# Do you drink tap water? (poll) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 8, 2010, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water-poll/556512 "2010-10-08T16:44:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Kelby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a587f6/32.png) [@Kelby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kelby)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water-poll/556512/61 "2010-10-09T00:05:07Z")
> [@NinetyWt](#): > > > [@InterestedObserver](#): > > > > 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. > > Do you have a cite for this? I’m sorry to be blunt but I do not believe it. Well, think about it, there really is no “new” water. Our town takes river water and purifies it for public consumption, while treating sewage water and sending it downstream… I think it’s kind of cool, in a homeopathy way of thinking, that water molecules in my body were possibly once in the biological systems of dinosaurs, Julius Ceasar, Jesus Christ, on and on. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water-poll/556512/62 "2010-10-09T00:33:04Z")
> [@NinetyWt](#): > > I am quite well versed on the hydrologic water cycle, thank you. I am also well aware that the trend in wastewater treatment is to produce water clean enough to be put back into the drinking water plant to be processed. I don’t just toss my copies of Civil Engineering magazine on a pile, I actually read the things when they come in the mail. > > The part I take exception to is “the fact that in most areas …”. I don’t think that is so in “most areas”. A quick Google shows that 40% of U.S. supply isn’t even surface water. That wasn’t to you, sorry, it was a response to what you were responding to. ---
**Author:** ![InterestedObserver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@InterestedObserver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InterestedObserver)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water-poll/556512/63 "2010-10-09T01:00:01Z")
Unless your tap water comes from a glacier, well or rain-fed and/or underground aquifer (the underground aquifers are rapidly being depleted and polluted, BTW, placing the potable water supplies of millions in the U.S. at risk), you are drinking some percentage of purified toilet water. And not just purified as in via the water cycle that means we all likely have some water in our bodies that was once in someone famous/cool/and/or long dead, but “purified” in the sense of filtering the chunks out, running it through a few other, finer processes, and adding a bunch of chlorine to kill the shit-bugs. Is it the majority of us? Maybe not (yet). I don’t know the exact percentages. But a significant number of us? Sure. [http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/03/10/health/main3920454.shtml](http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/03/10/health/main3920454.shtml) " A vast array of pharmaceuticals - including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones - have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans, an Associated Press investigation shows…In the course of a five-month inquiry, the AP discovered that drugs have been detected in the drinking water supplies of 24 major metropolitan areas - from Southern California to Northern New Jersey, from Detroit to Louisville, Ky…How do the drugs get into the water?..When people take medicine some gets absorbed by the body, but the leftovers end up getting flushed down the toilet and into the water supply. Some of the water is cleansed again at drinking water treatment plants and piped to consumers. But most treatments do not remove all drug residue." “leftovers”= residues in piss and shit as well as drugs dumped into the toilet…it ends up BACK in the tap water piped into your home. If we had state of the art mass purification methods that could take waste water and turn it into the stuff I can buy for .35 a gallon and send it through the often crumbling, lead-leaching pipes…ok, so THOSE have to be replaced as well…I would feel very differently about tap water as a general concept. Maybe if we advanced beyond shitting where we drink (composting toilets, say, which are odorless, clean and return rich compost to the soil, rather than using fresh, potable water to flush away our waste, something we may be forced to do soon as fresh, potable water becomes ever more valuable) this wouldn’t be an issue. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water-poll/556512/64 "2010-10-09T01:08:10Z")
I have a well that is full of iron and other things that don’t taste right. The test show that it is safe to drink, but I don’t like it. I buy water. ---
