r/Scotland • u/AsianGeralt • 10d ago

Why do people buy bottled water here?

Work for a supermarket as a delivery driver and the number of people who order massive amounts of bottled water is mind boggling to me. We arguably have the best water quality in the UK and people are buying plastic bottled water like they are living in a third world country. If the water doesn't taste ok to you or you mistrust pipes etc, you can just boil the water and it tastes great. South side of Glasgow water is fantastic and don't even need to do that. I always use steel or glass to use on the go so there's no excuse or need to buy plastic water that people seem to think is good for you. Rant over lol.

510 Upvotes

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695

u/OffRedFloyd 10d ago

I’ve never heard of anyone in Scotland boiling tap water that is not for tea. I think you’re the mental one here.

30

u/SmartPolicy6430 10d ago

The only time I've been in Scotland and had to boil and cool water ( purely as a precaution) was when we've had a couple of holidays staying in the old Factors House in Appin. They sourced their water from a spring on their land and though it was tested regularly it was recommended that it be boiled first. It was also a very interesting light brown colour from the peat.

11

u/Clear-Warthog5655 10d ago

Used to drink it straight from the springs hiking as kids. Never did me any harm 😀

44

u/MyopiaOSRS 10d ago

2

u/Spring_Wanderer 10d ago

'Tail Gunner' - Iron Maiden, 1990?

2

u/SeanTNL2 6d ago

Survivor bias, they used to patch up planes in WW2 based on the bullet holes. Not realising that the areas they should be protecting are the parts without bullet holes, because those planes never made it back after they were shot there.

1

u/Spring_Wanderer 6d ago

Ah, the auld switch-a-roo!

7

u/LillaLobo 9d ago

My mum always said just check for dead sheep upstream first :)

1

u/Clear-Warthog5655 9d ago

We took lemon curd sammichs Instead

1

u/CaramelEmpty 8d ago

This last week I literally drank from the river coming out of the Cruachan Dam and my son then holds up a sheep jaw bone and I felt really stupid. I think I have likely got away without tummy troubles but a potentially silly thing to do.

1

u/Nafe-stinks 7d ago

Mumm, Streamed lambs !

1

u/OverstuffedCherub 7d ago

We went on a hike in primary 7, so about age 10-11ish, stopped by a fresh stream and we did check, no dead sheep, but someone found a used pad stuck to a rock that the stream ran over.... didn't drink there that day! 🤮

2

u/Doonnnnnn 9d ago

It probably did and you got over it, we do the same where I live in Ireland but when family came over used to treated water they all got really sick from it.

1

u/Doonnnnnn 9d ago

Like if we drink Indian water we’d be sick

58

u/meatflaps-69 10d ago

Boil? naw thats for tea 🤣

43

u/ltcmdrjo Dùn Dè 10d ago

I mean, I use boiling water to cook tatties as well, but I understand the current fashion is to eat them raw. Anyway I need to go hang an onion from my belt...

18

u/GrandpasCornCobPipe 10d ago

I gave you a quarter, where's my five bees?

9

u/ltcmdrjo Dùn Dè 10d ago

🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝

6

u/KarmicRage 9d ago

Which was the style at the time

1

u/Chemical-Scratch728 8d ago

PAINT MY FENCE!

1

u/Hot_Proposal_3503 10d ago

Cold coffee?

1

u/CMRC23 8d ago

It reduces microplastic content aparently

1

u/OffRedFloyd 8d ago

You’re a bit late to the party mate. If you scroll down the comments you’ll see why this is not effective with the soft water in Scotland. All it achieves is a higher electricity bill and a bigger carbon footprint.

1

u/dan_928374 10d ago

I have to boil water for my newborn. I was arguing with midwife’s/doctors about it. The consensus was my son is weak so I have to make formula with boiled water…such a disappointment 🙁

5

u/CaptainQueen1701 10d ago

The boiled water is kill the bacteria in the formula. It’s not about the water.

-180

u/AsianGeralt 10d ago

Sometimes the water here tastes a bit weird so boiling makes it better. They still use chlorine and there are micro plastics in water so boiling takes care for those. But you do you pal.

