tap water quality ?

[Bwana]

Growing up in Chicago, the tap water was awesome and my general trust of tap water seems to be much higher than some people I know.

My water here is Texas is very hard (no softener in our house...yet), and it doesn't bother me but my wife wont drink it.

If I'm drinking bottled water, it's Ozarka only!

[charliedid]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EL5O_9HnN4E

[verticaldoug]

This is a photo of the first public water fountain in London- Holborn Hill 1859.
It was built on the viaduct after London passed the sewers act which called for water to be filtered after the earlier cholera epidemics.

It isn't like the US has sudden epidemics of cholera, polio etc. You question just shows how effective the big beverage companies - Pepsi, Coke, Nestle have been at convincing the public that tap water is bad.

When I was a kid, we had public water fountains everywhere. Lately, it seems more and more public spaces are being built without access to public water fountains. (When is the last time you saw a sports stadium with public water fountains built with tax payer money)

If you are afraid of drinking public tap water in the US, then either something is horribly wrong with US government, or you have been sold a bill of goods from a rent-seeking corporations.

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On a side note, the water fountain is on the corner of Newgate and Giltspur by St Sepulchre-without-Newgate which has the last executioner bell in London. When you visit St Paul's, it is worth a side trip.

All you that in the condemned hole do lie,
Prepare you for tomorrow you shall die;
Watch all and pray: the hour is drawing near
That you before the Almighty must appear;
Examine well yourselves in time repent,
That you may not to eternal flames be sent.
And when St. Sepulchre’s Bell in the morning tolls
The Lord above have mercy on your soul.

[Black Dog]

Originally Posted by RFC

As an environmental lawyer, I've spent years working on municipal drinking water systems. The standards are very strenuous (except in Flint, Michigan). Drink deeply. Bottled water is a joke, a waste of money, and an environmental embarrassment.

This.

Here in Canada municipal drinking water is held to a higher regulatory standard than bottled water. Bottled water is an absolute marketing con job that is a massive waste of resources. I find it beyond ridiculous that we have the cleanest and cheapest water on earth and yet we drink bottled water at a massive cost when most of the world has water insecurity.

[Schmed]

Originally Posted by Satellite

One of the biggest reasons I won't live anywhere else than Colorado Springs. The tap water is amazing here.
.

Colo Springs has some of the best (lowest TDS / dissolved minerals) water I've ever seen. Most of Denver has tap water with about 200 ppm TDS. Colorado Springs is 45 ppm. Commerce City is 800 ppm. Vail is 275 ppm.

But... those are dissolved minerals, so "best" is subjective. Colorado Springs water won't give you much magnesium, calcium, etc. But it tastes good!

BTW, I don't see a benefit in filtering your water unless there's something specific that you are trying to remove. Lead, arsenic, pesticides, chlorine all go through a sediment filter. A carbon filter will remove chlorine and some pesticides, so that might be worth while.

[Schmed]

Originally Posted by RFC

As an environmental lawyer, I've spent years working on municipal drinking water systems. The standards are very strenuous (except in Flint, Michigan). Drink deeply. Bottled water is a joke, a waste of money, and an environmental embarrassment.

Aren't Flint standards the same as anywhere else, as the EPA sets the standards and municipalities have to follow them (self-regulated, however).

[paredown]

My only complaint with tap water is the chlorine taste--worse in some locales than others. We use a Brita at home, and I used to travel with a portable Brita.

Like the OP we also have our own reusable WB that we carry.

That said, when we occasionally drink bottled, we make sure that our empties get recycled--taking them home if there is no obvious place while out and about. That's the real crime--less than 25% of the bottles are....

[MattTuck]

If you are traveling, why would you be concerned about the environmental impact of bottled water anymore than that of any other bottled drink (iced tea, soda, beer, etc.)?

It is a product you want in a convenient container. You may feel it is a rip-off, but I don't see how it is environmentally worse than other plastic bottles.

That said, Flint is not the only municipality with drinking water problems. Many systems are approaching end of projected life and financially strapped municipalities are likely to delay replacement.

