# Do you drink tap water? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 9, 2002, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water/141448 "2002-12-09T04:58:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water/141448/21 "2002-12-09T13:40:00Z")
Tap water. From the pump. From the well. Sissies. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Legomancer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/779978/32.png) [@Legomancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Legomancer)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water/141448/22 "2002-12-09T13:53:21Z")
Yep, I have no problem with tap water. It’s pretty much all I drink at home and at work (other than coffee, the water for which I don’t know the origins of). At work we even have those little filters that tilt down and let you get filtered water, but I don’t use them since they take so damn long. I haven’t noticed anyone get particularly freaked out by this. ---
**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water/141448/23 "2002-12-09T14:21:31Z")
And remember, boys and girls, the vast majority of bottled water is just tap water from someplace other than your home town. They might filter it a bit, but in many cases, they just fill the bottles from the municipal water supply, cap it, and sell it to you at a hefty premium. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water/141448/24 "2002-12-09T14:28:29Z")
I have a freidn who tests water purity for a living, and she tells me that: • depending on where you live, the tap water is probably OK; in the NY area, it’s above-average. • those water filters you hook over your faucet are usless. “The only kind of water filter that actually works would be the size of a Volkswagen,” she says. • the bottled water you buy is _unregulated_, which means it is nearly always full of impurities which would never pass muster in city water systems. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water/141448/25 "2002-12-09T15:09:10Z")
Yes, although I usually keep a jug of it in the fridge to chill it – water straight from the tap just isn’t cold enough, IMO. I actually _miss_ the chlorine taste when I travel to places with less heavily chlorinated water. Plain water just tastes too … flat, somehow. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water/141448/26 "2002-12-09T15:20:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eve \* > **in the NY area, it’s above-average.** Heck, it’s betta than that! NYC watuh is da best in da WOILD! Clear, sparkling melted snow from the Catskills, peed in by little Dutchmen playing at ninepins! ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water/141448/27 "2002-12-09T15:26:40Z")
Smarty pants. It’s frog pee that puts hair on your chest! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Judith\_Prietht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b19c9b/32.png) [@Judith\_Prietht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Judith_Prietht)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water/141448/28 "2002-12-09T15:36:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fretful Porpentine \* > \*\*Yes, although I usually keep a jug of it in the fridge to chill it – water straight from the tap just isn’t cold enough, IMO. > \*\* Agreed. Even if it’s freezing I still need a glass of ice-cold water to truly satisfy. I usually drink out of the bathroom tap, however; it’s colder than the kitchen water and tastes better, for some reason. Now _that_ kind of freaks people out. ---
**Author:** ![Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bad_News_Baboon)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water/141448/29 "2002-12-09T15:40:51Z")
I mainly drink water at home. Mr Baboon bought me a killer water filter (reverse osmosis and a cnisters galore). He even got me an ice machine! I used to drink tap water growing up, but I don’t like the taste of the water here. Those Brita and Pur water filters make me laugh. I have yet to taste a difference in the water. ---
**Author:** ![yola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/48db29/32.png) [@yola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yola)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water/141448/30 "2002-12-09T16:05:49Z")
We have really good well water here so I drink right out of the tap. With an average of 30+ft of snow in the winter and lots of rain in the summer makes for great water! ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water/141448/31 "2002-12-09T16:30:08Z")
I drink it because I read that it’s probably better than bottled water-- which can be a bacteria breeding pond. But rarely drink it directly, either it’s boiled for coffee or sits in the fridge for sometime. This is California. ---
**Author:** ![Lissla\_Lissar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lissla\_Lissar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissla_Lissar)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water/141448/32 "2002-12-09T16:45:42Z")
Brita. I don’t like the taste of straight water here in Toronto, although it’s _infinitely_ better than the tap water in Ottawa. I spent the whole year drinking jiuce and tea. Nasty stuff. It tastes green. ---
