OT: Tap water...

[Kevan]

the appreciation of this topic might just be one of the more esoteric topics ever discussed here.

This morning, while popping the morning pills, I took a couple extra Dixie cupfuls of tap water enjoying the cold refreshment the NYC water system has to offer us. I dunno how you feel about your local water and how it drinks, but our water here absolutely rocks. And when winter comes and the water supply grows cold, it REALLY rocks. There no strange flavors, no sense of softening, just a hearty body to it. Frankly, I don't know why, other than portability, anyone would buy bottled water here. I know...I know...the chemicals clorine and floride.

Excuse me now...I'm going to get some more water to drink.

[JohnS]

Detroit has some of the best tapwater around. Most of it comes from the middle of Lake Huron.

[Too Tall]

Kev., I agree. NY state has my fav. tap water. Ours is terrible so I use a big arse activated charcoal filter to take all the taste out of it :(

[Bruce K]

Ours varies dramatically.

After big storms or when they switch pumping stations the stuff is almost mud brown for about 2 days.

Other times it tastes and looks fabulous.

The last few days they seem to have been using a bit more chemicals as the water has tasted odd and makes the coffee terrible.

Very frustrating.

BK

[Avispa]

I dunno.... Down here the water comes from The Everglades and Lake Okeechobee. But the tap water tastes like they put too much urine, mean, chlorine on it!

So I use a pitcher with a Brita filter or buy Italian bottled water.

Some say that wine is great, others that beer is good.... But, there's nothing like a glass of fresh, cold water!

Cheers!

..A..

[theprep]

We have great tap water here on LI. It is pumped from underground sandy aquifers deep below the surface.

It is very popular with local polititians to have campaigns that include "I'll Save the Groundwater"!

I do some consulting for one elected official who in her zest to get re-elected volunteered to inspect the aquifers with scuba gear?? She thought you could swim around down there. You can't write this stuff.

[chuckred]

Our sub-division has it's own water company serving about 30 properties. A well, tanks, chlorinator.

You wouldn't believe the crap that comes out inthe sediment filters in the house! And it's hard as a rock...

The guy who runs the company came buy with an empty jelly jar for a water sample the other day... hmmm....

Anyway, tastes fine, but it's treated with chlorine and a water softener before it gets to me...

[jhcakilmer]

I'm just suspicious about the other things in the drinking what that do not effect the taste, such as pesticide run off, or other chemicals being dumped into our water ecosystem.

I just know, and have enough education to realize I don't want (or atleast minimize) that stuff in my body. I do understand that our bodies can handle a small amount of many toxic chemicals such as arsenic, but I have my own concerns.

My brother is a civil engineer, so I do also have a good understanding of how our waste water, and drinking water is processed.

I can't say "never", but I don't know the last time I bought bottled water. I installed an RO system hooked up at our house for drinking, and cooking purposes.

[davids]

Ours varies dramatically.

After big storms or when they switch pumping stations the stuff is almost mud brown for about 2 days.

Other times it tastes and looks fabulous.

The last few days they seem to have been using a bit more chemicals as the water has tasted odd and makes the coffee terrible.

Very frustrating.

BKI don't know what you get up there on the North Shore, but Boston gets its water direct from the Quabbin Reservoir (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quabbin_Reservoir), and it's great. All the time. I love our tap water.

[Ray]

I use a big arse activated charcoal filter
With you, I assume it would be big. But what's an "arse activated" filter? It doesn't sound so good!

-Ray

[JohnS]

With you, I assume it would be big. But what's an "arse activated" filter? It doesn't sound so good!

-Raymethane aerated. :)

[BURCH]

the appreciation of this topic might just be one of the more esoteric topics ever discussed here.

This morning, while popping the morning pills, I took a couple extra Dixie cupfuls of tap water enjoying the cold refreshment the NYC water system has to offer us. I dunno how you feel about your local water and how it drinks, but our water here absolutely rocks. And when winter comes and the water supply grows cold, it REALLY rocks. There no strange flavors, no sense of softening, just a hearty body to it. Frankly, I don't know why, other than portability, anyone would buy bottled water here. I know...I know...the chemicals clorine and floride.

Excuse me now...I'm going to get some more water to drink.


My wife is from Millwood and my father-in-law had a long speech about how great the tap water was from Chap and Millwood. It was as you explained. Very Good.

I always drink from the tap. We refill water bottles over and over with tap water. The plastic bottles are a great way to carry the water around, but I don't fear anything in the tap water.

[jpw]

Tap water?

Bottled only where I live.

[deechee]

tap water. I drink from the tap, random water fountains in the city, etc. The one thing I have a hard time with is well water at the farm... that sulfur smell... :(

Then again, we don't have flouride in Montreal tap water so I'm sure it tastes better :)

[BURCH]

Tap water?

Bottled only where I live.


Do you cook with the tap water or cook with bottled water too?

[SWorks4me]

Our tap water is really wet...do you have the same problem with yours Kevan?

[maunahaole]

We are fortunate to have really good tap water here. It all is pumped from underground after about 25 years percolating through volcanic rock. No fluoridation (lots of rotten teeth) and minimal chlorine. I still run it through a brita and chill before serving. Crazy delicious.

[Kevan]

visiting a farm just outside of Springfield Illinois. We used an old-fashion outdoor hand pump to bring the water up from the center of the earth it seemed. There was so much iron and mineral to the stuff, once drunk, it would run past the stomach and settle hard in your feet. Talk about filling.

