• rumschlumpel@feddit.orgEnglish
    323·
    7 days ago

    Germany: Takes third option and buys bottled water. Part of the reason is that carbonated water is really popular, and home carbonators are usually kind of difficult/annoying to clean properly. Also, restaurants often won’t serve tap water due to greed.

    • Jomn@jlai.luEnglish
      28·
      7 days ago

      I’ll never understand countries where restaurants don’t serve tap water for free… It feels so greedy (as you say) and doesn’t make me want to eat there…

      • arrow74@lemm.eeEnglish
        9·
        7 days ago

        It was a big struggle for me in germany. I have a condition that makes swallowing food very difficult and have to essentially “push” food down with a lot of water.

        I would easily need to buy 2-3 .75l bottles per meal, so instead I bought 1 bottle and brought a reusable water bottle to every restaurant. No one complained, and I did always buy at least a drink.

        But if you just let me have tap water, or even have tap water after purchasing a drink I could have enjoyed a meal without rationing my water.

      • freeman@feddit.orgEnglish
        21·
        7 days ago

        I mean I’ll happily pay for tapwater, as long as it is chraper than the cheapest other beverage. Thats because many (good) restaurants (not the tourist traps) mostly make their profit with the drinks and not with the food menues. The margin is just a lot bigger on drinks.

    • madjo@feddit.nlEnglish
      176·
      7 days ago

      The biggest brand of home carbonators (Soda Stream) is an Israeli brand. Just something to think about.

    • starlinguk@lemmy.worldEnglish
      8·
      7 days ago

      I drink Sprudelwasser with dinner and the rest of the day it’s just tap water. We live in an incredibly hard water area so tap water is basically mineral water.

    • rustydrd@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      5·
      7 days ago

      It’s a generational thing, too, though. At my parents’ place, they’ll look at me like I lost a limb when I drink tap water. Meanwhile, all the homies and homettes drink nothing but tap water.

      • rumschlumpel@feddit.orgEnglish
        4·
        7 days ago

        Not in Germany they don’t! They can and will refuse to serve it at all. And the cheapest drink on the menu is often sweet soda, instead of something healthy.

        • lugal@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
          3·
          7 days ago

          I knew a guy back in the days who always ordered “Hahnenwasser” as he called it and it was free. Maybe this changed or it’s regional. I know the cheapest drink has to be without alcohol and I’m pretty sure water is never more expensive than soda

              • jenesaisquoi@feddit.orgEnglish
                11·
                6 days ago

                That’s a north/south difference in German. Leitungswasser in the Saupreisn areas, Hahnenwasser in the Bergjuden/Schluchtenscheißer regions.

    • Grass@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      31·
      7 days ago

      I’ve never been to Germany but this has to be affordable there if its affordable anywhere in the world:

      Get a clean keg, fill almost all the way with water, put in the fridge and connect to co2 cylinder at 35-50 psi. 35 will take 1-2 days to carbonate and you can turn it down for serving. higher will usually be faster. shaking the water keg with the co2 attached can have it done in a minute or two. basically if you can already dispense a keg you can make infinite carbonated water for pretty much nothing

      you can also get bags of mineral amendments from a brewing shop to replicate your favourite brand or spring.

        • Grass@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          3·
          7 days ago

          one of them is a somewhat normal residential fridge and can fit a 20L on the left side if you take out the drawers and shelves on that side. The other is just a kegerator I got from a small brewery that went out of business and just replaced the lines and the taps.

          • rumschlumpel@feddit.orgEnglish
            4·
            7 days ago

            Your fridge has a “left side” with separate drawers from the right side? That’s gigantic.

            • Grass@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
              1·
              6 days ago

              no the shelves are normal except they are half width and anchor on 3 of 4 corners. the drawers and shelves can be side by side, stacked, or spaced out. one side has all the shelves, the other just barely can’t have a shelf above the keg. total width would fit two kegs, maybe with the co2 nested between but it’s more convenient to put other stuff in using shelves on half

    • biegoditch@lemmy.cafeEnglish
      12·
      7 days ago

      If only these idiots could stop making plastic bottles. Fucking earth murderers.

  • Wahots@pawb.socialEnglish
    171·
    7 days ago

    The amount of bottled water in the EU is insane, lol. I’d always Google it just to be sure, but the tap water is always drinkable, so I try to do that instead of buying a ton of bottles (or getting them at restaurants. I wish parts of the EU had more water fountains and refill stations for metal water bottles.

