Filtered Tap Water, or Bottled?

We have an in the fridge brita filter. I grew up in a house with a reverse osmosis and when I got my own place I was spoiled and could afford one so every three months we replace the filter.

We use filtered tap- a Pur filter. That is plenty good enough for here where it is just a high mineral content in the water. When I lived in West Phoenix, we had to use bottled. The water there was so disgusting smelling even with a filter, it was undrinkable. There we used the big 3 (?) gallon jugs and there were water filling stations all over the city. Much cheaper than using individual bottles. But because my little sister grew up on mostly bottled water she didn't get enough flouride and had a lot of cavities. Just something to think about if you go bottled.

I always drank tap water until we moved here, it tastes yucky and I wasn't drinking enough! (but Davis' water where my hubby went to school tastes much worse!)

I just got RO (reverse osmosis) water from the vending machines in our empty water or juice bottles for 15 or 25 cents a gallon, until we bought this house and it has a RO system under the sink. Ahhh! Love it!

I would do a little investigating and read up on some of the debates. This was one of ours in my nutrition class. The problem with bottled water number one is the debate on the plastic and two, knowing the water source from which it comes from. The thing with filtered water is you must make sure you are changing the filters, if not then its pointless. Even those machines at the stores have filters and must be changed out, and who knows if they are doing that. I would google the subject and see what you find. I still use bottled water because I don't like how mine smells, but I use it to cook and shower with so I probably should just buy one of those filters anyway.

reverse osmosis (4 gallon tank which refills very quickly) is hooked up under the kitchen sink. I think it the basic system was like $300 from puretec. Taste is great. I have a regular tap, a hot water tap and it is also hooked up to make ice cubes in the freezer.
I do however splurge sometimes and buy "smart water" which i keep in my office. It is distilled and contains electrolytes but tastes like plain clean water.

We drink water from my fridge, It has a filter on it and we love it. We also use bottled water.

We are not opposed to drinking tap water, we just got used to the filtered water from the fridge. I use it when I cook as well.

We also go through a lot of bottled water because we'll grab on for the road, etc.

Filtered tap water and bottled water. Our ped told us the filtered tap water is better than bottled water for our kids because there is flouride in it. If they only drank bottled water then they would need a flouride supplement. I would never drink straight tap water from out here, it doesn't taste good. Now tap water from Lake Tahoe is great. =)

Do you have a well or town water source? We have town water and drink it directly from the tap. It depends on your source.

Most people think they are getting more "clean" water if it is bottled or filtered, but I agree with Stephanie. Do some reading first.

Most people don't realize that municipal water has much more stringent regulations than bottled water, and municipal water is tested periodically. So, unless it is a taste issue, save your money and just go for your own tap water. If you have well water and you don't like the taste. Have your well tested to make sure you are getting what you think you are.

Somehow in our society we have come to believe that, if it is bottled, it must be better. But it just isn't necessarily so. As for filters, it depends on what you are trying to filter out.

We either drink tap water or filtered water (we have a reverse osmosis system). I'm not opposed to drinking tap water, but we think the RO unit makes our water taste better. I avoid bottled water. The regulations aren't very stringent and I don't like all the plastic waste.

we drink bottled because we don't want to deal with the hassle of changing and cleaning filters. if you don't clean a filter properly or don't change it regularly, the water you drink actually becomes even more polluted with the all the gunk from the filters so if go that route, be diligent about cleaning/maintaining :)

Our water is so awful. I hardly know anyone who just drinks it from the tap. We used bottled, well my husband only drinks distilled because his Urologist told him too. I usually buy Aquafina or my fav Ozarka. I drink tons more water than I would without buying it. We had a Brita at one time and i really couldn't tell any different with it than without it, I could still taste the Chlorine.

When I lived in the city, I used a Brita filtered pitcher for my drinking water. My biggest concern was removing the chlorine.
Now I live in the foothills and have a spring fed well and few neighbors. I bring my own water where ever I go using flip top glass bottles that can be found at any brewing supply store.

We bought an Aquasana water filter for our kitchen sink and our shower. Bottled water isn't any healthier for you than tap, and in some cases, can be worse for you. As for the fluoride issue, it may help your teeth, but it is also carcinogenic. Our Aquasana filters out a lot more contaminants than most, and that's why we bought it. Plus it was relatively affordable, and we just bottle our own water in glass or stainless steel bottles. If you are going to go the filter route, get a filter that does more than just filter for taste (like Brita and Pur). There are a lot of great sites out there that have independently rated different filtration systems. Also, if you want more information about the whole bottled v. tap debate, Flow and Tapped are two great documentaries. Good luck!

When I lived in Tempe, AZ, we had a reverse osmosis water filter installed. The water tasted great and we saved money in the long run. I filled water bottles from the tap for walking and hiking. This way we also had good tasting water for cooking.