**Author:** ![InterestedObserver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@InterestedObserver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InterestedObserver)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water-poll/556512/65 "2010-10-09T01:14:24Z")
Missed the edit window, but this, from the cite above: “In the United States, the problem isn’t confined to surface waters. Pharmaceuticals also permeate aquifers deep underground, source of 40 percent of the nation’s water supply. Federal scientists who drew water in 24 states from aquifers near contaminant sources such as landfills and animal feed lots found minuscule levels of hormones, antibiotics and other drugs…Another issue: There’s evidence that adding chlorine, a common process in conventional drinking water treatment plants, makes some pharmaceuticals more toxic.” ---
**Author:** ![Uncle\_Brother\_Walker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f08c70/32.png) [@Uncle\_Brother\_Walker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncle_Brother_Walker)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water-poll/556512/66 "2010-10-09T02:35:02Z")
I drink tap water all the time. I keep 4-5 empty water bottles and refill them from the tap and put them in the fridge so they’re cold later. Sounds silly, but I like to keep a cold bottle of water in my room so when I get up in the middle of the night to pee I come back to a nice sip of cold water. My roomie and a friend of mine are \*obsessed \*with bottled water. My roomie has a bad back and carries one of those 5-gallon jugs from the grocery store about once a week. Then she bitches about how bad carrying it makes her back hurt. I have no pity for her. My friend complains that the grocery store we go to never has his brand of water, and he won’t buy the generic because it tastes funny. So instead of buying the big honking jug, he stocks up on the multi-packs of little bottles, which costs roughly about 30% more. I have no pity for him either. Or his wallet. I used to tell both of them that they are getting ripped off with the cost, but I’ve since stopped. Nobody listens to me anyway. So I just let them suffer by my silence. As \*\*DCnDC \*\*has said, I hear the water in DC is not that bad. A few years ago, there were news reports warning residents of the District to boil water before drinking, but I haven’t heard these lately. I live just across the DC border (sort of) and have never had a problem with the drinking water. I try to drink a lot more of it nowadays, since I’ve given up almost all sodas and junk fluids. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water-poll/556512/67 "2010-10-09T02:44:09Z")
I’m also aware of the problem of pharmaceuticals showing up in the water supply. Another method of aquifer/well contamination is stormwater runoff. I don’t disagree with you that it is a real problem. I still think your statement “in most areas, the water purification process involves recycling water used in the sewage system” is misleading. To me it sounds as if you mean that, for MOST water systems, the effluent from the sewage treatment plant is a component of the influent to the drinking water plant. Perhaps that wasn’t your intent. I am aware that there are plants which use wastewater effluent as a part of the raw water intake into the drinking water plant. I just don’t think it’s “most” plants. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water-poll/556512/68 "2010-10-09T03:18:47Z")
I voted other. I used to when I lived in Anchortown (has been voted best water in the country many times). For some reason, the tap water in my new hometown is rather gritty. I got a brita faucet thingie and a brita pitcher. So I still drink tap water, it’s just doctored. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water-poll/556512/69 "2010-10-09T03:49:09Z")
> [@InterestedObserver](#): > > Unless your tap water comes from a glacier, well or rain-fed and/or underground aquifer…snip… So that’s why I’m so spoiled! 😃 [http://www.awwu.biz/website/Water/bestwater.htm](http://www.awwu.biz/website/Water/bestwater.htm) ---
**Author:** ![dogbutler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dogbutler/32/428_2.png) [@dogbutler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dogbutler)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water-poll/556512/70 "2010-10-09T04:17:46Z")
I drink filtered tap water at home, and unfiltered at work. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water-poll/556512/71 "2010-10-09T06:04:16Z")
My tap water honestly just tastes bad. It’s usually not bad at places with water fountains, but even places that sell water will often have a papery taste to it. I also notice that most bottled waters don’t taste good either. I have to stick with Sam’s choice, Aquafina, or, most often, the distilled water my dad can get at work. And even it can taste funny if it is allowed to get too hot in the container. Water just seems to absorb the taste of whatever’s around it. Heck, it will taste bad if I have a bad taste in my mouth. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water-poll/556512/72 "2010-10-09T06:24:55Z")