[Steevo]

NY tap comes direct from the source(s) in the Catskill Mountains. The water is un-filtered, just treated with chlorine etc. A recent agreement between NYC and communities surrounding the reservoirs curbing development eliminated the need to build a filtration plant. The water flows approx. 100 miles in 2 separate gravity tunnel systems to reservoirs in Westchester, where it is then distributed throughout the city & environs.

The reservoirs were created by the flooding of various river valleys including the Esopus, Schoharie, Neversink, Rondout and Delaware. It is odd to drive on roads along the reservoirs, and read historical markers designating the sites of former towns drowned by the city’s water system. Complete towns were dismantled and moved. Cemeteries were dug up and bodies relocated.

The reservoirs not only supply excellent tap water, they provide beautiful views, decent fishing and some outstanding cycling routes on the roads surrounding these lakes.

[Kevan]

Thanks for the information. I love riding around the Croton reservior system, you folks have seen pictures here of the area. The Croton dam is local landmark and someone in the town of Croton went to great lengths to preserve the photos taken during its construction on a website. Work is calling, but I will try to post the link sometime later today or tomorrow.

Here you go...

http://www.crotononhudson-ny.gov/Public_Documents/CrotonHudsonNY_WebDocs/HistoricalSociety/archives/NCD/NCDindex.html

This is before we gave a good-dang-darn about the environment. Note the total lack hay bales with black plastic keeping run-off under control.

[Hardlyrob]

We have great tap water too - but the source is a little different. We're on an old hand dug well. The well guy in our town said it's about the only one in town that he DOESN'T know the location of. The bet is 100+ years old, and hand dug to 35-50 feet and brick lined. we have the option of connecting to town water, but really don't see the need.

Great water, and tested extremely clean - a little stray phosphorous, but hey we've got corn fields in the back yard!

Cheers!

Rob

[Steevo]

Kevan, thanks for the glass of water & the Croton website. I saw the Croton Dam for the first time back in September. That place is amazing.

[Richard]

This link: http://www.deepwaterdvd.com/index.html offers a dvd documentary of the building of part of the vast network of reservoirs that make up the NYC water system. It is a well done and fascinating documentary. Cheap at $19.95

[roman meal]

We have great tap water too - but the source is a little different. We're on an old hand dug well. The well guy in our town said it's about the only one in town that he DOESN'T know the location of. The bet is 100+ years old, and hand dug to 35-50 feet and brick lined. we have the option of connecting to town water, but really don't see the need.

Great water, and tested extremely clean - a little stray phosphorous, but hey we've got corn fields in the back yard!

Cheers!

Rob


It's true. Rob has a slight white glow about the edges when he doesn't move.

Our water comes from a well in the backyard, goes down a ways. Great stuff, although we need to get it tested, just to make sure stevep didnt put anything in it.

Wost water I've ever had was while living in San Jose, CA

[steelrider]

The water in SF and Berkeley is just great. Straight out of the tap or chilled in the fridge. I don't know how foks around here shell out the bucks for bottled water when most of it comes from a tap in Fresno. Pobre inocente.

[bcm119]

The water in SF and Berkeley is just great. Straight out of the tap or chilled in the fridge. I don't know how foks around here shell out the bucks for bottled water when most of it comes from a tap in Fresno. Pobre inocente.
agreed. 85% Sierra snowmelt from Hetch Hetchy, 15% local catchment.

The best water I've had is at my SO's folks place in the sierra foothills. They have a spring box up the hill with a gravity feed to the house (not very good pressure but it works and requires no energy). The spring box is surrounded by a screen to keep animals out, and watercress grows all around it, which is good in salads.

[tch]

I don't know what you get up there on the North Shore, but Boston gets its water direct from the Quabbin Reservoir (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quabbin_Reservoir), and it's great. All the time. I love our tap water.
Whatever you do, don't get people in Western MA started talking about the Quabbin -- especially if they know you are from Boston. When they created the reservoir, the authority drowned four towns and created generations of ill-will by heavy-handed bureaucratic thugg... well, you know the story. It's the same one no matter where you are.

[thejen12]

My sister's dentist told her that people that drink a lot of bottled water suffer from a lack of flouride. Of course, he told her that after she had four cavities!

We drink tap water here in Santa Clara. When I first moved here the water was pretty good for a few years, then it got yucky for a few years and I used a Pur filter, now it's good again.

Jenn

[Bill Bove]

Never touch the stuff.

FISH PEE IN THE WATER!!!!

[davids]

Whatever you do, don't get people in Western MA started talking about the Quabbin -- especially if they know you are from Boston. When they created the reservoir, the authority drowned four towns and created generations of ill-will by heavy-handed bureaucratic thugg... well, you know the story. It's the same one no matter where you are.
It was brilliant public policy, anticipating and accelerating the rural depopulation trends of the last few years. So much quieter out there, and the displaced - I mean, the beneficiaries - began enjoying a healthier suburban lifestyle decades earlier than they otherwise might have.

...yeah, I know the story well. Four towns and about 2,000 people. I've spent more hours at the Quabbin Museum than I need, really. Given the recent political contentiousness, I don't think I'll comment further.

Doesn't change the quality of the water though. Yum.

[wtex]

You all are lucky, the water in Lubbock is so bad they've lost football recruits at TTU because of it -- has quite a bit of a metallic taste. Coming from the middle of Nebraska (ah, sweet Ogalala aquifer water!) I thought nothing could be worse than Lubbock.

Then I went to Baton Rouge. Wow, thank you Baton Rouge Municipality, my bog-brown water comes pre-packaged with a heavy dose of sulfur stench, yum.

Anyway, I've learned that wherever you go, run the tap for a bit before drinking, the stuff that comes out has been sitting in what may be very nasty pipes.