But when did it become generally popular and normalized to drink water instead of some form of alcohol?

Unfortunately, OP, you're starting from a false premise here. This is a common myth which it is my life's work to kill. It's typically spread around and applied to the Middle Ages, and I deal with that in this post, but I am reasonably certain in declaring that the main drink of humans for the entirety of human history has been water. We just think water is boring and will gladly give it up for other drinks, or try and glam it up to make it not boring. (Hah, bottled water.)