Here is a pic of a small portion of the audience at the 1978 Texxas Jam concert at the Cotton Bowl, well over 100 degrees, and not a water bottle in sight:



But they did have this for water:

quote:

Originally posted by gearhounds:
We’re on a deepish well in limestone rich eastern WV and the water quality is insanely good. I use a 64 oz stainless bottle and am lucky to be able to avoid plastic bottles.

When I lived in the east we had great well water too. I would give people water at the house and they would remark how great it tasted, where do you get it? I would say a hole in the ground out back - want to see?

When I was in Vietnam in 1965-1967 I drank lots of water out of a plastic bottle. Oh wait, that was a canteen. Never mind.

Kinda two-fold that others have pointed-out.

As suburb expansion started in the 50's and into the 60's people soon discovered that while the land was cheap and the homes were sizable, the tap water tasted like ass. Growing up in California, if you lived in San Francisco or, your community was tapped into the Hetch Hetchy water system that was owned by SF, the water was spectacular. If you lived in the North Bay it was a mixed bag and if you lived in then South Bay like San Jose where my grandparents lived it was downright awful, we'd complain endlessly about how much the water smelled & tasted. Southern California was more of the same, while the water that was sent down from the Sierras tasted fine, the massive expansion of communities outside of the LA water district was awful smelling and heavily mineralized. Having water delivered or, having an in-home water systems installed became a thing everyone did.

70-80's saw Perrier having a big presence as a 'healthy' drink that was not a diet soda which was blowing up in popularity, it also appealed to those who saw French products as being premium. Carbonated water wasn't everyone's thing so, you saw Evian get introduced into the market place which also tapped into the 'anything French is good' mindset. As the soda wars heated up in the 90's with Coke & Pepsi, they bought up or, started a variety of products to find ways to beat each other, to include their own bottled-water brands Aquafina and Dasani. Given their massive distribution networks, they were able to push their product into the marketplace which made them a common sight on the shelves, combined with aggressive marketing with celebrities and events, bottled water became a common item.

The only standard for municipal tap water, and a loose one at that, is that it doesn't sicken or kill you. That doesn't mean it has to taste good. Mine, while not as bad as some, still doesn't taste very good, imparting an unpleasant flavor to coffee. I buy cheap "spring" (not just purified) bottled water for that and cooking where water comes in direct contact with the food being cooked.

We stopped buying bottled about a year ago when we bought a countertop Berkey water filter.
Wanted to get away from the microplastics in the bottled water, as well as the cost.

We gather spring water from a cold spring in (wait for it) Hot Springs Arkansas. 7 gallon jugs and then at home fill 1 gallon jugs. We used to get Hot water but there is too much dissolved calcium in the water, not so from the cold.

My first notice of it was in 1986, in Europe.

The water was not good to frink pretty much anywhere, so Euros drank it this way, sold it this way, etc.

I remember living in the south eastern states in my youth, whenever you spotted a water cooler or fountain, it was like finding gold!

It seems that plastic water bottles became mainstream when cars started having cupholders.

quote:

Originally posted by Rick Lee:
I spend a lot of time in Europe and I've never seen people drink tap water there.

I don’t know about Europe, but in England, by code only the kitchen cold tap can be directly connected to the public water main. Other than the kitchen cold, all other taps are fed from an open tank in the attic with a float. Yes, it is not uncommon to find dead mice floating in those tanks. I wouldn’t drink English tap water either…

quote:

Originally posted by WaterburyBob:
We stopped buying bottled about a year ago when we bought a countertop Berkey water filter.
Wanted to get away from the microplastics in the bottled water, as well as the cost.

Now I am wondering what the filters are made of,
And what machines are used to make the filters and how they are packaged.

Bottled water dates back to the 17th century. Here's a detailed timeline of the history of bottled water:

1622
The Holy Well Bottling Plant in the United Kingdom was the first bottling water plant in the world. It is widely believed that the selling of bottled water began in the plant in 1622. The practice soon spread to other areas in Europe. Many mineral springs in Europe began bottling and selling water.

1767

The first commercially individual bottled water was invented and made available in 1767 in America. It was distributed and sold by Jackson's Spa in Boston. Water bottling was a means to share the popular and beneficial water with more people.

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Link

We drink bottled water because the groundwater where we live is unsafe, and difficult to filter effectively. Heavy metals.

Purchasing bottled water for my family of 3 costs us about $25 a month. We take advantage of sales, and keep about 4-6 months worth of drinking water on hand.

