Do you drink tap water? (poll)

[pbbth]

Our office has a water filter in the break room but it is currently not functioning. No problem, I'll just go fill my water bottle in the bathroom, right? I head in there and try to stick the bottle under the faucet but it doesn't fit. A woman from down the hall comes out of the bathroom stall and asks why I'm laughing. I explained that I am thirsty and the world seems to be thwarting my attempts to get a drink of water from any source and gesture with my bottle to show her it doesn't fit in the sink.

Her response? "Oh my god, you were going to drink the faucet water?" She sounded like she might as well have said, "Oh my god, you're going to lick that rat you found in the garbage?"



We are in New York. We have some of the country's best tap water. Tap water also has flouride in it for healthy teeth. I drink tap water at home every day. It never occured to me that anyone wouldn't drink tap water. It made me wonder how many people won't drink tap water at all. So how about you, would you drink tap water from your home or office?

[Procrustus]

sure. I did in NY and I do in the Pacific Northwest. I have been places in the Southwest U.S. where I didn't find the taste to my liking. Still, I usually drink it.

[Cowgirl Jules]

Not only do I drink it, I also produce it.

My house is on a well, and we have fantastic water. The refrigerator came with a filter though, and the water in the door doesn't work without it. And of course, if you just leave the old filter in there forever, bad things can build up in it, and I'd end up with bad water where I didn't have bad water before. So it's a little ridiculous, but I have to change that stupid, expensive filter every six months.

But I happily drink the tap water at work. I know better than anyone in the world the safety and quality of that particular water. It's safe and it's good, and I take it a little personally when people react like your coworker to it.

[TruCelt]

I drink tap water if it looks and smells clean. The tap water in my office smells like mildew, I wouldn't touch it with a ten-foot pole. I even use the filtered water to wash my cup.

At home I drink tap water exclusively.

I also go through a fair amount of bottled, especially for convenience when I'm out and about. I can't deny that it tastes best, and I strongly prefer it.

[Kelby]

Of course. Isn't it amazing how spoiled and complacent we've become that the miracle of tap water is taken for granted by so many?

[SmellMyWort]

Her reaction may have been more about using the "germy" bathroom faucet than about tap water.

[Unix Geek]

I drink tap water, but I usually filter it through a Brita pitcher. North Texas water is normally supplied from surface lakes that get kind of earthy in the summer when the algae blooms kick in. The Brita does a good job in making the water drinkable.

[The Devil's Grandmother]

That was my thought too, SmellMyWort.
I drink tap water at home and at work. There's bottled water at work, but if I drank it, I'd feel obliged to put a new bottle on occasionally and those things are heavy.
I don't drink the tap water at my mom's house because she's on a different water system and that stuff is nasty.

[ThePylon]

Hell, yes. I like the taste better than bottled, even.

[MissTake]

Voted Other. Our water is nasty tasting (City of Minneapolis water). The only way I will drink it is after it's been filtered. I have empty gallon jugs that I take to the grocery store and fill up for around $.40.

[Not a Platypus]

I do, as long as it smells/tastes okay. Our water is fine here at home, but I've had jobs in old buildings where the water ends up nasty.

[pbbth]

Originally Posted by SmellMyWort

Her reaction may have been more about using the "germy" bathroom faucet than about tap water.

I hadn't thought about that. I still wouldn't understand the concern though. The bathroom gets cleaned every day at least once, more often twice, and the bottle wouldn't (in theory, of course, since my bottle didn't fit) touch the spout at all. Besides, with the number of people who don't wash their hands after they go to the bathroom and then touch every doorknob, table, refrigerator handle, etc. in the office you are getting germs all over your hands and stuff all the time. I can't imagine being afraid of water from the bathroom.

I ended up usurping a cup and using that to get water from the faucet and pour it into the bottle. It tastes fine and I'm sure it is perfectly safe.

[Alpha Twit]

At my home, I drink tap water all the time but I have a very good, reverse osmosis filter system that was already installed when I bought the house. Even unfiltered our water tastes OK but with the filter it tastes great.

