I have to take water with me wherever I go , but I do not want to add to the problem of pollution so I keep 3-4 plastic bottles that I refill with tap water and keep refrigerated so I always have nice cold water. They get washed in dish washer and have been reused for years now.

Never bottled water, unless I'm a guest and it's what's on offer. It's way too expensive, and tastes like the plastic bottles it comes in. At home we filter our water, using a Big Berkey - it's an excellent filtration system that removes a wide variety of impurities from tap water.

Always a glass and we use a pitcher with a water filter.

Live in rural Ontario, so have an awesome spring fed well for our water supply. We bring it to our taps through a filtration system as the iron & calcium load can be higher than desirable at certain times of the year. Tastes clean, pure, and we know it is free of added chemicals. Love it! No bottles here - use thermos containers to keep it cold when out and about.

I agree tap water is probably best and it's free, BUT my city water, no matter what I've tried tastes horrible! I've bought a water cooler and have 6-5 gallon water jugs delivered very month. it's worth it because I drink it!

At home it is filtered tap water dispensed through a spigot by the sink.

We have soft water and it tastes of the salt, so I drink bottled water and keep bottles with me in the car wherever I go.

Have own bottles to fill with filtered tap water

Tap Water....I bet this totally depends on where you live and what the quality of the water is like!!!

I'll go out of my way to avoid plastic bottles. Creates way too much waste.
I'll drink a filtered tap water. Reverse osmosis systems will take out most any thing not H2O but it takes about 3-4 gallons of water to make one gallon of drinking water. The rest goes down the drain so I gave that up for a two stage filter. Cold water tastes better so I keep it handy in the fridge at work and at home.

I have to drink spring water especially in the hot Texas summers when I drink a lot of water. I get urinary track infections almost immediately if I drink much tap water. I buy spring water by the gallon (store brand so fairly cheap) and pour it into smaller bottles to have by the sinks and for my car. One doctor said I was nuts saying tap water caused UTI but my family doctor said maybe, our tap water is high is minerals, maybe I have troubles with some of them. I don't want to buy an expensive filter system though i'm sure it would probably do the job. I do worry about the water being in plastic. I wish they had affordable spring water in recycle-able glass bottles.

Neither-hate water! Always have done

Built-in water filtration systems at the sink and the refrigerator provide wonderful tasting water for drinking. My stainless steel water bottle is my constant companion everywhere I go.

I voted tap, because I don't buy bottled water. However, I do use a Brita filtration pitcher, not just for drinking water, but also for my coffee.

If you have a well and pump in your house, tap water is wonderful. If you have industrialized water with chlorine in it, then filter it first. Bottled water is OK if you're away and have to buy it, but personally, we use a glass jar and fill it with fresh tap water when running errands. Avoid plastic unless you absolutely have to.

Users of plastic bottles, don't let them get warm, i.e. by leaving them in a car. When the plastic gets warm it releases chemicals into the water, some of which are carcinogins.

Well water is not necessarily pristine: depends on the depth and whether the aquifer is contaminant free. Wells that do not have a confining layer such as clay or bedrock are considered surface sources and need to be treated because of the propensity for contamination. Deep wells that do have a confining layer usually do not require treatment but one never knows unless you see a set of well logs(to determine if there is a confining layer) and have the water tested for micro-organisms.

The notion that 'industrialized' water (whatever that means...) needs to be filtered is not a bonafide statement. There is nothing wrong with filtration after treatment but to fear monger without knowing the source water is just simple ignorance. A great many 'industrial' water sources are from deep wells.

Education is key and unless you understand water treatment and distribution systems whether they be huge water systems with 100's of connections or private wells, the amount of ignorance is staggering.

I suggest the uneducated check AWWA (American Water & Wastewater Assoc.) for the state of the art and most up to date information, as well as, the WHO (World Health Org.) for terrific information regarding water sources, systems and treatment.

violetalexander, I was going to chime in that "a well and pump in your house" is no guarantee of water quality. You said everything I would say, and more. Thanks for the info!

Tap water!!! Unless for some reason the tap water is suitable for drinking (in some areas its not). In which case, by a filter and drink from the tap anyways!

We used to live in a town where the municipal water supply came from wells. It was perfectly safe to drink but tasted terrible! Noone drank it unless they had a purification system. I wouldn't even give it to my pets. Every grocery store, convenience store, etc. had vending machines outside (accessible 24/7) that dispensed RO water. We had a couple of 5 gallon bottles that we would go refill as needed. The tap water where we live now is palatible so that is what we drink. I only buy bottled water when I'm out and have forgotten to take a refillable bottle with me. That doesn't happen very often.

Fluoride in tap water is POISON!! Only RO system for me - we run the waste water line outside for irrigation so no guilt about that. Don't trust the public supply - the allowable heavy metal levels - and of course the fluoride - are toxic. RO is do-able for everyone. We rent our system locally and they maintain it, too. DO NOT skimp on this easy health benefit!!

