<story><title>Nestlé Makes Billions Bottling Water It Pays Nearly Nothing For</title><url>https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-09-21/nestl-makes-billions-bottling-water-it-pays-nearly-nothing-for%20%20https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-09-21/nestl-makes-billions-bottling-water-it-pays-nearly-nothing-for</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>bradlys</author><text>Sure. Safe to drink but most Bay Area water tastes damn awful.&lt;p&gt;I can’t stand drinking tap water in the Bay unless it is ice cold.&lt;p&gt;Some bottled water tastes bad too. Getting the stuff that isn’t bottled anywhere near california always seems to taste better.&lt;p&gt;I use a 6 stage water filtration system and it is a life saver. I didn’t drink water regularly at all in the Bay until I had that. Still don’t drink much water at most restaurants here...&lt;p&gt;I’m not a defender of bottled water but let’s not fool ourselves into thinking that all bottled water is equal to tap water. Especially SF tap water. It definitely isn’t. Some actually tastes decent.</text></item><item><author>toephu2</author><text>San Francisco Bay Area tap water is safe to drink and is held to a lot higher safety standard than bottled water. Also the source of most bottled-water is no different than the source for tap. Bottled-water is often priced at a 2000%+ markup.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;sfwater.org&amp;#x2F;index.aspx?page=447&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;sfwater.org&amp;#x2F;index.aspx?page=447&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.quora.com&amp;#x2F;Is-San-Francisco-city-tap-water-safe-to-drink&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.quora.com&amp;#x2F;Is-San-Francisco-city-tap-water-safe-t...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>jandrewrogers</author><text>This. I lived around Bay Area a long time and I couldn&amp;#x27;t drink the water without running it through a filtration system first. It doesn&amp;#x27;t have the worst tasting water of the many places I&amp;#x27;ve lived (parts of southern California win that award) but it is objectively pretty poor which is why so many people there drink filtered&amp;#x2F;bottled water. Parts of California have real problems with minerality that adversely affect flavor even in the bottled versions.&lt;p&gt;By contrast, the tap water in Seattle and many parts of the Pacific Northwest tastes excellent, about the same as drinking it directly from the springs up in the mountains whence it came. Consequently, people rarely drink bottled water in that region; you can&amp;#x27;t materially improve the flavor of what comes out of the tap.&lt;p&gt;While some of the difference is in the local mineral balance, which can be quite unpleasant in some locales (e.g. in close proximity to active volcanic areas in the mountain West), in most regions the unpleasantness comes down to the chemical treatment required to make the water safe based on the default quality of the watershed.</text></comment>
<story><title>Nestlé Makes Billions Bottling Water It Pays Nearly Nothing For</title><url>https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-09-21/nestl-makes-billions-bottling-water-it-pays-nearly-nothing-for%20%20https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-09-21/nestl-makes-billions-bottling-water-it-pays-nearly-nothing-for</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>bradlys</author><text>Sure. Safe to drink but most Bay Area water tastes damn awful.&lt;p&gt;I can’t stand drinking tap water in the Bay unless it is ice cold.&lt;p&gt;Some bottled water tastes bad too. Getting the stuff that isn’t bottled anywhere near california always seems to taste better.&lt;p&gt;I use a 6 stage water filtration system and it is a life saver. I didn’t drink water regularly at all in the Bay until I had that. Still don’t drink much water at most restaurants here...&lt;p&gt;I’m not a defender of bottled water but let’s not fool ourselves into thinking that all bottled water is equal to tap water. Especially SF tap water. It definitely isn’t. Some actually tastes decent.</text></item><item><author>toephu2</author><text>San Francisco Bay Area tap water is safe to drink and is held to a lot higher safety standard than bottled water. Also the source of most bottled-water is no different than the source for tap. Bottled-water is often priced at a 2000%+ markup.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;sfwater.org&amp;#x2F;index.aspx?page=447&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;sfwater.org&amp;#x2F;index.aspx?page=447&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.quora.com&amp;#x2F;Is-San-Francisco-city-tap-water-safe-to-drink&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.quora.com&amp;#x2F;Is-San-Francisco-city-tap-water-safe-t...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>baddox</author><text>I drink several cups of water per day straight out of the tap in San Francisco, and have done so for about 6 years. It tastes fine to me, which is to say it doesn’t taste like anything. I also have a water filter and pitcher that I keep in my fridge, and while ice cold water is certainly nicer, it’s rarely worth the trouble for me to refill it. I’m curious why you think the water tastes bad straight from the tap, and even more curious if you would be able the distinguish it from your preferred water source in a blind taste test.</text></comment>