Changing opinions

During the course "The Science of Everyday Thinking" (a MOOC sponsored by edx.org and led by psychology professors at the University of Queensland, Australia), I learned the 6 leads of opinion change.
The video of the lecture about this topic is here: 6 leads of opinion change.

I will apply the 6 leads of opinion change to the question of this blog, tap water or bottled water?

1. What do you really believe anyway?  Things are rarely black or white, they say, although it would be tempting to see the world that way. I believe there are situations when tap water is okay to drink, and times when bottled water is a better choice. Neither is completely good or bad.
2. How well based is the opinion that you already hold? I have strong evidence from several reliable sources that tap water in Budapest - where I live - and in most European, UK, and North American cities, is clean and safe to drink. I also have evidence that the bottled water industry has marketed the idea that its products are preferable to tap water.
3. How good is the evidence? In the case of tap water, I have read about official tests of the public drinking water showing it is safe. In the case of bottled water, I need more evidence, because many conservation groups and water companies produce data that is tainted in a particular way. However, I don't think I should reject what the conservation groups and water companies say, yet.
4. Does the evidence really contradict what you already believe? This is a difficult question for me! I'm working on it. At the moment, the evidence agrees with my belief that Budapest tap water is potable.
5. Given the evidence, if that's not enough to change your mind, then what would be enough? I think I would need to see tests of the local drinking water showing it is very polluted and harmful to my health.
6. Is it worth finding out about, or is it just a case of why not? It's worth finding out more! That's because the landfills and gardens, public buildings and parks are full of discarded plastic bottles which take forever to break down. If people can be convinced to drink tap water whenever possible, our environment will be improved.

Water quality in Hungarian communities

I've started investigating the quality of drinking water in Hungary.

I got a detailed list of water sources for more than 500 Hungarian communities. The list is attached, and it shows, among other things, how deep the well of each community is, how long the water has been under testing (generally since the early 1990's), and the source of the water:

• karst - landscape formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as dolomite, limestone, and gypsum
• partiszűrésű víz - water which is strained through riverside gravel (link to a Hungarian language article about riverside gravel-strained water)
• talajvíz - groundwater, underground water, subsoil water

First post: objectives

This is my Change the World project.

In the last episode of my edx.org "Think 101: the Science of Everyday Thinking" course, we had to come up with a project to change the world, and this is mine.

The first question is "what's broken?"

My answer is: our use of global water resources is broken.

I ask this question: why do people drink bottled water instead of tap water?

I am going to look for the answers and use this blog to report my findings, including resources that I hope other people will use as well.

I intend to behave as an intuitive scientist in this project. I will try to collect the best and most reliable evidence I can, both about tap water and about bottled water. Then I will compare the data.

HERE I GO!