[GeorgefromGeorgia]

I think buying bottled water is like throwing money away (at least here in the USA). I admit, when I go to Mexico, Egypt, Morocco, and a few places in Europe, I like bottled water. Here in the USA, the worst thing is that you get more chlorine.
We have a fridge at home with a water filter, and that works when at home.
When I fill up the coffee pot for coffee at work, it comes from the tap. When I go out to eat at lunch, and buy ice tea, I expect that water comes from the tap.

I am almost 60, and in great health.

[50sDad]

Oh, no, I didn’t mean to slander either H20 when you are in viral foreign lands, nor the handy gallon jug in the fridge. Just the $10 a glass Evian kinda things don’t make sense to me.

[rock58seg]

When you go to the grocery store, and they have one of those machines that fill your five gallon jugs with pure water, go look in back!

The water comes from a tap in the wall hooked up to the local municipal water supply. But it’s better and purer than the same tap water at your house.
You Betcha.
For sure.

[BwanaNdege]

We teach villagers in the developing world to drill their own water wells using hand augers. We also teach them to make BioSand water filters, homemade sand filled concrete containers that remove pathogens. We use test kits to demonstrate the absence/presence of coliform bacteria (pollution).

Our mission’s director of appropriate technology was teaching these things in Mexico and made three different tests to show his students how contamination occurs. The first was of water coming straight from a pipe in the local spring. The second was from the tank being filled by that pipe, a tank that the locals would stand in to fill their water buckets. The third test was of locally available bottle water.

Direct Spring water - no bacteria
Spring collection tank water - contaminated
Bottled water - contaminated!

Just like in the USA, many bottled water companies overseas just fill the bottles with whatever is coming out of the tap. It may be safer, but that is not guaranteed.