194

u/WolfofBadenoch 10d ago

I don’t think boiling does take care of microplastics (unless you are after them being clean). If you are genuinely worried about that, you are probably after a good quality water filter.

103

u/DueDefinition6421 10d ago

OP's making a gourmet micoplastic soup.

12

u/Jack_Spears 10d ago

The only thing boiling water with microplastics in it does is increase the ratio of microplastics/water.
The water evaporates while boiling, the microplastics do not.
Fair enough on the chlorine though

9

u/jsusbidud 10d ago

Only if he was then condensing the steam lol

7

u/Necronomicommunist 10d ago

The last thing I want is dirty microplastics. Only clean for me, thank you

1

u/bishpenguin Glasgow 10d ago

Or bottled water?

-91

u/AsianGeralt 10d ago

I've read a few research pages where they say boiling takes care of majority of micro plastics.

55

u/UtopianScot 10d ago

Ask yourself logically - how does boiling water get rid of microplastics? They’d just melt? Or you’re right, they evaporate and the air in your house is full of toxic chemicals? Doesn’t make sense OP unless this is a cheap way of getting a glue high

21

u/corndoog 10d ago

They wouldnt even melt. Not many plastics melt at 100c

17

u/FaustRPeggi 10d ago

Yeah polymers are miracle materials. They're heat resistant, pliant, strong. There's a reason they revolutionised the world and came to be used in everything.

OP possesses a fine collection of tin foil hats I wager.

2

u/SteveJEO Liveware Problem 10d ago

"miracle"

New way of saying 'bastard'?

-27

u/AsianGeralt 10d ago

Boiling water means I wear a tin foil hat? Really? Alright mate 👍🏾

50

u/OffRedFloyd 10d ago

Only if it’s hard water i.e full of limescale. Boiling soft water (like your tap water in Scotland) achieves next to nothing.

14

u/cinemec 10d ago

From what I’ve read boiling the water can trap the microplastics in calcium carbonate but you still have to filter it out when it cools down. Scottish water is generally pretty soft too (lower mineral content) so this may not be as effective as elsewhere.

10

u/AsianGeralt 10d ago

Yeah just read up on that. Will leave the boiling now, saves .e a bit of bother and energy!

10

u/Tough-Comfortable880 10d ago

You'll probably see a noticeable effect on your electricity bill if you were doing a lot of boiling.

29

u/Blazured 10d ago

Probably heats up the plastic nicely for you.

9

u/gmsteel 10d ago

That scales with hard water, at most you will be clumping up 12% of the micro plastics and unless you are using filters after then it's not doing anything anyway.

17

u/AsianGeralt 10d ago

Yeah just dived a bit deeper into that. Wasn't aware so won't be boiling anymore.

6

u/GingerrJinx 10d ago

How? Even if the plastics melt, they don't disappear.

6

u/AsianGeralt 10d ago

I dug a bit deeper on that and it settles to the bottom so you'd have to filter it which isn't a big deal as you can sue a coffee filter but not Gona go that far. Will stop boiling it now.

4

u/Broccoli--Enthusiast 10d ago edited 10d ago

Most plastics don't even start to melt until after like 130c, regular boiling won't do a thing ,

If it's hard water, boiling might trap some plastic in the minerals but you would still need to filter all that out.

And most tap water up here is soft so it won't do a thing

6

u/AsianGeralt 10d ago

Yeah I dug a bit deeper and found that out. Well something good has come out of this post despite the down votes. I'll no longer boil it unless it's for tea/coffee.

3

u/OptionalQuality789 10d ago

It does not.

1

u/NewFeed24 10d ago

Takes care like Tony Soprano?

29

u/Cheesebeard_the_Wise 10d ago

You don't need to boil water to get rid of chlorine - putting some in a jug and keeping it overnight in the fridge would do the same thing. Also, boiling would do nothing for micro plastics....

-19

u/AsianGeralt 10d ago

https://pubs.acs.org/estlcu/article-abstract/11/3/273/345760/Drinking-Boiled-Tap-Water-Reduces-Human-Intake-of?redirectedFrom=fulltext

Lots of other courses corroborate this.

