Also, there's differing qualities of tap water as well, because it does depend on your tap and sink itself.

If you have a good tap, and you are serving the water without carbonation, sure, there's going to be little noticeable difference in general. But try running water directly from an average to low quality tap directly into a soda stream (without any time to even allow chlorine dissipate) and you'll find that's nowhere near as pleasant as a bottle of perrier.

The downside of bottled water is BPA from the plastic container that is released when exposed to sunlight/heat but the downside of tap water is that you can't control the level of nitrites, PH levels, chlorine and debris from building pipes.

Evian is the only non flavored water that I have tasted that actually has a different taste to it.

Either way I dont drink bottled water because I dislike tap water. Most of the times I dont have a container or a tap to fill up with water. So I am stuck getting a Dasani or Evian from a gas station or vending machine at work.

The reason why I finally switched to only drinking bottled spring water is because of things like hexavalent chromium, which appears to be very prevalent in the Bay Area for some reason. The Bay Area has an amount which is hundreds of times higher than the maximum recommended amount.

http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2010/12/30/chromium-6-found-in-...

I might explore a home filtration system at some point, though, if it is cost effective and reliable.

This is why I drink bottled water.

"The documents reveal that the wastewater, which is sometimes hauled to sewage plants not designed to treat it and then discharged into rivers that supply drinking water, contains radioactivity at levels higher than previously known, and far higher than the level that federal regulators say is safe for these treatment plants to handle."

"...some sewage treatment plants were incapable of removing certain drilling waste contaminants and were probably violating the law."

"radioactivity in drilling waste cannot be fully diluted in rivers and other waterways."

And the EPA has not intervened.

from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/27/us/27gas.html

Also:

"Environmental officials in Pennsylvania have failed to adequately regulate the state’s booming natural gas industry, a state report said, reflecting what critics say is weak oversight of the oil and gas industry at a time when drilling is spreading across the United States."

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/24/us/pennsylvanias-auditor-g...

It's a well-known fact that New York City tap water is delicious, even compared to other municipal water supplies.

The crazy thing about Fiji water is that it is actually bottled in Fiji and shipped around the world. So now even plain potable water can have a significant carbon footprint.

In the northeast in PA/NJ, tap water has had a distinct taste, presumably from the high calcium content. My experience with tap water in Orlando, Florida also had a very distinct odor to it. Thus bottled water it is.

For filtering, I just got one of the iSpring reverse osmosis units to filter water for me. It tastes equivalent to the other bottled water brands while being appreciably cheaper than bottled water.

The tap water in my apartment is disgusting. I tried filtering it, but it still tastes terrible. It doesn't even do a good job of cleaning my dishes in my dishwasher. I buy Poland Spring by the case, keep it in the refrigerator, and drink that instead. I have nothing against drinking tap water in principle, but my actual tap water leaves a lot to be desired.

I drink bottled water when I'm out and about, the main reason is that it's frequently the most/only healthy option available. Fruit juices can be good for you too, but they're high in sugar and not great for your teeth if you drink them frequently.

It all depends on what tap water you compare it with. In many places in the US I’ve been, the tap water was heavily chlorinated, and that’s not exactly a subtle taste note in the water.

As a side note, "Agua de Culo," one of the brands offered during the Penn & Teller experiment, translates as "Ass Water."

Love that last paragraph.

Part of the bottled water craze is due to the fact that youngsters are mistakenly made to believe that you will get dehydrated if you take a walk around the block, do your math homework or just sit around. If you don't drink x glasses of water (insert random number for x) your health will be at risk.

So, for those situations where you find yourself with your (BPA-free) water bottle empty of course you're going to spring for a bottle of tap water. And since you're afraid of catching Ebola you're not going to use anyone's tap, it has to be a one-way safe and sanitized bottle.