How good is your tap water?

Discussion in Water started by fishbowl • Sep 23, 2013.

  1. fishbowl

    fishbowlNew Member

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    I am fortunate enough to live in a city that has exceptionally clean water, such that you could drink it right from the tap and it's as good as any bottled product. In fact, I don't like buying bottled water because of this. What about where you live? Is the water drinkable straight from the tap? Or do you have to purify or filter it before you imbibe?
     
  2. JosieP

    JosiePWell-Known Member

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    In the city I grew up, I remember being able to drink it straight from the tap, but it eventually turned vile. I didn't think it could get any worse until I moved to an even bigger city and here you can even smell how vile it is as it's coming out of the tap. I could even taste it in a hot chocolate we got at a local shop and everyone was going around drinking it like it was nothing lol. I have to filter my water here. I think buying bottled water is the silliest thing someone could do lol.
     
  3. Anna Blush

    Anna BlushActive Member

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    I could always taste a different between the tap water and the Poland spring water that I buy. That alone is a huge red flag for me which is why I don't drink my tap water unless we boil it or filter it. It's absolutely gross in my opinion and the flavor is just not very pleasant.
     
  4. Sugarhill

    SugarhillActive Member

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    I've always been able to drink the tap water, but I still use a Brita filter and prefer Deer Park water. I just like the taste even more.
     
  5. polybus

    polybusNew Member

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    I am also lucky in that the water that comes out of our taps is very clean and tastes great. I do not have to pay to filter my water or buy bottled water. In the city I grew up in the water was not as good. It was clean but the taste was not always great. We used a Brita filter in my house to improve the taste before we drank it usually.
     
  6. ohiotom76

    ohiotom76Well-Known Member

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    There is a very good, and eye opening, documentary on the bottled water industry called "Tapped" that you should really check out when you get a chance. It will really change the way you think about tap water vs. bottled water.

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    It's amazing how marketing has been able to shift people's opinions into believing that they really cannot drink "pedestrian" tap water and must buy "premium" bottled water. People start really believing this stuff after a while and start carrying on how "terrible" the water is in their area. I used to work as a server in the late 1990's, and we would serve a lemon slice with every glass of "plain" water. The supposed reason was to help "cover" the taste of the "tap" water - honestly, it was like as soon as bottled water became a thing, suddenly everyone in my area became picky about the taste of tap water. The only reason we were really putting those lemon slices in the water, was to encourage the customers to buy a Perrier or other bottled water, that was heavily marked up. It was to shame people from drinking "plain" water.

    The only time I think bottled/tap water is appropriate is in times of emergencies, where the water supplies are limited and or contaminated. Or in cases, where distilled water is needed, such as when baking breads (the chlorine in tap water will kill the yeast). Also, people using Neti Pots should not use tap water.
     
  7. mikelouis

    mikelouisActive Member

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    Our tap water has no issues it is really clean. You do not have to buy the water from your local store. Sometimes you just have to buy it because some people do not feel comfortable just drinking water from the tap. Well in such a case it is always better to be safe than sorry.
     
  8. mistymi

    mistymiActive Member

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    I wouldn't trust drinking my tap water unless I had a reverse osmosis filter. It's tempting to get a less expensive faucet filter but I wouldn't feel as safe. I try to avoid bottled water because I don't trust PET plastic either. There's not much I can do.
     
  9. sidney

    sidneyWell-Known Member

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    I occasionally drink tap water from time to time when the water from the dispenser runs out and I have to wait for it to be refilled, because the container is quite heavy. I can't lift it when I tried. And fortunately, out tap water tastes ok and I haven't gotten sick from it or anything even if I don't boil it.
     
  10. Denis Hard

    Denis HardWell-Known Member

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    Tap water in my area is extra clean. I'm not sure that it's safe to drink directly though which is why everyone here prefers treating their tap water themselves before using it either for cooking or drinking.
     
  11. Dora M

    Dora MWell-Known Member

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    The water that comes from my tap is drinkable, but it doesn't taste great. I invested in a carbon filter that sifts the water through several different layers. It tastes sweet and beautiful.
    Since I learnt about the dangers of water bottled in plastic, I always fill up a couple of glass bottles with my filtered water and put them in my car when I go out.
    I rarely buy water these days. And if I do, it's mineral water in a glass bottle, such as Pellegrino or Perrier.
     
  12. Livvy

    LivvyActive Member

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    It's pretty decent to be honest. I've been drinking it non-stop for months now, since I switched out diluting juice for fizzy drinks and such. I've been drinking it straight for the past few days, and while it isn't great without the juice, it's still nice enough.
     
  13. LindaKay

    LindaKayActive Member

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    The tap water isn't that good when it first comes out of the actual tap. We actually have a filter on our refrigerator, though, so the water that comes out of the dispenser is nice and clean and very tasty.
     
  14. Kitty Reeves

    Kitty ReevesActive Member

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    We never drink the tap water here; we drink bottled water from our carafe. The water here is okay for cleaning and such, but ugh it tastes bad.
     
  15. ACSAPA

    ACSAPAWell-Known Member

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    My tap water tastes good and it's clean enough that they bottle my local tap water and sell it at sporting events. I saw on the news that some bottled water is tap water from another state. If you look at your bottled water and it says "municipal water supply" in fine print, that means you just paid money for a bottle of another area's tap water.
     
  16. Jessi

    Jessi<a href="http://www.quirkycookery.com">QuirkyCooke

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    Mine is perfectly fine, thankfully. I have lived in areas where the tap water was barely drinkable because it was so heavily treated with chemicals. Even with filtering, you really couldn't drink it and it meant not being able to make your own ice either, so if you wanted ice on hand, you had to buy bags of it. This really added up over time!
     
  17. dorann

    dorannMember

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    We are very fortunate in the city that I live in to have pretty high quality tap water. In fact, I would much rather drink our tap water than to drink bottled water because our tap water tastes a lot better to me. We do have a filter at our house but it doesn't make a ton of difference as I always drink water at friend's houses and they don't have filters and the water still tastes fine to me.
     
  18. Mayvin

    MayvinActive Member

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    Uh, the tap water where I live in not good. I always drink bottled water now, but when I first moved to my area I drank some of the tap and it has a bleachy taste and I get a head ache from it. I swear I got sick from it so I stopped using it. I read some where that tap water was suppose to be better than bottled but for sure not in my area.
     
  19. J3NN4

    J3NN4Member

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    The tap water where I live now is excellent. Doesn't have any weird tastes to it.

    My old apartment had really nasty water. It was so bad it'd mess up the taste of pasta. I ended up finding one of those Pur systems, with a bunch of filters, for under $10. It was on clearance and it dramatically improved the taste of the water. I could finally cook with it again instead of having to use bottled water. Still not sure why it was so nasty, but all of my neighbors complained about it, too.
     
  20. Athenagdlyt

    AthenagdlytActive Member

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    I live in a country where tap water is unreliable in terms of potable quality. Although we have lots of springs, the government fails to maintain our water pipes and filtration system, such that in some cities, water tests have revealed fecal matter in the water content. To be safe, we just buy purified water from nearby water stations in the community. I'm fortunate to live in the rural area where water is considerably cleaner than that of the city's, but still, we either boil our water or get the purified ones which we buy for 50 cents per 5 gallons.