Do you use bottled water at home or do you have a water filter like a Britta? I've been using bottles, but I know it would be cheaper in the long run to get a filter, I'm just not sure whether the water quality is the same as bottled water.
It's better for you as it's fresh and hasn't been packed in a plastic bottle and stored for goodness knows how long. Filtered water is the best, and very economical. I also have a water bottle with a filter which saves me time and money when I'm out and about. It can't guarantee everything, but neither can bottled water. The only water that is pure is boiled water which is then cooled down.
I don't drink any bottled water except Fiji. There's a reason why that stuff is expensive. A filter would be fine. I would advise getting Pur instead of Brita. Our Brita faucet filter didn't work for very long before it broke and to me the Pur also seems cleaner.
I have a water filter. I used to buy water bottles but they create so much waste. I felt bad about it even though I recycled them. I find the brita system to be cheaper and better for the environment so I go with that. I drink a lot of water so it makes a difference in bills and trash.
Britta filter all the way. Honestly, it pretty much costs the same as 1 36 pk of bottled water and I think the water quality is much better overall. And if you buy yourself a nice resuable water bottle/cup and fill it up before you leave your house, it's not different than bringing a plastic water bottle somewhere. The Britta filter saves a TON of money if you're regularly buying bottled water and the quality of water is better too. No brainer for me.
Bottled water probably has some kind of problem with it, because of the plastic exposure, even if it did go through a reverse-osmosis filter prior to being bottled. But some bottled water hasn't really been filtered well. "Spring water" is a meaningless term. If the bottled water has paid to have an effective filtration process (like reverse osmosis, which will remove fluoride), you can bet it's going to say so on the bottle. But (and this is my purely conjectural opinion), filtered bottled water is still probably better than drinking the tap water of most cities. Good heavens, you can taste the bleach and iron and who knows what when you're drinking from the tap in my house. I don't even give that water to my pets. At the grocery store and gas station they have water machines that give you utlra, super-duper filtered water (revese osmosis, carbon filters, UV: you name it) for like 25 cents a gallon. Yea, that's kind of expensive for water, but I only use this stuff for drinking water purposes. It's more convenient than standing at the fridge (which has a carbon filter) for 5 minutes at a time filling up the dogs' big waterbowl.
No water filter here. I drink water from the faucet, then again, my city is up in the mountains and I know where my water comes from and how it's handled along the way. When I visit my old folks we only drink bottled water tho' (the inexpensive kind) - they live in an area with little clean water and the taste from the cleaning/purifying substances they use on it is kinda bad.
We just drink tap water. Bottled water is too expensive, and I can't even guarantee that it is indeed safe. I haven't been sick because of drinking water though. I know a friend who got amoebiasis because she drank bottled water she bought from a grocery store.
The water quality here is very good so I don't use a brita filter. However I would certainly advise it if you live in an area where the water quality is poor, or in an apartment block. I think that bottled water is far too expensive to be having for another other than convenience. Even then I usually make provisions so that I have bottled water with me.
This is something I have been discussing with my other half. We use bottled water, but it adds up quickly. I also think I'd prefer filtering myself (can we really guarantee what's in those bottles?) Another reason is that even if you're drinking bottled water, if you then have ice made from tap water, it kind of defeats the purpose. It would be too expensive to do everything with bottled water though. So, now I'm at the point of researching filtering solutions.
Bottled water is not always that good because it has sat around in plastic for who knows how long and gotten who knows how warm. Plastic bottles leach some chemicals into the water if they get warm. I have used a Zero water filter in the past and it works really well, makes the water taste amazing. It is $15 per filter though, so it does ost quite a bit. I used to use Britta before that and they are OK. Right now I've stopped using a filter as I can't afford to replace the one I had which was used up. My town's water is pretty good anyway, chlorine is the only real problem and you can get rid of chlorine by just bringing a big pot of water to a boil and it will all evaporate.
It would be nice to use a filter like Britta with all the water I drink but I find that whatever they use to filter the water makes me feel sick when I drink it. That's any water filter. I keep hearing that bottled water is basically tap water but honestly I've drinken tap and always feel sick from drinking it vs. bottled water.
I do both. At home, I have a Brita filter in a gallon tank and at work, I have a case of water to drink throughout the day. I am particular about a lot of things, but not to the point where I can't do anything at all.
I have been using a bottled water, but I am now considering to shift to a water filter because it would definitely save me a lot of money and hassle and wastes. Before I doubt the effectiveness of the water filter against the bottled water, but I have seen that more people are using it lately and that if it were not really effective, then a lot of people would have already complained. I don't yet, when I will have one, and not sure if I would really have one. All I am doing for now is considering it, and chances are great.