When I'm down at my Dad's house I always drink bottled water or pop. I don't doubt that his water is safe to drink but it just reeks of chlorine. I won't drink it.

[Notchimine]

Nope, I would never drink tap water. It is disgusting, smells like chlorine and tastes like chemicals. I don't even give my dogs water from the tap. When I lived in NY, the tap water was great and I still drink it when I go to the city on business or visits but in Florida? I keep a water cooler in the house for drinking water.

[El Nene]

Originally Posted by Unix Geek

I drink tap water, but I usually filter it through a Brita pitcher. North Texas water is normally supplied from surface lakes that get kind of earthy in the summer when the algae blooms kick in. The Brita does a good job in making the water drinkable.

I actually like Dallas tap water. It's got a taste I can sink my teeth into.

[DCnDC]

I can't even remember the number of times I've had this argument with people. I don't know what the tap water is like elsewhere, but around the DC area (but not necessarily inside DC proper) it's perfectly good drinking water. Perhaps it's due to the large number of people who grew up elsewhere, but you wouldn't believe the look of bewilderment and outright disgust with which some people regard tap water. I find it very snobby and offensive. But again, I don't know where these people or their distaste for tap water originate from, so I don't engage them anymore.

In any case, yes.

[Hello Again]

I drink tap water now that I live in NYC. However, when I had well water in a rural area of Virginia, it was absolutely foul. I cooked with it, but for drinking water I had those big 3 gallon jugs.

[Sigmagirl]

At work I fill my water bottle from the drinking fountain, because it's cold and easier to fill the bottle that way. But it's still tap water. Tasty Cleveland water.

[dangermom]

Originally Posted by SmellMyWort

Her reaction may have been more about using the "germy" bathroom faucet than about tap water.

That's my thought too. I drink tap water happily, but I cannot drink water from the bathroom faucet. I know, it's a bizarre and stupid hangup, but I can't do it. Wash my face, rinse my mouth, sure--but actually go and get a drink in a glass?? No.

(Well obviously if the apocalypse comes I'll have to get over it. But until then, no.)

[Snowboarder Bo]

The tap water in the Las Vegas valley sucks ass. It has a high mineral content, so everything eventually gets covered with/corroded by a mineral build-up. Because of that, I drink bottled water.

In other places, I have no problem with tap water and I'll usually just keep refilling a single bottle.

[InterestedObserver]

I currently live in the Pacific NW in a city where our water is relatively decent and I do often drink tap water. I prefer to fill our water cooler jugs with the 8-stage filtered water available for .35 cents a gallon at the grocery store, but if I don't get around to it, I refill them at the tub tap.

Our water comes from an aquifer and is minimally treated (lower levels of chlorine and no added fluoride to date).

Now, when I lived in my hometown of Houston for several years recently (actually just outside of Houston in Pasadena) I WOULD have licked a rat before drinking the tap water! I filled our jugs at the filtered water machines.

Why? One, the water tasted HORRIBLE! Very strong, chemical taste.

Two, I read the water reports the city sent out every year and otherwise knew what was IN the stuff. High levels of chlorine, flouride (which, thanks, I DON'T want in my drinking water...not going to get into that debate here too much, but in general I don't want anything in my water but WATER, and in particular, I don't want it dosed with a potentially toxic substance which it readily available in other forms for those who choose to use it), arsenic, lead, benzene, etc, etc.

Esp. in the are where we lived, which is often called the petrochemical refining capital of the world, there was some disturbing shit in the water (at "acceptable levels", of course, but imo, there IS no acceptable level of poison in something consumed constantly, not if it can be avoided easily.)

The water machines filter "tap" water through an 8-stage process including reverse osmosis (which, along with distillation, is one of the only ways to remove fluroide) and simply remove whatever was intentionally added or happened to contaminate it.

During hurricane Rita, I drank Perrier for 2 days (which I LOATHE!) rather than drink the tap water. The water machines were drained for a few days, unable to keep up with demand and stores were sold out of all bottled water EXCEPT Perrier.

