How to save $$$s by drinking carefully

[adrianlondon]

For about 15y you get a hand pump mechanism which fits on top of these large water bottles. Of course, this neither heats nor cools the water, so you always have it at room temperature. That's what I used when living in Uni dorm last year.

[roddy]

The 19L bottles are reused so there's no waste. Although anything plastic will get taken off for recycling, sometimes while you are still drinking out of it.

[madizi]

Yeah, happened to me too.

Thank you, adrianlondon. Do you know brand of this pumps?

[BrandeX]

Anyone heard of water filtration pitchers in China? I asked my gf in Guangzhou about it recently. Since she commonly boils water at home for drinking, but when I described your standard Brita or Pur pitcher filtration device, she claimed to have never heard of such a thing. They are supposed to get rid of various toxins and such, and they do improve the taste of regular tap water considerably (I have been using them for years even though our tap water is safe anyways). You would think China would be a huge market for the sale of these products.

[adrianlondon]

Do you know brand of this pumps?

Nope. When we rang the "water man" to start delivering water to our dorm room, he just brought one "tong" of water and the pump thing. It didn't have a brand, and I guess every water-selling place has them.

[madizi]

Thanks, man. Now I know how does this thing look like. And the blue thing on the top is button, isn't it?

Now we can calculate how much money do we save using this big bottles. But I'm not in China (yet) and I don't know how much is water in small bottles, 1.5 L bottles and this, big ones.

[mr.stinky]

water shops/gome/etc carry small midea brand table-top water dispensers with room-temp

and heated spigots for 85 kuai. the base is the same size as the 5-gallon bottle.

i've seen water filtration 'pitchers' in several homes. slightly smaller than the above mentioned

dispenser, but with a refillable reservoir that looks to hold 10-12 liters.

[cdn_in_bj]

Now we can calculate how much money do we save using this big bottles. But I'm not in China (yet) and I don't know how much is water in small bottles, 1.5 L bottles and this, big ones.

Well I can help you here:

Small 550 mL bottle: 0.70 - 0.90 RMB when purchased in grocery stores, 2.0 - 2.5RMB when purchased on the street (watch out for "fake" brands)

1.5L bottle: 2.0 - 2.5 RMB, depending on the brand

5 gallon jug: 10 - 15 RMB, including delivery

By the way, these prices are for local brands. You can get imported water like Evian in bottles, but it costs a lot more.

[skylee]

When I saw the title of this thread I thought it was about drinking alcohol. But water? I fail to understand why you can't just boil some tap water ...

Is it because of the sediment? or the smell? or what?

I do not buy bottled water if I can help it. I boil the tap water, drink it hot or put it in the fridge. I do use a filter (like these) to get rid of the sediment and smell. Is this not good enough?

[gato]

But water? I fail to understand why you can't just boil some tap water ...

I think the original idea was who can be the cleverest miser, but then the discussion got a little technical.

You can save some cash by drinking water at water machines in your school and not buying it in store.

[gougou]

I fail to understand why you can't just boil some tap water ...

While in Hong Kong you probably don't risk your health doing so (at least I hope so!), that is not an alternative. It recently has been discused, in very chemical detail, here. Start reading at post 36, and stop when it gets too chemical (which for me is halfway through 36... )

[madizi]

Mr. Stinky and cdn, thank you for info and calculations.

I think the original idea was who can be the cleverest miser, but then the discussion got a little technical.

:lol: Not at all. If you are able to reduce every expense for just few kuai, then you can save some money at the end of a month. And water is one of these expenses.

When I saw the title of this thread I thought it was about drinking alcohol. But water? I fail to understand why you can't just boil some tap water ...

Is it because of the sediment? or the smell? or what?

I do not buy bottled water if I can help it. I boil the tap water, drink it hot or put it in the fridge. I do use a filter (like these) to get rid of the sediment and smell. Is this not good enough?

I suppose that water quality in HK is much better than in other parts of China. Tell me, does this filter also filter water which is slightly yellow colored? Or water which travels through old (and rusty) pipes and reservoirs? Does it filter fertilizers? (See Gougou's link)

Anyway, I think that it is useful to know as many ways as possible to drink potable water and not to spend too much for it. The tap water in my country is potable, so buying water is for me additional, not normal expense.

[skylee]

Maybe in China what people pay is not called tax, but fee, like those for electricity, telephone, etc. In Hong Kong we pay for our tap water and the fee is called 水費.

I think people pay different kinds of taxes such as salary tax, profit tax, sales tax etc. The rich pay more tax (normally) and the poor pay less or no tax. And the tax money collected is used / redistributed to pay for various things including the building / maintenance of reservior / water processing plant etc. It doesn't have to be a specific type of tax for a specific type of service, right?

[madizi]

We have to pay for a quantity of water that we use. We are very lucky that we can drink tap water. Unfortunately, the quality of water is getting worse. That's the price that we have to pay for modernization or for transition from socialist to market economy. But situation is also getting worse in other countries. Some say that in future there won't be wars for oil, but for water.

[cdn_in_bj]

madizi : do you pay taxes in your country to have these "pipes, reservoirs" etc. maintained, etc. ? I'm not sure about this but I think people don't have to pay that kind of taxes in China.

I don't consider the taxes here to be low. Especially the duties/tariffs on imported products. As to where the money goes, well I don't want to get into trouble here so I'll just say that I sure see a lot of german luxury automobiles on the roads with official plates.

Actually, I can't complain too much as they do give fairly generous tax concessions for foreigners.

[cdn_in_bj]

Would you reckon you're going a bit off-topic here? I mean considering my question

(but not this thread actually).

Well, this thread seems to have drifted from how to save money on buying bottled water to why we need to buy bottled water in the first place. I don't consider it to be any more off-topic than the other later posts, including yours. I was merely responding to your comment on taxes in China, which I took to mean that there are not enough tax funds to cover proper maintenance of the public utilities, hence the need to buy bottled water.

[heifeng]

unconfirmed cons on ordering the huge bottles of water:

1) If you don't drink it in 1 week, then you risk contamination (according to one of my teacher)

2) Roaches like the moisture in the dispenser ...drip drip...

Lastly my experence on the a huge water coolers filtration system (look like a regular bottle, but with a center area filled with pebble like things and you can just dump in tap water, and of course this is just my limited experience): that water tastes really really nasty...worst filtration device....ever...

by the way...I hate buy and just generally drinking water....if i'm gonna buy something wet, it might as well have some flavor....hence my bottle collecting...

[madizi]

Thank you all for suggesting many ways of drinking water cheaper. In my apartment there was already water cooler and all I have to do is to go to a shop next door to buy 19L bottle. Only 6 RMB.