Is tap water undrinkable?

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WingedSeven@reddit

tap water's fine long as you make sure there's no boil water advisory (warning to boil your water before using it during a temporary point where it's not safe to use straight out the tap)

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dr_strange-love@reddit

Bottled water is generally bought as a convenience, not necessity

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miss_kittycat88@reddit

I only buy bottled water if I’ve forgotten my reusable bottle at home. Tap water all the way.

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The only water I buy from time to time is Liquid Death. Other than that, I only get bottled water because of a BOGO sale or coupon that gets me a free bottle. I almost always have a reusable bottle on hand nowadays

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MistaSoviet@reddit

Not only is it safe, in some areas it’s some of the safest in the world.*

*Unless you live in one of those areas where it’s some of the least safe.

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Select_Cantaloupe_62@reddit

This question bothers me. Not because it was asked--thank you for asking questions you don't know--but because there's a stereotype we don't have drinkable water...
Our water is clean, clear, and perfectly drinkable by law. We have public water fountains throughout the whole country, and companies need to provide you a cup of clean drinking water on request (within reason). The reason Dearborn was in the news was because it *wasn't* safe to drink, which was an insane scandal here in the States. The idea you couldn't drink the water out of your sink--with the exception of crazy disasters that uprooted all the pipes--was almost unheard of.

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Substantial_Set_6464@reddit

OP is not crazy for asking about this -- water pollution is an extremely serious issue in some parts of the US. Including groundwater contamination in some rural areas (nitrates, etc.) It's just an issue where there's a huge amount of geographic variation.

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nope_farm@reddit

It's a pity you're being downvoted. PFAS contamination in well water is a real issue in some rural areas; Oscoda, MI, for instance. The state has even told folks not to harvest deer in some areas around Oscoda because the deer have such high levels of PFAS contamination.

While Oscoda's contamination was attributed to military activity iirc, it's less of an isolated issue than we'd like to think. The reality is that our biosolids (the stuff leftover after wastewater is treated) seem to be contaminated with PFAS as well. Many municipalities previously spread biosolids on farm fields, but the practice is being discontinued because it seems to be contaminating our food systems. (See the MSU link below for info on a beef this was found in.) Biosolids can be burned at a high temp to destroy PFAS, but the tech still isn't efficient or affordable enough to be a realistic option to handle the volume of biosolids must municipalities manage. Unfortunately, the most affordable option for many municipalities for now seems to be landfilling it... basically creating a huge number of highly contaminated sites that will require careful management to prevent further contamination.

https://www.epa.gov/biosolids/and-polyfluoroalkyl-substances-pfas-biosolids

https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/how-will-pfas-impact-the-michigan-cattle-industry

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dcgrey@reddit

Quick correction: Flint, Michigan, rather than Dearborn

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PrimaryInjurious@reddit

And Flint has had safe water for years now.

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nope_farm@reddit

Ehhhh.....yes and no. Yes, the drinking water was switched to a less corrosive source years ago. Unfortunately, the scale on the lead pipes was removed when the improperly treated water from the Flint River went through the lines, which allowed the lead to leach into any water that went through it, even properly treated water. This means that the remaining lead lines can still leach lead into drinking water.

I saw line replacement work going on in my neighborhood in Flint as late as last fall, and there are many properties that are still listed as "high likelihood" of lead:

https://www.flintpipemap.org/map

The city didn't replace pipes that led to houses that were unoccupied. There's a good number of unoccupied homes here, so anyone that's buying a home to rehab will possibly need to navigate the pipe situation. (It took me several online registration attempts and phone calls to get a response after I bought my home.)

Most people I know either continue to use a filter or buy bottled water due to trauma and or lack of trust. Flint's water bills are now among the highest in the country. The whole situation is tragic and frustrating, as it could have easily been prevented.

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awesome_pinay_noses@reddit (OP)

There was also an episode in House of cards where Claire Underwood visited a county with no drinking water and when someone told her the water is not that bad, she filled a glass of tap water and dared them to drink it.

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machagogo@reddit

You know that it not a documentary right?