Other issues I have with tap water is the fact that in most areas, the water purification process involves recycling water used in the sewage system. Obvious gross-out factor aside (puts the idea of drinking from a bathroom faucet to shame the problem of pharmaceutical residues in drinking water supplies is one I'd rather avoid. Not only do people improperly dispose of drugs via flushing or dumping down the drain, but traces of everything imaginable end up in our drinking water everytime someone taking a drug uses the toilet.

Of course, tap water can also be contaminated by the pipes carrying it into the home or elsewhere, so it can be a crap-shoot.

And to clarify, I don't use "BOTTLED" water except very rarely. I refill our cooler jugs and fill our own reusuable bottles.

[shiftless]

I've had plenty of well water - sometimes it's OK, sometimes it's nasty. Give me good ol' city tap water any day. That stuff has been cleaned and tested by scientists so it probably won't kill me and it doesn't leave nasty stains on my tub. Some folks I know like to have their tap water filtered through a store bought filter system because the scientists would have never figured out how to do that on their end.

[steronz]

Originally Posted by pbbth

I still wouldn't understand the concern though. The bathroom gets cleaned every day at least once, more often twice, and the bottle wouldn't (in theory, of course, since my bottle didn't fit) touch the spout at all. Besides, with the number of people who don't wash their hands after they go to the bathroom and then touch every doorknob, table, refrigerator handle, etc. in the office you are getting germs all over your hands and stuff all the time. I can't imagine being afraid of water from the bathroom.

You must not be familiar with the all-too-common practice of ass-fauceting. It's all the rage amongst the young people trying to be European but lacking a bidet.

FTR I'll drink from any tap/hose/washbucket I can find, but usually prefer water fountains because it comes out cold. At home I don't even like using my Brita, though.

[Cat Whisperer]

You know that wonderful, glacier-fresh water people like to drink out of bottles? That's what we have coming out of our taps, and yet tons of people only drink bottled water here. Let's see, municipal water that is fresh off a glacier, and treated to be safe for humans to drink, with a few additives for human health, that is strictly controlled by governmental agencies for quality and safety, versus questionable water from questionable sources with fewer controls that has to be manufactured and increases waste that you pay a premium price for - tough call. Yeah, I drink tap water.

[missred]

I drink tap.

I live in an area with good tap water, so I keep a two gallon dispenser and a couple of reusable bottles in the fridge all of the time.

I've traveled to places with nasty water. I can sympathize with those of you living in certain parts of Texas and Florida (when I was a kid, the first tap water I ever drank in my grandparents' Sarasota winter home literally gagged me to the point of vomiting) and would probably have a really good filtering system if I lived there.

[pbbth]

Originally Posted by steronz

You must not be familiar with the all-too-common practice of ass-fauceting. It's all the rage amongst the young people trying to be European but lacking a bidet.

Wow, I will be sure to check the faucets in the bathroom before filling up my bottle from now on! I wasn't aware of the fad of hanging your bare, dirty ass in a semi-public bathroom sink!

[Surly Chick]

I drink tap water at home but I use a Brita on it as I have a well. At work, I exclusively drink bottled water because a) the water tastes funny and b) the building I work in is built on a Superfund site. Don't know if that's why the water tastes funny or not...

[Diver]

We have lived full time in our motor home for over 7 years and during travels all over the U.S. have used the tap water for drinking and cooking.

We do have a whole house filter with a 5 micron charcoal filter that the house water goes through. It removes chlorine and things that cause the water to taste odd.

In areas where the water is hard (AZ and NV are two states with areas that have very hard water - over 50 grains per gallon) we bring out our RV water softener. It will last from 10 days to 30 days depending on how hard the water is before it has to be regenerated. That takes one box of common table salt we get at the grocery store.

IMHO bottled water is one of the biggest con jobs around.
See here http://www.nrdc.org/water/drinking/bw/exesum.asp and here
http://www.ewg.org/reports/BottledWa...-Investigation for info on bottled water.

