[rob74]

Yeah... especially since the source isn't really cheap either. Also, I have never understood how it can possibly make sense to ship water from Fiji to the US, or even from France or Italy to Germany. Local mineral waters may not have as much prestige, but they taste just as good. Actually, that would be a better project: compare the mineral composition of mineral waters to check which local mineral water best matches the taste of an imported brand.

[stratocumulus0]

It's because restaurants make the most money on drinks, so selling you overpriced water with artificial branding becomes an excuse to charge the same money for water as one would for sodas.

And some cannot be convinced that tap water could be safe to drink. I know a few people who exclusively drink glass-bottled water, because they fear microplastics on top of that.

[mschuster91]

> And some cannot be convinced that tap water could be safe to drink.

It's a cultural thing, mostly. Not everyone has the luxury of, like me, growing up in a place like Munich where the water source is clean and pristine needing very little treatment. In many places water has to be chlorinated or, in the worst cases, is contaminated with gases from fracking to the tune you can set it ablaze [1]. Or it's contaminated with lead [2], PFAS [3] and pharmaceuticals [4]. And that's just "rich world problems" - people who grew up in developing countries or even in extremely rural areas of Western countries who grew up with water unsafe to drink before boiling it off will be even more skeptical.

The value proposition of many a "branded bottle water" is that the water sources they use are so old and deep that no human activity can have contaminated them.

P.S.: And that's before thinking about if the hot water supply in your home has its tank flushed and cleaned and the anodes serviced regularly... neglect your hot water installation and you'll get disgusting shit like [5].

[1] https://www.propublica.org/article/scientific-study-links-fl...

[2] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S24685...

[3] https://environment.ec.europa.eu/news/new-eu-rules-limit-pfa...

[4] https://www.usgs.gov/water-science-school/science/pharmaceut...

[5] https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ppNPRbNysg4

[cesarb]

> people who grew up in developing countries or even in extremely rural areas of Western countries who grew up with water unsafe to drink before boiling it off will be even more skeptical.

I'm Brazilian. We learn early in school that water must always be boiled or filtered before drinking. I'd feel very uncomfortable drinking water directly from plumbing, no matter how much some people say it's safe.

Every place here (and I don't say that lightly, I don't think I've ever seen an exception) has either a water filter connected to the plumbing (for unlimited on-demand filtered water), or at least a separate standalone filter, or sometimes a drinking fountain which gets its water from large mineral water containers (and it's normally real mineral water bottled from real mineral springs, not that nonsense that is adding minerals to tap water and saying it's mineral water).

Edit: and IIRC, there's a law that bars and restaurants must provide filtered tap water to their clients without extra cost when requested. Even the law requires filtering.

[marcosdumay]

Keep in mind that the filters most people use in Brazil mostly only handles dirt that accumulates on the water tank and keeps the water in a nice temperature. If the tap water had any contamination, those filters would change nothing.

It's still good to get rid of that dirt. If you live near a main street or some other polluted place, it can become harmful. But it's not that much of a change.

[quickthrowman]

> P.S.: And that's before thinking about if the hot water supply in your home has its tank flushed and cleaned and the anodes serviced regularly... neglect your hot water installation and you'll get disgusting shit like

I guess it’s time to post this PSA again.

Never ever drink from the hot tap, always turn on the cold faucet only or turn the handle all the way to cold. Even if you’re filling a pot or kettle with water to boil.

The inside of a water heater is frightening.

[Aachen]

The latter is yet another reason to ask for tap water in restaurants. It's probably fine but besides the uncertainty of what the plastics and additives do to a person, might as well not have more plastic bottles be produced, leech into the far-transported water, and then have to be disposed of responsibly. I usually explicitly request they write it up as a normal water price and just bring me a glass of tap

[jrmg]

Restaurants charge for tap water where you are?

[msm_]

Yes, in Europe it's standard to charge for tap water. I don't think I ever got water in restaurant for free in Europe (I'm European).