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awesome_pinay_noses@reddit (OP)

I have heard about this more than once, different states, so it is a thing. I was not sure how big of a thing it is.

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11061995@reddit

When you see a demonstration of something like that in a news program, it's because the water treatment system is malfunctioning, not non-existent. "Can you drink tap water from every tap every single time no matter what even if the water treatment system breaks down or a pipe breaks and the septic tank contaminates it?" of course not. But all water coming into a building has to be treated for safety, by law, and will not make you sick or kill you for drinking some.

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drlsoccer08@reddit

The only instances I’ve ever heard of somewhere in the US not having drinkable tap water, was Flint Michigan, and Blacksburg Virginia. In the case of Blacksburg, they had some infrastructure get destroyed in a hurricane including, some of the water treatment centers in the area. Less than 2 weeks later, they had drinkable tap water again.

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WingedLady@reddit

Japan must really have a lot of issues with large lizards attacking Tokyo. I've seen multiple movies portray that!

It's not that the movie makers were coming up with a source of drama, nooo.

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machagogo@reddit

How many times have you seen a movie where aliens blow up the capital and/or NYC?

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DogeTrainer2@reddit

It’s crazy how many times we’ve had to rebuild these places.

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Current_Poster@reddit

Where ya from? I'm willing to bet I've "heard" things about there, more than once, that aren't true, too. I don't assume it is a thing, just because I've heard it.

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Starbucksplasticcups@reddit

Tap Water can be undrinkable. Things happen and then tap water has the be boiled. I don’t know what causes this as I’ve never lived in an area where it happened. But I assume things like water mains breaking would cause this. It lasts for a few days and is fixed. It is not normal or standard but natural disasters can have negative effects on water treatment plants.

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Hoosier_Jedi@reddit

And just what do you think people did before bottled water?

You’re citing TV and stuff you vaguely “heard about” and are surprised people are responding poorly to your ignorance?

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Tommy_Wisseau_burner@reddit

I’m guessing you believe that New York City is constantly under attack by supervillains and intergalactic space raiders too, right?

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According-Bug8150@reddit

You've heard about this more than once, different states, in fictional television shows, so it's a thing?

Really?

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travelinmatt76@reddit

Heard it where? In a TV show?

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TheCastro@reddit

So that's either one of two things. Flint Michigan or someone with a fracking site nearby that's leaking gas into their water lines.

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Substantial_Set_6464@reddit

I've never seen that show. Just as a guess though, it sounds like that could be based on a real-life scenario of people from a rural community where the water has been polluted challenging a politician or corporate representative to drink it. I wonder if the term "tap water" as opposed to non-municipal well water is what everyone is getting hung up on.

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the_real_JFK_killer@reddit

Tap water for 99.9% of the country is fine. In some places in the US, it's among the best in the world.

Bottled water is for convenience.

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LittleJohnStone@reddit

NYC tap water is superb

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RatherGoodDog@reddit

Damn, how come? London water tastes like bleach and limescale. They went a bit overboard after all the cholera epidemics.

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Pathological_RJ@reddit

The water for NYC gets piped in to the city from the Adirondack mountains.

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annaoze94@reddit

The funny thing to me is the weird ass sham claim that if you want to make New York style pizza in any other state or region you have to ship a bunch of New York water there like I'm sorry that's not a thing it's so unnoticeable

I'm from Chicago we have pretty specific distinct water and I live in LA and there is a pizza place that makes it just as good as it is back home

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Paleozoic_Fossil@reddit

Yes, it’s a sham because even when they claim they bring NYC water in, the pizza still sucks (i.e. Florida).

I’m from NYC, the pizza is great because the people who make the pizzas know what they’re doing + have good ingredients. NYC water ≠ great pizza

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Sassmaster008@reddit

Catskills, a bit south of the Adirondacks

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LittleJohnStone@reddit

Not quite that far, but it does travel quite a way, with minimal treatment, too.

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jephph_@reddit

Here’s a cool video about NYC’s water supply

https://youtu.be/IDLkOWW0_xg

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tracygee@reddit

Nah, NYC water wins actual contests for best-tasting water all the time, believe it or not.