[Joey P]

Depends where I am. The tap water at my house IMO tastes awful, like chlorine. However, when it goes through the carbon filter on my fridge it tastes just fine. If I didn't have that, I don't think I'd buy bottled water (for home), but I would at least get a filter. At work, I drink only bottled water, mostly because it's cold, it's good, it's easy to transport (I tend to spill anything without a cover) and it's cheap. The wholesale cost on a bottle is IIRC 12.5¢ and I only drink one or two a day.

[Der Trihs]

On the rare occasions I drink water, I use tap water. Here, at least; the last place I lived had well water that tasted rather bad.

[Anaamika]

Originally Posted by Diver

IMHO bottled water is one of the biggest con jobs around.
See here http://www.nrdc.org/water/drinking/bw/exesum.asp and here
http://www.ewg.org/reports/BottledWa...-Investigation for info on bottled water.

Not "IMO", it is one of the biggest con jobs around. The companies were like 'HOLEE FUCK! These people are getting water for free!" And so we drink billions of gallons of bottled of water and throw away who knows how many plastic bottles every year. And these are people who otherwise claim to love the environment!

I bought a Camelbak water bottle, that doesn't spill and has one of those tops you bite on and suck to get the water out. I fill this up three times at work from the fountain. At home I have another. I keep a pitcher of water in the fridge which I fill up from the tap.

I prefer the taste, and I know I am not wasting all of those water bottles. And I drink way more water than I would in the bottles.

People need to realize what a total scam bottled water is. This isn't a Third World Country. We have good water.

[Zsofia]

We have some of the best tap water in the nation here in Columbia, SC as well. I love it. I drink it all the time and don't understand why on earth the "green committee" at work proposed we put a filter on a faucet in the staff room so people wouldn't have to bring bottled water.

On the other hand, my parents have gross-ass water in their Florida house and I don't even like to brush my teeth with that.

[Wallenstein]

I don't like the tap water where I currently live (mid-UK) - tastes full of chlorine. It's OK in orange squash [cordial] but straight it's really not pleasant. Back home where my folks live (eastern UK) I'd happily drink gallons of the stuff.

At work we have a water filter and I only use that.

[DCnDC]

If your water has a chlorine taste put it in a pitcher and stick it in the fridge overnight. The chlorine taste will dissipate overnight.

[Ferret Herder]

Chicago has great tap water, but the pipes in my office give it a crappy taste, and a dripping sink in a storage room here shows how much mineral crud there is, so I'll only drink it at work if it's out of the drinking fountain since that has extra filtration and tastes decent.

My home water tastes so-so, so if I'm drinking it straight I run it through the Brita pitcher first, or use it unfiltered for making coffee.

[ZipperJJ]

I think bottled water tastes funny. It's got an aftertaste or something?

I drink Cleveland water. I think it's fan-fucking-tastic.

My brother had a water softener at his house for a while. He kept up with the salt and everything. His water used to taste funny too, until he got rid of the water softener.

[Blut Aus Nord]

I filter my tap water.

[Skammer]

I've been in places where I didn't drink the tap water, but in general I have no problem with it. At home I drink it with almost every meal.

[Really Not All That Bright]

I drink tap water, but only filtered. Florida water has been shown to reduce sperm counts by 50%, so I'm not just being panicky.

Anyway, Florida water is barely drinkable compared to the tap water I was used to in the UK. I wasn't much impressed by the vaunted water of New York, either (though it runs cold, at least).

[InterestedObserver]

Originally Posted by DCnDC

If your water has a chlorine taste put it in a pitcher and stick it in the fridge overnight. The chlorine taste will dissipate overnight.

True, as will filling a water cooler jug with it, which is what I often do. It's not just the taste that dissapates, but the chlorine itself (why you can leave tap water out overnight and then use it in a fish tank w/o treating it with chlorine remover or killing the fish).

[Bridget Burke]

Houston's tap water is pretty good, so I drink it happily.

I grew up drinking well water--south of Pasadena, in fact. It was hard & the softener didn't make it taste much better. We bought distilled water for our steam iron, but those were the days before people actually bought drinking water at the store.

If I had bad tap water, I'd filter it. Bottled water is a ripoff.