At home, I drink about half a gallon of tap water every day. I have a half gallon jug that I keep in the fridge in the summer. Fort Worth tap water is used by one of the big bottled water companies, and it tastes pretty good. If I’m not in Fort Worth, sometimes I drink the tap water, and sometimes I don’t, depending on how it tastes. I was in Chicago for a long weekend one time and man, the tap water smelled and tasted of sulfur. Phew! So I drank bottled water, and grumbled about it. I usually have a couple of cups or glasses of tea, made with tap water. I also drink milk and the very occasional beer. I almost never drink soda or juice, unless my blood sugar is low. I think that diet sodas taste vile for the most part, and so since I can’t really drink soda or juice without raising my blood sugar, I don’t choose those drinks. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water-poll/556512/73 "2010-10-09T07:49:57Z")
Bottled water is one of the biggest scams ever perpetuated on the public. Tap water here is terrific anyway. ---
**Author:** ![nonacetone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonacetone/32/2819_2.png) [@nonacetone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nonacetone)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water-poll/556512/74 "2010-10-09T08:04:45Z")
We drink bottled water here. Our tap water is very hard, and it smells really strongly of bleach. I know it’s NOT bleach, but the odor is rather nasty. We usually have 3 five gallon bottles of water delivered every week. That is what we drink and give to the birds, cats, and ratties. The dogs drink the tap water, and I cook with the tap water, too. Well, I _boil_ things in the tap water. If I have to add water to a recipe I’m making, or if I’m making stock, I’ll use the bottled water. ---
**Author:** ![Terraplane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@Terraplane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terraplane)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water-poll/556512/75 "2010-10-09T08:16:04Z")
At home I’ll drink tap water. Out of habit I usually run it through a Brita filter but really I’d be fine just drinking it right from the faucet, it’s perfectly good water. Where I work, about 30 miles away, there is no way I’d drink the water. You smell sulfur the instant the water starts to run out of the tap. It’s not even a subtle smell, it’s like rotten eggs. Also the pipes that carry this stinkwater to my workplace lead through an old Superfund site so it’s bottled water for me at work. ---
**Author:** ![Sticks\_and\_Scones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sticks_and_scones/32/16951_2.png) [@Sticks\_and\_Scones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sticks_and_Scones)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water-poll/556512/76 "2010-10-09T12:25:29Z")
One day I was in the bathroom of the Federal Building in Akron, Ohio and there was a sign telling you that the water in the bathroom was not safe for drinking, but was ok for washing your hands with. As for me, I drink tap water at home (we have a well and a water softener) and at my boyfriend’s house (he has city water) I drink tap water that has been filtered with a Brita. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water-poll/556512/77 "2010-10-09T12:54:17Z")
We’re on a well, and our water is quite good. My mom lives in a different part of the state and her well water tastes just a little “off”, although she does have a water softener and filter now. The only place I didn’t drink tap water was when my inlaws lived in Jacksonville, FL - their tap water had stuff floating in it and there was a strong odor of sulphur. ugh. My goofy youngest sister will drink tap water, but not from the bathroom tap. Kitchen is fine, laundry room is fine, even outdoor faucet is fine, but not the bathroom. :rolleyes: Oh, and lest someone suggest she’ll grow out of it, she’s 45… ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water-poll/556512/78 "2010-10-09T13:04:01Z")
> [@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. So true! We were having problems with our pool water and finally drained it and put in all new water - still having problems when measuring it. Then SO suggested we test the water from the tap - it was WORSE than our water in the pool with the chlorine and acid! Seriously! We do drink the “tap water” that is filtered through the fridge water purification system, but otherwise - never drink the water in Las Vegas unless there is some kind of filtration system! ---
**Author:** ![Dag\_Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water-poll/556512/79 "2010-10-09T13:28:57Z")
> [@nonacetone](#): > > I know it’s NOT bleach Actually, it could be bleach, though most water system use gas chlorination. Trust me, you want chlorine in your tap water. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water-poll/556512/80 "2010-10-09T13:31:29Z")
I’ve no problem with tap water generally but prefer not to drink out of taps where people have washed their hands after taking a dump or similar. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water-poll/556512.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water-poll/556512.md?page=5)