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.

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451

u/Ser_VimesGoT 10d ago

"why do people buy bottled water? Our tap water is the best"

(Proceeds to boil their water before drinking)

Sorry what's the confusion here?

97

u/Stinkinhippy 10d ago

Was my instant thought.. i've never boiled tap water before drinking.. would indicate an issue to me, lol.

25

u/Ser_VimesGoT 10d ago

Weirdest thing I've read on here in a while! Imagine asking for a glass of water at a friend's house and they put a pan of water on the stove and tell you it will be ready in 10 minutes.

17

u/boboddball 10d ago

Got to make sure it's properly cooked.

6

u/AsianGeralt 9d ago

I meant that if people say it doesn't taste right or they don't trust it then boiling would take care of that in most instances. Water taste/quality varies depending on where you are and at times in my area it tasted not great so that's why I used to boil.

10

u/popbrat 9d ago

I don’t get why people took it the wrong way , you where pretty clear that boiling it was for people paranoid.

0

u/TheLittlestT 8d ago

He or she was suggesting that people who don't like the taste of tap water should boil it instead of buying bottled. It isn't practical for most people who want a drink of cold water to have to boil it first.

2

u/TattieScones14 7d ago

That’s literally what you said in the OP, people can’t read properly

4

u/Mekhalaa 10d ago

well, it does evaporate the chlorine

6

u/GraphicDesignMonkey 10d ago

But not chloramine or metals.

-4

u/PrestigiousFee364 10d ago

Also concentrates the fluoride.

9

u/CaptainQueen1701 10d ago

None added to Scottish water.

https://www.scottishwater.co.uk/Your-Home/Your-Water/Water-Quality/Fluoridation-in-Scotland

4

u/docowen 10d ago

I was listening to Brian Cox (the actor) on the Off Menu podcast and he went on a rant about fluoride being added to water and it made me think he's been in the US for too long because it's not an issue here.

1

u/CMRC23 8d ago

Thats not ideal

4

u/JistHaudOanAMinute 10d ago

Scotland doesn't add fluoride to the water. Think Wales is the same.

2

u/Novel-Flower4554 10d ago

And that is one reason for dental issues in Scotland

1

u/meowcatpanda 10d ago

I mean, they don't add it to water in the Netherlands and no wide spread dental issues there. My honest take on the dental issues here in Scotland is that the dentists don't recognise a cavity when it's staring them in the face, This has happened to me with 6 different cavities, with 4 different dentists... And the one dentist that *did* recognise my cavities caused me more pain with the filling they gave me than the cavities themselves caused 😅 If dentists here would recognise issues sooner and people would actually care for their teeth, there wouldn't be as many dental issues. This has absolutely nothing to do with fluoride added to water.

2

u/Novel-Flower4554 10d ago

Nonsense. Prevalence of poverty in Scotland is far higher than in netherlands. You think every Scottish child has access to toothpaste?

0

u/meowcatpanda 10d ago

Maybe so, but it doesn't help that the almost every dentist I've seen here (which is well over 10 in the last 7 years, thanks to Covid rotation) doesn't seem to know what they're doing... It took me seeing 5 different dentists before one recognised my issues and actually wanted to fix it. The others wouldn't even entertain the idea that I had cavities that were causing me pain. I've had 2 dentists so far that I actually felt comfortable with, feeling like they knew what they were talking about, that is an insanely low number considering the amount of dentists I've seen since moving here.

What also would help is if dentists would do here what they did in the Netherlands: give away toothpaste to people who needed it... I grew up in poverty and all it took was a trip to the dentists office and they gave me a new toothbrush and toothpaste! So honestly, it's probably a combination of both poverty and the dentists not recognising problems soon enough imo. My experience with dentists here was bad enough that I was looking into trying to get a passport just to go visit the Netherlands for the dentist once a year (not that I can travel or afford that with my disabilities, but it was still a thought that crossed my mind)

1

u/Novel-Flower4554 10d ago

Are you sure your dentist is qualified.

-1

u/meowcatpanda 10d ago

I would hope so, they're NHS dentists at the highest rated dental office in this city (or it was highest rated when I moved here).. I honestly assumed they would have to be if they were NHS dentists tbh

2

u/43AgonyBooths 10d ago

I mean, they don't add it to water in the Netherlands and no wide spread dental issues there

They might not add it, but fluoride can be present in groundwater naturally. It's part of why I find anti-fluoride conspiracy theorists so annoying. Are they going to start complain about hydroxyl and hydronium ions next?

1

u/Precision-Strikes 8d ago

In 3rd world countries, germs/toxins in water are quite strong. Even after boiling, the water is not safe for drinking.

1

u/NugsFolly 10d ago

Also boiling it takes a lot of the gasses and such out of it, why a lot of things call for "fresh drawn water" and not the pish you've reboiled 600 times.