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annaoze94@reddit

It does and if you've ever been to Chicago I don't know about the contest but I think it's also pretty freaking phenomenal.

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annaoze94@reddit

Chicago water is pretty chloriney but not to the point where it's gross. Like I only noticed that because I moved all the way to Southern California. Chicago water doesn't taste like chlorine but Southern California water is very clearly absent of it.

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DolarisNL@reddit

We went on holiday from the Niagara Falls to NYC. It was also a trip from the most horrible water to the best. 😆

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DogeTrainer2@reddit

This was the most shocking thing for me when I visited NYC. I was fully prepared for a heavy chlorine taste when I went to brush my teeth but was so surprised that I bought another water bottle the next day just to take some water on with me on the road trip.

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DankBlunderwood@reddit

Do you live in 99.9% of the country? It definitely isn't fine. In fact, I would say it's a coin flip whether it's drinkable or not. Tap water in Michigan will slowly kill you. Tap water in my city tastes literally exactly like aspirin to the point that my mother wouldn't let us make ice cubes from it. We had to make ice cubes from filtered or distilled water.

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SeaBearsFoam@reddit

We couldn't drink our tap water growing up.

Our tap water was just rain that had run down the roof, into the gutters, then through one of mom's old pantyhose (to filter out leaves and other debris), and ultimately into a big cement-lined underground container behind the house. Every one in a while a chipmunk would climb into the container and drown which would cause your shower to smell like dead chipmunk until dad got around to fishing it out with a net, and dumping some bleach in to get rid of the smell.

Most people around us drank their tap water. Not really sure why we did that.

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Chrisda19@reddit

That's....that's not tap water...what the hell? Lol

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SeaBearsFoam@reddit

Oh, it was piped into the house. It came out of all our taps.

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If_I_must@reddit

Ok, but you see that this isn't what most people mean by the phrase "tap water," right?

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luckylimper@reddit

What did they say since they dirty deleted?

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SeaBearsFoam@reddit

I explained that to someone else who said that. Apparently it's a regional difference in word usage. "Tap" means the same thing as "faucet" to me. The water comes out of the tap aka faucet, so I call it tap water.

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If_I_must@reddit

I mean, literally, I get it, but you know that's not the question that was being asked, right?

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SeaBearsFoam@reddit

No, I didn't know that until a people brought it up here. As I said, that's not how I've used the term. I get what you're saying now though.

Growing up, I always made sure to tell people "don't drink the tap water" the first time they came over. I've told people about that set up dozens of times since I moved out of the area. Nobody was ever confused or felt the need to tell me it's not tap water until this thread.

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GustavusAdolphin@reddit

"Tap water" is water coming from a tap. That's the meaning of the phrase

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If_I_must@reddit

Yeah, in this century, in the US, I fo take that for granted. Flint is the exception, not the rule. Even in Tejas.

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Hoosier_Jedi@reddit

“Rain water filtered through my mom’s pantyhose”. 🙄

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Chrisda19@reddit

But it's rain water not actual water tapped from a sewer line. I get where you're coming from and I'm not disputing that that is what you consider "tap water" but in general the term Tap water is meant to indicate a public water dept line into your house not what you described.

What you described sounds like what I would expect from a house in the forest or some cabin etc where there is no sewer/water line from a public utility or any well dug etc.

Capturing rain water, especially in areas of agriculture or heavy pollution just...ugh.. nauseous even thinking about it. Lol

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SeaBearsFoam@reddit

Apparently this is a regional difference in terms. I'm the using the term "water tap" to be synonomous with "water faucet", and I'm saying that the water comes out of the tap aka the faucet.

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If_I_must@reddit

As a Cleveland resident.... what the hell?

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SeaBearsFoam@reddit

This wasn't in Cleveland. Cleveland's just where I live now. It was a rural area like halfway between Akron and Youngstown.

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Jhamin1@reddit

My suburb has it's own treatment plant paid for by the US military because of some pollution from a military facility in the area decades ago.