    I’m guessing it’s more of a cultural thing from the postwar reconstruction?

    • Evotech@lemmy.worldEnglish
      123·
      7 days ago

      It’s not always drinkable, especially not as a tourist.

      I wouldn’t drink tap water in Crete for instance

    • Bohurt@lemm.eeEnglish
      7·
      7 days ago

      The reason behind bottled water is a mixture of bad taste, hardness and lack of trust for watter supply (age related thing). Hence why additional filters have become somewhat popular (from small bottles with built-in filters that you fill on the go up to large separate installations that filter water for entire house). Everything depends on type of water available in certain areas. Cities by the mountains are the best in that aspect as they are often supplied with water directly from the mountains.

    • Haarukkateroitin@sopuli.xyzEnglish
      7·
      7 days ago

      Officially tap water in Malta is drinkable but somehow several hotels I visited have instructed not to drink tap water and office I used had water filters installed on tap.

      There is problems in EU countries too so I would not always trust the official declaration especially when country has higher level corruption - example like Malta.

    • Rob1992@lemmy.worldEnglish
      51·
      7 days ago

      It’s because aside from a few countries, everyone puts chlorine in their water. It stinks and tastes awefull

  • tatann@lemm.eeEnglish
    12·
    7 days ago

    What european water filter do you guys use for tap water ?

    I personally use Brita, which is from Germany (and not Britain or Brittany)

        • wischi@programming.devEnglish
          5·
          6 days ago

          Austria is in a pretty privileged situation here. There is almost no chlorine added to the water. Because of the alps we have a lot of fresh drinking water sources.

    • Macaroni_ninja@lemmy.worldEnglish
      10·
      7 days ago

      Brita is the most popular here as well. I have a water jug from them. While the tap water is perfectly drinkable here I like to filter the water I use for tea and coffee. The tea tastes better and the coffee machine gets less limescale.

      Also worth mentioning BWT (Austrian brand) home filtering systems and water filter manufacturers. My sister has on of them fancy kitchen taps with built-in filtered water option and it uses a big BWT filter.

      • Muoteck@szmer.infoEnglish
        9·
        7 days ago

        My tap water is hard af and filtering helps with that. Also tastes slightly better and doesn’t leave limescale stains after being filtered.

        • Renohren@lemmy.todayEnglish
          9·
          7 days ago

          Limescale is magnesium and calcium… Hard tapwater is the best water for you.

          For your washing machine, clothes, kitchenware though, not so great…

          Here’s the solution: use clear vinegar instead of fabric softener. It won’t stink once it’s dry. Promise.

          • eneff@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
            4·
            7 days ago

            You really shouldn’t use fabric softener for things intended to absorb and transfer moisture at some point anyway (So almost all laundry). It is terrible for the moisture wicking abilities of fabrics.

      • krf@szmer.infoEnglish
        10·
        7 days ago

        When I lived in Warsaw tap water tasted like public swimming pool water after boiling old shoe for an hour.

      • tatann@lemm.eeEnglish
        92·
        7 days ago

        No need to resolve to anti-americanism, water is fine where I live, it just tastes better with a filter

      • endeavor@sopuli.xyzEnglish
        6·
        7 days ago

        Filters can get rid of unwanted minerals and some machines like espresso machines require cleanest water. I have some of the best tasting drinking water in the world, almost iceland level but it has high limestone content and I need to filter it twice for my espresso machine.

    • Echolynx@lemmy.zipEnglish
      5·
      7 days ago

      I like using Brita, but having to buy non-sustainable single-use filters is a serious buzzkill. Yet, since I rent, I can’t install one of those fancy tap-level filters either…

        • Echolynx@lemmy.zipEnglish
          2·
          6 days ago

          Technically, but I have no plumbing skills and don’t exactly want to drop $100+ for a sink-type filter that requires a lot more space than I have, anyway.

      • iLStrix@lemmy.worldEnglish
        3·
        6 days ago

        Heavily depends on where you live in Germany. It should be healthy (by law) and fairly tasty to drink everywhere in theorie, but in reality it is not. Especially depending on the landlord, old pipes can make drinking water range from tasting bad to being unhealthy. Yes, that is against the law, but landlords abusing the shit out of their position of power happens everywhere and a lot more than many probably realize.

