> You pretty much explained why many of us drink bottled water, since our supply is not reasonable. :)

Citation needed. Some choice quotes from Wikipedia[1]:

'The Environmental Protection Agency regulations for tap water are "actually stricter than the Food and Drug Administration regulations for bottled water."'

'A study of drinking water in Cincinnati, Ohio, discovered that bacterial counts in bottled water were often higher than those in tap water and fluoride concentration was inconsistent.'

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bottled_water#Perceptions_abou...

People buy bottled water for the taste, not for the cleanliness.

If you have bad tap water, it's not like you can just shop around for another provider. But bottled water does actually compete on taste; I do prefer some brands over others when given the choice.

But I've gotten lucky with fine-tasting tap water, anyway.

My tap water does not taste good. I drink it most of the time but there's no fooling my taste buds; the bottled water tastes better.

Ok. While I am not going to give out my city, their water report says that their average chlorine level is 0.5 mg/L. The bottled water I drink has a full water report that simply says "not detected" for chlorine.

Perhaps I am just "sensitive" but something in the tap water gives me headaches.

Possible, but it's worth noting that some people are sensitive to chlorine. Public swimming pools often give me a headache and make my nose run, while the people around me don't seem to have a problem. In fairness I haven't isolated chlorine as the cause, but I've never had issues with natural bodies of water.

I agree with your gist, but also Cincinnati has a really good water system:

http://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/water/news/platinum-award-for-u...

I don't think they take into account that chlorinated water tastes like shit.

Unless you filter it at home with some effort.

> Unless you filter it at home with some effort.

It's not that much effort. If all you care about is taste they sell kits for under $100, and then you don't need the effort of lugging water.

Las Vegas has water that meets the standard of 'very hard' [1], so when I go there and stay with friends it's a challenge to take a nice shower (soap doesn't want to lather), and water from the tap tastes noticeably chalkier than in other places. But my friend has thyroid issues and avoids the tap water due to perchlorates [2], which were produced industrially in Henderson and leeched into the groundwater. Though the levels are considered safe, her particular health issue makes it more of a concern. So bottled water is everywhere at their house, but also at the houses of other people I know in the area. I'm guessing some of it is because it's always hot so it's nice to have a ready-made bottle of water on-hand whenever you need it, and possibly because in Las Vegas, tap water is perceived as expensive (even though this isn't actually true [3])

On the east coast in a metro that ranks as having one of the best municipal water systems, buying large amounts of bottled water is foreign to me, and only crosses my mind if I'm preparing for inclement weather or an extended road-trip. Though I wish our 'best municipal water' tasted more to my liking, a Brita filter adds a pleasant blend of minerals that tastes close to non-store-brand bottled water.

[1] https://www.lvvwd.com/wq/facts_hard.html

[2] https://www.lvvwd.com/wq/facts_perchlorate.html

[3] http://www.circleofblue.org/2015/world/price-of-water-2015-u...

Could always filter it yourself.

This is the best answer. Even in a place like Flint, it would be so much cheaper to put a top of the line whole house filter in each house rather than some of the crazy things they were doing like bringing in bottled water.

There's a lot of pseudoscience in water filtering devices.

They do noticably improve the taste in my experience. There's also a lot of psuedoscience in bottled water as well.

So don't buy those? Buy an actual, normal, carbon filter?

Maybe the fact that you have accepted having to buy drinking water in a bottle is now at least partly to blame for the tap water quality not improving?

Are people demanding that their tap water be as good as the best bottled water? If not, why?

Maybe true. May also be a nocebo issue. Heard many people claiming that "tap water in XY is terrible" while every study shows that it's not true. Often tap water quality is better than bottled water.

I doubt it's a nocebo effect when you can even smell the difference. I have a reusable metal bottle and can tell when I've refilled it straight from the tap vs. a filtered water source.

My wife is a good example. She absolutely refuses to drink water from the tap -- and we live in Portland, Oregon, which arguably has some of the purest water in the USA.

The point has been made several times in this thread, but some of this may be a matter of what you expect water to taste like. I grew up in a small town where the water had a kind of "mineral-y" flavor to it, and tap water in most places tastes a little off to me by comparison. I know that doesn't mean there's anything wrong with it, though.

it's even bought WITH reasonable supply... humans are strange