We get quarterly reports from the city on water quality... and it's excellent. I drink a lot of tapwater.

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elunabee@reddit

Not drinking tap water in the US seems crazy to me, with a few notable exceptions. We're really lucky in the Midwest to have some good aquifers and St. Louis has some of the best tap water I've ever had (Yosemite National Park, also very tasty). Well water from really rural houses are a different story altogether.

In my wetlands class in college we learned that it takes more water to create a plastic bottle than can actually fill the bottle, and that's really stuck with me. I guess I go out of my way to make sure I can refill my bottle or get a glass of tap water.

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11061995@reddit

When you hear about places like Flint, Michigan having undrinkable water, it makes for huge news because practically everywhere you go in the United States, including extremely small, rural communities, the water is safe to drink. Having proper water treatment is basically a non-negotiable for a water source going into a house.

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cohrt@reddit

I’ve never been anywhere in the us where the tap water was undrinkable. Might have tasted weird to me but it was fine otherwise

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blipsman@reddit

Tap water is drinkable in 99%+ of US

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MonsterHunterBanjo@reddit

Tap water is mostly safe, it won't kill or slowly poison you, but it does contain a bunch of stuff that you shouldn't be drinking, everyone should be having a home filter system to filter your tap water.

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Weightmonster@reddit

Yes. Lead contamination is a problem in some areas however. Usually only a problem for pregnant women, babies, and small children.

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7yearlurkernowposter@reddit

Only if you're a redditor, normal people use tap water in the super-majority of the nation.

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47-30-23N_122-0-22W@reddit

I would argue my tap water is some of the best in the world. It tastes good and limescale buildup is literally nonexistent on any of my water appliances.

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Bluemonogi@reddit

The tap water is drinkable in a lot of places. People buy bottled water for convenience mostly.

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KaityKat117@reddit

"Boil Orders" (when the county issues a warning that city water is not potable and should not be drank without boiling) are exceedingly rare. When it happens, it's a big deal, and constitutes a state of emergency. Cities and counties are required to provide clean, potable water to their citizens.

What happened in Flint, Michigan and a few other places was all over the news because it's a rare occurrence.

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neardumps@reddit

Tap water is almost always drinkable in the US, and a lot of communities and cities pride themselves on having good tap water.

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nomoregroundhogs@reddit

There are isolated exceptions but for the most part our tap water is perfectly drinkable. In some places it may not taste the best, though. People who buy water generally do it for taste or convenience.

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annaoze94@reddit

It's all perfect like drinkable except for a few exceptions but some of it taste better than others and that's what a lot of people are focusing on. It's just as drinkable as the water in Chicago but I personally think the water in Chicago taste 10 times better.

It's not about flavor it's about what's in it The flavor is a big factor on who's buying water from you

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LuftDrage@reddit

Was in San Francisco for a few days a couple months ago, the water was spicy. Threw me for a loop.

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annaoze94@reddit

Depends on where you live. I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago and later lived in the city and we get our drinking water from lake Michigan and it's delicious I've since moved to Los Angeles but when I come visit yearly I chug that tap water like it's a drug. It's pretty chlorinated I love it so much.

I live in LA County and have lived in LA City proper foot currently live in Burbank which has its own department of water.

Either way as a great lakes snob I'm pleasantly surprised at how nice the tap water in LA County is.

My parents live in Allen County Indiana and there are three rivers and they are a little bit too far from any Great lake to get their water from there so they get it from the three rivers that are in town. It's not as delicious but I can't tolerate if It's ice cold.

MOST tap water in the US is safe to drink whether you like the taste of it or not. I really do hate when people only drink water out of bottles that they bought in cases at Costco it's like 🤮

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craders@reddit

I only drink tap water. My hydroflask (and other bottles before it) go almost everywhere with me.

The number of people that buy bottled water for home is crazy to me. Tap water is almost free.

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NoShameMallPretzels@reddit

We drink tap water, or sometimes use a filter. I live in the mountains with really fresh water though, so I have been known to buy bottled water in different states because of the taste. For example, I HATE the tap water in Florida. For me a lot of it is if water has come from a well or something like that, versus the melted snow runoff I’m used to!

