Bottled water for bird? Your thoughts on this, please.

[Mike]

Have any of you seen the news that some ungodly amount of different brands of bottled water (93%?) contain minute particles of plastic?

I've given my birds only bottled water to drink and bathe in for years. I was always leery of chemicals like flouride in tap water and how it might affect birds.

Now what? I'm leaning towards tap water now. (sigh)

Your thoughts on this?

 

[nu2birds]

I'm not crazy about using our tap water for the reasons you mentioned. I do use tap water that goes through a filter but I don't actually know if it is filtering out the fluoride or not. I had not heard of this bottled water and plastic problem, thanks for sharing.

 

[Mizzely]

I have always used tap water. My current city does not add fluoride to the water but the rest did I am sure. I am fortunate that my local water has always been quite clean.

The way I see it is, everything has a potential for contaminates. Bottled water is often not any better than tap water - in fact, Ice Mountain by Nestle is extracted from a river less than an hour from me, and I used to live just a few miles away from that river too for about a decade. I've drank that water a good potion of my life without ever buying a bottle!

Distilled water and reverse osmosis are the purest but I have heard conflicting information on drinking them long term. Reverse osmosis would be the safer of the two.

If the water is safe for you to drink, it is safe for the birds realistically.

 

[Skipper]

We have Britta water pitcher to filter the water for the birds. Works fine and is a lot cheaper tan bottled water in the long run. Plus, you do not have drag home bottles from the store.

 

[Mike]

I'm surprised there are so few people concerned about this. Look it up!

The odds are heavily in favor that if your bird drinks bottled water, he or she is ingesting plastic.

 

[SandraK]

We have Britta water pitcher to filter the water for the birds. Works fine and is a lot cheaper tan bottled water in the long run. Plus, you do not have drag home bottles from the store.

That's what we use not only for the birds but for the people and the coffee maker.

 

[Lesley Yeung]

Mizzly, we must be neighbors.

 

[TikiMyn]

I use tap water, but the water here is very clean and no chemicals are added to it I don’t Know if those are available in America too, but in the Netherlands there are packages of water in thick cardboard like boxes. Not sure what Is on the inside, but I don’t think it is plastic.

 

[tka]

I don’t Know if those are available in America too, but in the Netherlands there are packages of water in thick cardboard like boxes. Not sure what Is on the inside, but I don’t think it is plastic.

These are probably tetrapaks and yes, there is plastic in them.

 

[Mizzely]

Mizzly, we must be neighbors.

I'm in Michigan They extract from a lot of sources! The one here in Michigan is in Evart and its a big political issue too because we make like no money while they make millions :/

 

[BrianB]

Water in Phoenix tends to have a high mineral content and it can fluctuate at various times of the year. More in late summer / fall and less in the winter / spring. I get it from the filter in the fridge. The birds like the cold water during the summer, and I add ice to it for them to play with.

 

[Rob]

I'm in Michigan They extract from a lot of sources! The one here in Michigan is in Evart and its a big political issue too because we make like no money while they make millions :/

Michigan here too. My sister moved out of state and said until she bought a filter she could taste all the extra stuff in her new states water.

 

[SandraK]

I always hated the slimy feeling from the water softener when I lived in MN. It felt like I never rinsed the soap off me.

 

[CrazyBirdChick]

I've been buying Ice Mountain for years and I give it to Blu too, for drinking.

I was relieved that it wasn't included in the recall (even though it's a Nestle company as well) but my last purchase tasted different. It tastes, well kind of like Dasani. It tastes like either fake minerals have been added to it, or like slight bleach or something. I can't figure it out but it's different.

I gave Blu tap water yesterday and today and was planning on buying a Brita filter later today to use from now on, even though I'd prefer to keep buying bottled water that tastes like pure water.

I called the customer service number and asked what changed and the representative said that nothing has changed. So she took my information and they will conduct some research on where I got it from and send me a reimbursement. Now I'm not sure if I can trust Ice Mountain anymore, unfortunately. I really did love that water and I'm picky about my water.