[elfkin477]

I voted "other." I would drink your tap water, but we're not supposed to drink the water from our taps at home. Too much iron that makes it taste bad, and I forget what other thing that's actually unhealthy. The sad thing is that this property, along with the neighbors' used to be a state park that people got spring water from, and the well company just picked a terrible spot to sink the well.

[PSXer]

I don't drink tap water, because the fluoride messes up my bodily fluids

[Hilarity N. Suze]

Other: I drink tap water, but first I run it through a filter (in a pitcher), because otherwise it tastes like either a swimming pool, or slightly like a wet dog.

[pyromyte]

Originally Posted by Really Not All That Bright

I drink tap water, but only filtered. Florida water has been shown to reduce sperm counts by 50%, so I'm not just being panicky.

Anyway, Florida water is barely drinkable compared to the tap water I was used to in the UK. I wasn't much impressed by the vaunted water of New York, either (though it runs cold, at least).

I'm in Florida (Orlando area) and totally agree! In Kentucky, I exclusively drank tap water, but since moving here I am only drinking bottled (or filtered), because the tap water tastes terrible. I would compare the flavor to the smell of a soured dish rag.

[gotpasswords]

Originally Posted by InterestedObserver

True, as will filling a water cooler jug with it, which is what I often do. It's not just the taste that dissapates, but the chlorine itself (why you can leave tap water out overnight and then use it in a fish tank w/o treating it with chlorine remover or killing the fish).

If you've got fish, check with your water district before doing this - chlorine does evaporate off like that, but more and more utilities are using chloramine, which does not evaporate off and needs to be chemically neutralized to be safe for the fish.

As for what I drink, most often, it's Spigotto. Might as well give it a fancy brand name!

[carnut]

Some tap water tastes fine, some not so good. The same with bottled water, but bottled tends to be more reliable. At home, I refill bottles with tap water and let them sit for at least 24 hours before drinking from them (I do the same with ice) because that gets rid of the chlorine taste.

At my mother's house, there is no weird taste to the tap water so I drink it. At one job, we pooled our money together and bought a large water filter container. The tap water tasted just terrible but tested out as healthy. Running through the filter improved the taste.

[guizot]

Originally Posted by InterestedObserver

Two, I read the water reports the city sent out every year and otherwise knew what was IN the stuff...

The reason why you even have those reports is that municipal water systems are federally regulated and inspected.

Bottled water is not.

So while tap water might not taste so good in some cities, it's generally safer than bottled water with regard to bacteria levels (and as long as the municipal authorities are doing what they're supposed to do).

[Kaio]

I don't quite fit any of your poll options.

I do drink tap water (and a lot of it), but I very, very strongly prefer that it be filtered. On the rare occasion where I'm thirsty and the only water available is a water fountain (unfiltered), I'll drink it, but only enough to take the edge off, so to speak, and not as much as I normally would.

This started shortly after college where I went for a run, came home all sweaty and really thirsty, and poured myself a glass of unfiltered tap water. As I started drinking it, I saw that there was a whole bunch of tiny white flakes of something in the water -- it looked basically like large flakes of dandruff -- which promptly grossed me out. I bought a water filter pitcher that afternoon.

I've moved halfway across the country since then, and there are no disgusting floating things in Chicago's water supply, but the strong chlorine taste is pretty gross, so I don't drink it unfiltered unless I have to.

I have refillable water bottles, so I don't buy bottled water short of somehow getting caught unprepared and truly desperate -- it's nonsensically expensive (and wasteful) relative to tap water. Last time I did, was when the building manager said that the water would be turned off for an hour or so, which I figured would be two or three, and turned out to be close to eight. I'd put up some water the night before, but not enough, obviously.

[sitchensis]

I buy bottled water for the bottles and then reuse them for up to a month. At work I generally fill them up in the first stream I come across. Sometimes the water is a little green or brown but it usually tastes good with maybe a little dirt aftertaste. I keep telling myself the first time I get giardiasis I will stop but it’s been years and I haven’t had a problem.