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DistinctJob7494@reddit

I have well water that's incredibly hard so we don't drink it. We also have a hard time with rust in the water. I've tasted it, and it tastes like iron. It over time dies white clothes off-white. In the mountains, if you can find a nice, clean, and tested natural spring, that'll be the best water you've had in your life!

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TheBlazingFire123@reddit

Nope

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KaiserGustafson@reddit

The area I currently live in has so-so water quality. It's safe to drink, but can taste funky since it's a shallow, artificial lake nearby. Generally water here is safe to drink.

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strumthebuilding@reddit

Los Angeles tap water is fine. Drink it daily.

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Ice_cream_please73@reddit

Bottled water is because Americans don’t give a shit about the environment.

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sadthrow104@reddit

If thats the case the Japanese and other rich East Asian countries don’t either

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SisterLostSoul@reddit

Chicago - I drink only tap water. It's perfectly fine. I think it's ridiculous to pay for something that I can get for free, especially as plastic water bottles contribute to the degradation of our environment.

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Current_Poster@reddit

Not most places.

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AnybodySeeMyKeys@reddit

Tap water is almost universally drinkable. But that doesn't mean it's necessarily tasty. There are parts of the US where, due to a number of factors, the water tastes terrible.

I live in central Alabama. Because of the amount of limestone, the water here tastes pretty good. But if you go to the Gulf Coast and the water tastes nasty. The same is true for municipalities near rivers such as the Ohio.

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Mustangfast85@reddit

Rivers can be seasonal too depending on water level. In DC during the drought last year the water tasted bad but was safe. It tasted bad because of algae growth treatments due to a low level in the river. Of course this coincided with me watching the Cecil Hotel movie on Netflix so until there was a city wide notice sent I thought I was imagining it

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dcgrey@reddit

I remember something similar when visiting a friend a while back in San Diego. It was the first time I'd seen water in a Britta in the fridge. I asked her why she bothers and she had me drink a glass straight from the tap. I didn't know until then that tap water might have a flavor, let alone a bad flavor.

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gcot802@reddit

In most of the US tap water is totally safe. Most people who buy bottled water do it for convenience or if their water doesn’t taste good. That said, none of my friends growing up didn’t drink tap water

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capt_scrummy@reddit

I live in the Phoenix metro; it's perfectly drinkable and has a somewhat mineral-y taste due to us being in a desert... Different from other places I've lived.

Honestly 99.99% of the tapwater in the US is totally drinkable. Flint, MI was an exceptional/outlying case, which is how it now up in the media. It was shocking and abnormal, and has been rectified: Flint water is OK to drink now.

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lkvwfurry@reddit

Water in almost all of the U.S.is fine. People buy bottled water for convenience or because they like it or they are dumb.

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BookLuvr7@reddit

Not usually. They go to great lengths to make it pretty safe.

We can't drink ours, but that's bc we're in an old building with rotten pipes in a mining town. The locals can drink it, but it makes us sick bc we weren't raised on it.

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capt_scrummy@reddit

I live in the Phoenix metro; it's perfectly drinkable and has a somewhat mineral-y taste due to us being in a desert... Different from other places I've lived.

Honestly 99.99% of the tapwater in the US is totally drinkable. Flint, MI was an exceptional/outlying case, which is how it now up in the media. It was shocking and abnormal, and has been rectified: Flint water is OK to drink now.

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bjanas@reddit

Massachusetts water absolutely kills it, when I've had people visit from places with less stringent regulations they're absolutely blown away.

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TillPsychological351@reddit

The only times I've ever bought bottled water in the US is in areas where I don't like the taste of the water (looking at you, northern Ohio...), not because I felt it was unsafe.

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Hoosier_Jedi@reddit

Today in “I don’t understand how first world countries work” news. 😑

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schmelk1000@reddit

In my hometown, (west Michigan), the tap water is the best, but I was in Lansing for school, and the tap water there was absolutely terrible. I couldn’t drink it, so I bought a water filter instead and that helped out immensely.