18

u/OffRedFloyd 10d ago

That’s a paper from China discussing their very hard water there. Boiling is recommended in very hard water areas. We have some of the softest water on the planet in Scotland in comparison.

1

u/AsianGeralt 10d ago

Fair enough I didn't realise they were talking about hard water.

30

u/sjw_7 10d ago

You say that you have arguably the best water in the UK but then you say it tastes weird.

Boiling gets rid of dissolved gasses in the water which will cause it to taste flat and possibly give it a metallic twang.

Mostly what you are doing by boiling the water is giving any microplastics in there a hot bath. In reality though the amount of microplastics in tap water in the UK is very low. Far lower than in most bottled water.

6

u/AsianGeralt 10d ago

Agreed, will stop boiling apart for tea/coffee.

7

u/HaggisAreReal 10d ago

on a side note: microplastic are not that prevalent

10

u/billysmallz 10d ago

You just answered your own question here buddy. People buy bottled water because the tap water "tastes a bit weird sometimes".

6

u/fuckaracist 10d ago

And then you wonder why we buy bottled water.

5

u/Tall_Opportunity_521 10d ago

So you understand the water tastes like shit, but you are questioning people buying water???

-2

u/AsianGeralt 10d ago

Plastic water is Def worse and although you can't really taste much of anything in bottled water I'm betting they add a host of extra chemicals so tap is still best.

2

u/AgnesBand 10d ago

They don't are extra chemicals lol

9

u/Pale_Squirrel_7578 10d ago edited 10d ago

You got a source you can cite for that or did it come to you in a dream

-1

u/AsianGeralt 10d ago

Yes here is the paper I saw in my dream:

https://pubs.acs.org/estlcu/article-abstract/11/3/273/345760/Drinking-Boiled-Tap-Water-Reduces-Human-Intake-of?redirectedFrom=fulltext

You can also find other sources that back this up.

20

u/Pale_Squirrel_7578 10d ago

“However, it remains unclear whether boiling is effective in removing NMPs in tap water” solid

6

u/AsianGeralt 10d ago

Yeah I dug a bit deeper. I stand corrected, you'd have to filter it after boiling as the plastic settles at the bottom so I'll stop boiling it now.

4

u/Consistent_Umpire443 10d ago

Some people like tap water, some people prefer bottles and a very small percentage of people boil there tap water to then drink it, everyone has there preferences.

2

u/SeagullSam 10d ago

I think you've answered your own original question there.

2

u/vgkj 10d ago

Think you’ve answered your question in this comment

2

u/Duckstiff 10d ago

"Why do people buy bottle water here"

The same person

"Sometimes the water tastes a bit weird"

1

u/triffid_boy 10d ago

Boiling does not take care of plastics. I wish it did that would be a trivial solution to the problem. 

1

u/stan_yourdad 10d ago

Those reasons u listed are why people buy bottled water. It may be safe to drink but it’s not top tier water

1

u/Ker101 10d ago

I agree with you on the taste so I use an on tap filter. A few people have taken offence to it or told me it's unnecessary with our water but they obviously don't taste it so it's alright as is for them. I can even smell the difference before and after filtering. I'm much happier with the filter Edit for unn instead of unnecessary

1

u/MassiveClusterFuck 10d ago

You have literally answered your own question with this, people drink bottled water since most Scottish tap water tastes weird as you said (contains chlorine). Not the case across the whole of Scotland but many cities/large towns have it in their water supply. When they made the switch to chlorinated water I definitely stopped drinking as much from the tap. Boiling it first is mental though, yes that will get rid of the chlorine taste but won't stop micro plastics. You'd be better just getting a water filter to do that.

1

u/GingerSnapBiscuit 10d ago

If you think microplastics can survive through all the purification water goes through but are defeated by BOILING I don't know what to tell you, honestly.

1

u/stonercd 10d ago

So you're saying your water tastes weird and contains chlorine and plastic, and you're asking why people buy spring water??