Woman Urges People Not to Buy Bottled Water at the Gas Station: "Do This Instead..."

A gas station is not the most glamorous of all places. A trip to a petrol station is not something someone will usually add to their bucket list. Only those who need some fuel for their exhausting vehicles stop by these unfrequented stations. But once a customer drops in, the station provides them with much more than just the fuel. Amidst the intoxicating smell of petrol wafting in the breeze, a fleet of grimy fuel pumps stands out with nozzles tucked shut and digital neon interfaces blinking and flashing the prices in real-time. In one corner, a telephone kiosk stands abandoned while the other side hosts a musty-smelling restroom with graffiti-sprayed walls. Here and there, weary station jockeys in bright-colored jackets appear to be cleaning the dust-splattered glass windows.

A Mercedes stops by for a tire repair, and the driver shops for a pack of energy drinks from the convenience store. Nearby, a mom steps out of a BMW and heads for the store to buy chips for her kids. Convenience stores are perfect solutions for motorists in transit to stock up on the groceries and supplies they might need or have forgotten to bring. However, there’s one thing people should never purchase here. In a January 2025 video, TikTok user Somer Evans (@somersavesyou) urged people to stop buying water bottles from a gas station convenience store.

“Stop buying water at gas stations and do this instead,” Evans wrote in the video’s overlay text. The video starts with Evans walking inside a convenience store. Standing in front of an aisle, she picks up a bottle of “Purified Drinking Water” from one of the shelves, and then abruptly puts it back. Then the video speeds up into a time-lapse as she saunters and steers through the array of the store’s gondola shelves stocked with beverages, snacks, key chains, phone accessories, energy drinks, toiletries, gift cards, and essentials. The camera pans and snakes through the cinder block corridors, at last stopping in front of a beverage booth.

The station seems to be equipped with several dispensers offering a variety of beverages like Sprite, cola, orange soda and more. Evans thrusts an empty bottle below a red dispenser that reads, “Acai-blueberry pomegranate.” The dispenser had a secret option that read, "Water. Push Down," with an arrow pointing to a white nozzle. She presses the nozzle to squeeze out the water into the mouth of her bottle. “Water bottles are a waste of money! Water. Is. Free,” she wrote in the video’s caption.

Some of the people who watched her video supported the idea of free water. Still, many of them disagreed on the account that water from these freely available dispensers might not always be clean enough to drink. “No! It tastes horrible,” said @meaghank. @user2621663756209 said, “That’s city water, full of harmful chemicals.” @trish added, “Nope. I only drink purified water. I drink a lot of water and can't stand it having any taste. Purified is the only one that, to me, doesn't have a weird taste.” @the_rodriguezes wrote, “They don't clean those machines. full of mold. I won't even drink soda.”

You can follow Somer Evans (@somersavesyou) on TikTok for lifestyle content.