I work as a bartender in a live music venue in the Netherlands.

We, just like most festivals, used to always remove the caps from the water bottles, citing safety concerns (people would drop the bottle when empty but put the cap on, which is a nasty tripping hazard).

So a company started to make bottlecaps that clip to your pants, and most water vendors used a single size opening, which made this feasible. People held on to their cap, and could pause drinking.

Then water companies started to attach the cap to the bottle, to prevent litter, and the government issuing a mandate requiring us to charge per plastic unit.

So now we leave the caps on, but as guests return about 95% of bottles and cups to the bar (buying a drink without having a cup adds a 1 eur plastic surcharge), the safety hazard is basically gone.

As a bartender, I'd very much prefer bottles of water to cans. It allows guests to drink at their leasure, they're easier to transport and can't cause as much harm as a can (either by throwing or when squeezing it).

They are slightly visually less appealing than a cool can though, I'll give them that.