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tsukiii@reddit

It’s safe to drink in most parts of the country. That’s why it was newsworthy when the tap water got contaminated in Flint Michigan, that’s a big deal and far from the norm.

Also, you know how you always see Americans lugging around giant reusable water bottles? Hydroflasks and Stanley’s? Those are filled with tap water.

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Any-Particular-1841@reddit

I've been drinking tap water for 20 years in New England. Prior to that, I got bottled water due to where I lived (too close to a Superfund site). But I also grew up drinking tap water, so I've been drinking it most of my life.

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PhasmaUrbomach@reddit

I have a well and my water is amazing. I've been all over the country and never had a problem drinking the water.

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rawbface@reddit

We have the best water in the world, what are you talking about?

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dtb1987@reddit

No, we have a pretty great municipal water program in the US, while there are some exceptions the tap water is in the vast majority of cases is fine to drink

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travelinmatt76@reddit

I've been drinking tap water for 48 years. When I go out I usually fill up a couple bottles so I don't have to buy any.

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DemanoRock@reddit

Drink tap all the time. Some argue better than bottle. I only drink bottle when away from home.
When I lived in Sacremento California the water was bad, sediment and an oily layer. No way I would drinl that.

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machagogo@reddit

Tap water is acceptable to exceptional in like 99% of the country

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Courwes@reddit

My city has some of the best water in the country. It’s entirely drinkable and I prefer it over bottled.

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hipdunk@reddit

You can get a readout about your water. Mine has a very high level of Aluminum in it but is otherwise safe to drink, which I don’t fit that very reason.

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Loud_Insect_7119@reddit

I've lived all over the US (literally every region except the Pacific Northwest), in everything from small towns to big cities, and I've always been able to drink my tap water.

Stories like the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, are such big news because they are extremely rare, and Americans were outraged in part because we have an expectation that our tap water will be safe and drinkable.

Where I live currently, I do have a filtration system installed under my sink, but it's just for taste because my area has pretty hard water that is perfectly safe but doesn't have the best flavor. However, even here, I use my regular tap to do things like fill up big water bottles for hiking/camping, because my filtration system has a smaller tap that takes too long if I'm filling up anything bigger than a drinking glass, lol.

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CuriousOptimistic@reddit

Where I live currently, I do have a filtration system installed with its own separate tap, but it's just for taste because my area has pretty hard water that is perfectly safe but doesn't have the best flavor.

Same. Phoenix water tastes like dirt (literally) but is perfectly safe to drink.

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nonstopflux@reddit

PNW tap water is some of the best in the country too!

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Loud_Insect_7119@reddit

I believe it! I've visited a number of times, and I have noticed that the water definitely tends to taste pretty good up there.

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moosieq@reddit

Florida water comes from an aquifer (an underground layer of water-permeable rock). As our abundant rainwater seeps through the aquifer it picks up organic residue from vegetation, etc. and the organic compounds convert to sulfur. These sulfur compounds are often described as tasting or smelling "funky", "like swamp", "rotten eggs", or " like someone put their feet in it". It's perfectly fine to drink but, to reduce unpleasant tastes and smells, people often filter their drinking water and some people buy bottled water for convenience.

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Bungalow_Man@reddit

I've been drinking tap water all my life. I currently have filtered water dispenser in the door of my fridge, and I mostly drink that just because it's already cold when it comes out.

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Whiteguy1x@reddit

Yes it's drinkable, although it occasionally not great. I use it for making coffee or cooking and tend to drink bottled water for taste

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boracay302@reddit

Depends on location and time of year.

Los Angeles is heavy with chlorine if the natural mountain waters are low.

Orange County next to LA is filtered sewage water. Goes through 40 filters.

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zugabdu@reddit

With the exception of Flint Michigan and sometimes immediately after a natural disaster, you can assume tap water is safely drinkable throughout the United States.

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Eric848448@reddit

No, it’s fine.

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Poes_hoes@reddit

I drank tap water my whole life, but my current city has a water boil advisory 3-4 times a month lasting 2-3 days each. Outside of those times, it's not uncommon to have brown water come out of our taps. It's an old area with a poorly maintained water system.