Water delivery services (the jugs) is about three times as much in cost.

I've been purchasing filtration components slowly as our budget allows, and communicating with a master plumber friend who's planning to help us with the install when we're ready. I'm so far about $3,000 invested and we still need to address softening. It's not lost on me that I could purchase bottled water for decades before we come close to paying off the system that's going to require constant filter replacement also.

Bottled drinking water allows us to live where we live.

The previous owner(s) all reportedly drank the water. One died from what could be explained as aresenic exposure, and the other was selling out due to illness which...could be explained from arsenic poisoning. We tested the water the day we gained possession, and the arsenic, manganese, and other components were off the charts.

I've been trying to find a useful re-use of the bottles...but so far come up empty. Alaska doesn't really recycle, and I'm sure by now most people know that most places that claim to recycle...don't actually.

quote:

Originally posted by Johnny 3eagles:
We gather spring water from a cold spring in (wait for it) Hot Springs Arkansas. 7 gallon jugs and then at home fill 1 gallon jugs. We used to get Hot water but there is too much dissolved calcium in the water, not so from the cold.

had a friend in WVA (RIP Dan) that did the same,
he kept dozens of gallons in his basement, rotated the old for toilets etc, and refilled his drinking supply often

quote:

Originally posted by bendable:
[FLASH_VIDEO]<iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fJm0fW1V9RY?si=MzwMu3GMdv8355dF" width="560"></iframe>[/FLASH_VIDEO]

The tap water in my area, while meeting safety standards, doesn't taste all that good. It leaves a funky taste to coffee. I use a Brita filter for coffee and such, and it tastes pretty good. I have insulated stainless bottles I fill with the water and ice and I'm GTG, along with Nalgene type of material for other bottles.

quote:

Originally posted by corsair:
As the soda wars heated up in the 90's with Coke & Pepsi, they bought up or, started a variety of products to find ways to beat each other, to include their own bottled-water brands Aquafina and Dasani. Given their massive distribution networks, they were able to push their product into the marketplace which made them a common sight on the shelves, combined with aggressive marketing with celebrities and events, bottled water became a common item.

This is what I remember. Water such as Perrier and Evian were considered luxury items and sold in glass bottles. Plain water bottled in plastic bottles took off in the mid 1990s. I recall attendees complaining about $5 for bottled water at Woodstock '94 and how that kind of commercialism ran counter to the hippie spirit of the original Woodstock.

Plastic-bottled Ozarka was common in the 1990s, but as corsair answered, what really pushed plain bottled water into the mainstream was Coca-Cola & PepsiCo recognizing the market and wanting a piece of the action. Aquafina (PepsiCo) went national in 1997, and Coca-Cola responded by launching Dasani in 1999.

George Carlin’s bit on bottled water is great.

https://m.youtube.com/shorts/K0ydIMMDRuQ

quote:

Originally posted by iron chef:

what really pushed plain bottled water into the mainstream was Coca-Cola & PepsiCo recognizing the market and wanting a piece of the action. Aquafina (PepsiCo) went national in 1997, and Coca-Cola responded by launching Dasani in 1999.

Which I always heard was a byproduct of soda making that they were dumping down the drain but someone got the idea to filter/purify it, add minerals and bottle it and get people to pay for it. Not sure if that is really true but was always what I had heard when this stuff started appearing everywhere.

quote:

Originally posted by Lefty Sig:
The typical "progressive" types started drinking Evian and other bottled water in the late 80's, insisting that tap water was "bad".

Then it was found that bottled water is essentially tap water, the EPA has very little resources assigned to regulating it, and then you get the plasticizers and other contaminants from the bottles. Not to mention all the plastic waste. As usual the "greens" make things worse with their misguided ideas.

I grew up on tap water. As an adult I started using Brita filter jugs, and for the last 25 years have a fridge with a filter on it for the water and ice. I have to soften the water heavily due to Indiana limestone so that does affect the taste a bit. I might go for an R.O. system in the future.

A friend of mine lived in my upstairs room for a year or so, and he was a bottled water person. I also have had girlfriends from other countries (East and SE Asia) where the water is not really safe to drink, and they prefer bottled water.

The amount of plastic waste generated by the above is ridiculous. And then they forgot to put the bottle in the recycling bin and put them in the trash...

I've had two RO systems installed in two different houses. I will either take this one with me or buy another one, they have become must-have accessories for us.