**Author:** ![lovelyluka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f475e1/32.png) [@lovelyluka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lovelyluka)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water/141448/33 "2002-12-09T16:52:47Z")
Our rural Tennessee water is ok compared to a lot of the big-city water I’ve tasted, but it still tastes like chlorine. I use a PUR water filter pitcher, and keep it in my fridge. Also, I’ve found it has a lot to do with the pipes the water has to go through. It’s a whole lot better in my house than in the dormitory a few miles down the road. Bleh - completely disgusting. [slight hijack] As for all you well-waterers - My mom lives in the boondocks and has well water. It smells like sulfur, and tastes kind of like what I guess sulfur would taste like. My boyfriend lives in a different boondocks and doesn’t have this problem. What gives? [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water/141448/34 "2002-12-09T17:05:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lovelyluka \* > \*\*It smells like sulfur, and tastes kind of like what I guess sulfur would taste like. My boyfriend lives in a different boondocks and doesn’t have this problem. What gives? > [/hijack] \*\* A different species of frogs peeing in the well. I believe the sulphur odor is due to magnesium in the water. ---
**Author:** ![Debaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3da27b/32.png) [@Debaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Debaser)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water/141448/35 "2002-12-09T17:12:27Z")
I drink lots of water. It is tap-water, but filtered by a Pure filter right on the kitchen sink. I buy poland spring water just so I can have the bottles, which I fill up to put in office/car/backpack/ etc. I also like to drink my water at room temp. I don’t like it cold. Yes, I know, this makes me a communist. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![metroshane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/aeb1de/32.png) [@metroshane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/metroshane)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water/141448/36 "2002-12-09T17:46:05Z")
I bought a Hague water system (and yes it’s only a little smaller than a volkswagon). It’s basically a water filter that they plant between your house and the cities water pipe and bury it in the ground. It was kind of expensive but the results are great…and if you trust math, it pays for itself. We did a water test with a salesman (and since I have a hot tub I used my own personal water tester to recreate the salesmans test…and his results were honest) and the results were incredible. Since clorine will become ineffective over time, the city has to put enough clorine at the beginning so that the last person on the block gets clorinated water. Our tap water was 40% higher in clorine than the typical pool. Nasty! It eliminated everything but floride and took the hardness from 13 grains to zero. Here’s the savings part, you save on soap, lotions, pipe wear and tear, cleaning, bottle water etc because soft clorine free water is just plain better. For example, we took two flasks and filled one with my tap and filled the other one from the filter. Then we took common dish soap and tested for foaminess. The filtered water took 3 droplets and the tap took 27 to get foamy. That’s a 91% savings on soap alone. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water/141448/37 "2002-12-09T17:48:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by metroshane \* > \*\* That’s a 91% savings on soap alone. \*\* How much did this volksvagen thing cost? ---
**Author:** ![dead0man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/edb3f5/32.png) [@dead0man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dead0man)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water/141448/38 "2002-12-09T17:51:20Z")
Yes I do. A few apts. ago that I lived in had special water. If you ran some out into a glass and waited a minute and looked at the water it looked like you had just made sea monkeys. I still drank it. ---
**Author:** ![dorkusmalorkusmafia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorkusmalorkusmafia/32/7266_2.png) [@dorkusmalorkusmafia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorkusmalorkusmafia)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water/141448/39 "2002-12-09T17:59:25Z")
I drink tap water. Straight from the sewage treatement plant and into my mouth. Of course for that to happen I must have my mouth directly on the tap. I see no problems there. ---
**Author:** ![Lorenzo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4da419/32.png) [@Lorenzo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lorenzo)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water/141448/40 "2002-12-09T18:09:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eve \* > \*\*• those water filters you hook over your faucet are usless. “The only kind of water filter that actually works would be the size of a Volkswagen,” she says. \*\* Au contraire, ma soeur, the little guys are VERY useful at removing bad taste from (clean) tap water. I would agree that they do not clean up dirty water. It says that right on the box. IIRC, what they do is eliminate the excess chemicals that the city used to treat the water, leading to a cleaner taste. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water/141448.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water/141448.md?page=3)