Tampa's tap water isn't necessarily my favorite tasting water option. It's all about the Brita filter for us at home! Cuts down on all the plastic, not to mention cost, on regularly buying cases of water bottles :)

Mermama, why is floride poison, also, why guilt?

Guilt because RO systems waste a lot of water for the drinking water they produce. As for the Fluoride issue, you can start here: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2004/06/09/fluoride-deception-part-one.aspx
And whatever one's opinion on Fluoride, I feel it's wrong for it to be forced upon people - it's not right that we have no choice. Many water municipalities fought the enforcement of mandatory Fluoridation and lost to the government. Also, we have massive arsenic toxicity issues in areas where the groundwater has been affected and cancer from arsenic is rampant. The government's "allowable" levels of arsenic are ridiculous.

Watch the movie Tapped Out and you'll never want to drink bottled water again. Bad for the environment, bad for communities where water is sourced and bottled . . . Nothing good at all here.

msburbeck, I watched a a trailer for the movie, it's a boxing movie. Maybe you can tell me why it's bad for environment, communities, and would not want to drink it.

Tap water filtered with a Brita. Then I pour that into a bottle to take on the go, which I wash repeatedly. I read that bottled water was tap water from various places, so it doesn't make sense to pay twice the amount, or more, for water.

Christi, on behalf of Thos. Baker

Filtered tap. But then again we live in the Puget Sound area that even our tap tastes great.

Depends on where you live.... Many places have horrible tap water

Mermama: thanks for promoting the Quack Doctor Mercola! He is under investigation by the FDA for numerous false claims. I never trust a Doctor who sets up a website and tries to scare the public with erroneous information and then lo and behold, the Doctor has a ton of supplements and products that he peddles on his website: no conflict there! As well, Mercola is not a peer reviewed researcher. Thus he makes incredible claims that are bought by the unknowing consumer but anybody with a background in Chemistry, Biochemistry, Toxicology, etc will catch onto this quack in a millisecond.

You can't see through the water that comes out of our tap. Bottled!

Ouch Carol

this has probably already been suggested but add a RO system that feeds your fridge....problem solved. Crystal clear ice as well.

soozmacrae, My husband is of Scottish descent. Which holidays do you celebrate? Unfortunately, anyone in his family that could have answered that question has passed.

We have a 175 foot deep well and the water is what I call sweet (no off or after taste). Our well is tested yearly to be certified by our county. During the 30 plus years that we have lived here, we only had to treat our well once due to a negative test report. We take water with us and will buy bottled spring water when on extended travel. I find it difficult to drink most municipal waters due their taste and added chlorine.

Tap always. Bottled water isn't regulated. Much more expensive than tap. No bottles to recycle either.

Depends on where I am.

Costa Rica - bottled
Ethiopia - bottled
USA - both

Cool water filtered thru the fridge. Yum!

Tap - grew up with an artesian well in NJ - the best water I ever had. Now in NM I am on a community well system. I run my drinking water thru Pur water filter pitcher. And it's much better very cold.

Tap water at home - occasionally bottled while out. Tap water in my area in So Calif is ok - but I used to live in rural Oregon, and the tap water there was incredible! It came out very cold and was very soft, so great for drinking (though not as great for shampooing hair ).

Tap...your teeth need the fluoride.

Bottled water is not necessarily any better than tap water. Too much paranoia about
drinking water don't ya think ?

Karen Baumgarten mentioned fluoride. That's a whole other beast of a topic. Working in the water industry, I'm keenly aware of this topic and am passionately against fluoridating tap water. Provide me clean, safe water at a reasonable price. Do no add medication of any kind thank you. If you are concerned about dental health, please support programs to educate the population about dental hygiene.

We use a Brita pitcher in the fridge for drinking water. I fill plastic bottles to bring water with me to work or the gym. They get washed in the dishwasher. I avoid bottled water.

We have a gravity-purifier. It's called the Big Berkey. We use 2 black filters in it. The holder is stainless steel. It's also portable. We use our tap water and the Berkey to get very well purified water and it tastes great! Wouldn't be without it.

Philosophically I prefer tap water. I was spoiled by being raised in NYC. When I first moved to Ohio I got a Brita filter cause I htought the water was aweful. Now I'm used to it straight out of the tap. I'm also lucky that water is my favorite drink...preferably lukewarm.

I will buy bottled every now & then, but only so I can reuse the bottles & fill with tap water about 3/4 full. I freeze them & then drink from them all day long. I bring them to work with me every day! Never been a coffee or soda drinker, so water from the tap is my thing!

Why pay for bottled water? If water isn't good, you can filter it much less expensively that buying it! I buy some for emergencies. We are on a shared well for our rural subdivision, so if the electricity is out, no water. But for everyday consumption, we drink it from the faucet.

i filter tap water!

Filtered tap water at home, bottles when out (but I save and reuse them). Like Bungalowmo, I freeze water in summer. Bottles of frozen water are great for beach or pool.