PS. Aquafina is not a national produce. It is owned by Pepsi, I believe, and is bottled from filtered tap water at Pepsi bottling plants around the country.

[ColonelJLloyd]

My city's tap water is top shelf by all accounts. I drink it straight from the tap and make my ice without filtration. By and large the US has very high quality tap water.

[witcombusa]

Originally Posted by Schmed

Colo Springs has some of the best (lowest TDS / dissolved minerals) water I've ever seen. Most of Denver has tap water with about 200 ppm TDS. Colorado Springs is 45 ppm. Commerce City is 800 ppm. Vail is 275 ppm.

But... those are dissolved minerals, so "best" is subjective. Colorado Springs water won't give you much magnesium, calcium, etc. But it tastes good!

BTW, I don't see a benefit in filtering your water unless there's something specific that you are trying to remove. Lead, arsenic, pesticides, chlorine all go through a sediment filter. A carbon filter will remove chlorine and some pesticides, so that might be worth while.

Oh, like let's say fluoride added by the municipal water companies.

http://www.nofluoride.com/food_and_water.cfm

[Schmed]

Aquafina, and most other bottled waters are purified, not just filtered. They use reverse osmosis to remove most of the minerals (99% ish), ozonate (to kill bacteria, etc.), then add some minerals back in for taste (magnesium, etc.).

I work with some of these plants. Some are much cleaner than others.

I don't hesitate to drink their waters, but I drink out of the tap.

Also - if you want to save the cost of a Brita, but remove chlorine taste, fill a pitcher with tap water, put it in the fridge. In hours/days, the chlorine dissipates and you get "free" chlorine-free water!

[Black Dog]

Originally Posted by witcombusa

Oh, like let's say fluoride added by the municipal water companies.

http://www.nofluoride.com/food_and_water.cfm

You mean the same fluoride that exists in many natural aquifers and that people have been drinking from for hundreds of years with no long term health effects?

[Schmed]

Originally Posted by witcombusa

Oh, like let's say fluoride added by the municipal water companies.

http://www.nofluoride.com/food_and_water.cfm

Fluoride isn't removed by sediment filters or carbon filters. Need RO for that.

(by the way, that link contains a whole crap ton of junk science. Flat out scare tactics. Comparing fluorine to fluoride is just plain stupid, for example. Chlorine and chloride are very different as to health affects. "Fluorine is the active ingredient in Sarin gas" is another way to scare people, but a ridiculous comment).

[Seramount]

I just retired from 15 years as a regulator in the Texas public drinking water section.

bottom line is that, at least in this state, municipal systems produce good quality water. they routinely test for biological / chemical contamination, monitor disinfectant residuals, and conduct water line flushing programs.

for example, the City of Houston collects almost 800 bacteriological samples per month.

small systems are much more problematic...convenience stores, mobile home parks, etc can be operated by people with no particular expertise and will often cut corners to save money, effort.

the state conducts oversight of test results, conducts periodic on-site inspections of every system, and provides assistance to systems experiencing water quality issues.

bottle water is a complete joke. I could provide a list of bottlers whose 'pristine source' is not a mountain stream or glacier but rather a municipal water system. they usually just run tap water thru an RO system, add some minerals for flavor and charge a premium price to gullible consumers.

then there's the ridiculous environmental impact from the mfg of billions of plastic bottles and transporting them using fossil fuels.

at my house, I simply use an activated carbon filter to knock out the chlorine. the water tastes fine.

[benb]

Tap water is held to a higher standard than bottled water in the US too.

You can find the test data for your local water supply, I have checked it periodically. At least here I also get letters from DPW in the mail telling me what is going on with the water supply. And you can order tests on your water too.

Good luck getting any of that for bottled water.

Hell I have read some bottled water is just tap water in a plastic bottle to separate fools from their money.

Only time I get bottled water for the most part is airports where it's about the only choice.

I do like using a filter. The refrigerator ones have been less of a PITA IMO than stuff like the Brita, but my tap water tastes great as is anyway.