I bought like an office water cooler and fill them up the 5-gal jugs at a local spring water fill station for 35¢ a gallon, so not too terrible.

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Dr_Watson349@reddit

Yes it's drinkable and perfectly safe. Only in extremely rare conditions like Flint, MI are there water problems and because it's so rare it's such a big deal.

I get a yearly report from the gov (I can't remember if it's state or county) showing the water testing. So I know exactly what's in the water and how it compares to guidelines. Similar to a blood test. I have never seen or heard of anything being out of spec.

Right now there is a boil water notice for my local city but it's because of the hurricane. First boil water notice iv seen in the 20 years iv lived here.

I will say that water tastes different across the country. The water in NY for example is much better tasting than what we have in FL due to mineral content. It's not more or less healthy just different.

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OceanPoet87@reddit

We drink tap, buy bottled water for events like large group events.

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Positive-Avocado-881@reddit

I can drink it safely, I genuinely don’t like how it tastes compared to bottled most of the time.

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virtual_human@reddit

There are a few places that are sulphury, but the water is good in almost all places in the US. Bottled water is convenient and has its place.

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Dinocop1234@reddit

Water!? Like from the toilet?

As others are saying the tap water is fine in the vast majority of places.

There was a show called Penn and Teller’s Bullshit and they did a segment on bottled water vs tap and most bottled water is just tap water from a municipal water source.

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Vachic09@reddit

It's generally drinkable, but the taste is going to vary. Most people who drink bottled water do it for taste or convenience.

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butt_honcho@reddit

I live in the country, and my tap water comes from my own well. It tastes a little funny if you're not used to it (lots of iron and a little bit of sulfur), but it's perfectly safe to drink. And at this point, I'm so used to it I find city water boring.

(It also makes excellent coffee, even if I have to delime the coffee maker twice as often.)

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DrGerbal@reddit

Tap water is safe. I spoiled myself with a britta filter though. I was talking to someone about it in a bar a while back. I use to be able to drink straight from the hose. Or tap. But my brother got a Britta because the water was nasty where he went to college (Auburn) and I havnt been able to go back

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msspider66@reddit

I drink tap water daily. I use to fill up my water bottle straight from the tap.

Recently I got a Britta filter. I don’t know if it is the filter or because I am drinking cold water, but yum! My water never tasted better.

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Awdayshus@reddit

Not only is tap water drinkable, but most bottled water is tap water. Only a few brands are some kind of spring water. The rest is just the municipal water from wherever the bottling facility is.

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namhee69@reddit

When I lived in Phoenix and San Diego it was drinkable but didn’t taste great. In Pennsylvania it’s quite good but it’s uncommon that water isn’t safe to drink. Some towns are still dealing with old lead pipes tho.

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LittleJohnStone@reddit

Our tap water can be heavy on the chlorine side, but with a filter it's fine.

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RegionFar2195@reddit

Yes.

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hugeuvula@reddit

Actually, much of the bottled water is just bottled tap water.

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Captain_of_Gravyboat@reddit

My tap water is very good. I only buy bottled water if on a road trip or going camping or something like that.

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DontRunReds@reddit

It depends where you are. My tap water is fine and I drink it unfiltered. However, I have relatives that live in an area with high arsenic and they have to buy drinking water.

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kuriT9@reddit

There's lead pipes everywhere, the government knows this and knows the effect yet they are everywhere still

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DrBlankslate@reddit

I drink tap water. It's fine.

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Ewalk@reddit

I grew up in Memphis and the water there is top notch. It ruined my perception of tap water.

I moved to an area where the water isn’t nearly as good and live in a building with shitty pipes. I can’t even filter it to a point where it tastes good to me.

I use it for cooking. And everything is fine, just takes… murky, for lack of a better phrase.

It’s just personal preference.

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But I'm not dead yet.

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kempff@reddit

Looks to me like marketing trend that took society over like wildfire. Nationwide our tap water is safe to drink.

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Aggressive_Onion_655@reddit

My tap water is drinkable; I drink it every day.