    • IndiBrony@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      7 days ago

      I don’t need to use a filter, but I do keep a jug of filtered water in the fridge for the summer when I want a nice pre-chilled drink. I, too, use Brita.

      I wonder if it does anything for microplastics?

  • Kazumara@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
    92·
    6 days ago

    In some EU countries it’s pretty bad tasting though. Too much chlorine for me to really get used to.

    • digipheonix@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      1·
      2 days ago

      Most places treat their water with chlorine or chloramine. Way better than having amoebas but if you can afford a filter do so. Different municipalities treat water differently, look yours up or test to see what you need. I went from carbon filters for chloramine to RO after moving somewhere with worse water

      • Kazumara@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
        1·
        1 day ago

        I guess it’s more like most places in some regions.

        • Where I grew up it they get 44% pumped groundwater, and 56% from capped sources in the surrounding hills. The water from the sources is UV light treated to kill any organic contaminants, the ground water didn’t need it.

        • Where I lived during high school it was all ground water filtered in three stages: ozone, activated carbon, and pH rebalancing, because it was close to a major river that leads into the Rhine.

        • Where I live now we get 85% groundwater, and 15% from sources with UV treatment for the sources only again.

        So you can imagine that I’m not used to the taste. Visiting some regions in Italy where they chlorinated their water pretty hard, especially in summer, is always kind of a shock taste wise. Though to be fair I gotta say in Torino where I was last year it was completely fine.

    • boonhet@lemm.eeEnglish
      61·
      6 days ago

      Yeah. I’ll drink tap water if I need to, but I’m not such a huge fan of limestone. I know it’s not bad for me and in sane amounts it doesn’t affect the flavour too much, but my tap water has way too much.

      I’ve lived in other cities in the same country where water tasted way better. So it’s not that I’ve ruined my taste buds by drinking copious amounts of carbonated mineral water, it’s that in the particular city I live, every apartment has had kinda shit tap water. Of course it’s all city water.

      My friend’s parents’ home has tap water that comes from a spring on their own property. It has a lot of iron and that water tastes pretty damn good. My own childhood home has a well that the pump lifts water from. It’s not excellent, but it’s still better than the tap water in my current city.

    • dumblederp@aussie.zoneEnglish
      3·
      6 days ago

      Chlorine is kinda fragile, you can boil it or use uv (sunlight) to break it down. I find Melbourne water tastes bleachy from the tap.

  • SaturdayMorning@lemmy.worldEnglish
    4·
    6 days ago

    I’m Canadian, living in Canada. I grew up drinking unfiltered tap water (municipal water) all my life and still do. My tap water has always tasted fine to me and I have no health issue. I prefer my tap water over soda, juices, sport drinks or flavoured water etc, which has too much sugar.

  • Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    63·
    6 days ago

    I’ve never lived in a place where the water isn’t drinkable, but I’ve seldom drank from the tap without filtration. Water is so vital to us, it just seems wise to be careful.

    • Luccus@feddit.orgEnglish
      6·
      6 days ago

      Keep in mind that more surface area usually means more bacteria. Afaik there’s is nothing wrong with the usual changable filters (although there are a few horrid ones).

      But many private households tend to underestimate how dirty these things get, even after a short time.

      Since water supplied by the municipality is usually fine and most bad stuff happens as a last-mile problem, I shower in the morning (which I have to do anyway, but it also flushes most pipes) and then wash out a large stainless steel beaker before filling it up and drinking from it for most of the day.

    • ChaoticNeutralCzech@feddit.orgEnglish
      1·
      2 days ago

      Too bad they won’t sell restaurants KOFO, the syrup they mix with water and CO₂ to make Kofola, so they could efficiently transport it to the tap. Yes, the country is small so it’s not much of a deal there but there is demand in Czech communities elsewhere, such as Banat (Romania) and a couple US towns.

  • Justchilling@feddit.nlEnglish
    76·
    6 days ago

    As a EU citizen I always buy my water bottled instead of from the tap, not only does it taste better… but my family used to have a water distiller when I was growing up and we sometimes put tap water inside of it and after the distilling process the residue left was disgusting and gooey, even with some rust laced in (this was in the Côte d’Azur for context) in comparison most good quality bottled water just left a trace mineral residue. Safe to say I’d rather drink mineral residue over rust!