# Do you drink tap water?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water/690215
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [June 6, 2014, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water/690215 "2014-06-06T18:08:15Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@sara20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sara20)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2014, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water/690215/1 "2014-06-06T18:08:15Z")
Do you drink tap water or bottled water? And are you concerned that tap water may have pesticide, fertilizer, rust, lead, copper, medications or other chemicals or harmful bacteria in it. And do you think the chlorine they add to it tap water can effect your health. Also have you tried the brita water filters that you can put on your tap and do you think they work and are worth the money. And please state what area you are in becasue some places (like NYC) have very good tap water and others do not.
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### Author:  [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2014, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water/690215/2 "2014-06-06T18:25:29Z")
I live in the panhandle of Florida. I read the annual water quality report that my water utility (owned by the city, and therefore, the residents of the city) sends out every year. The water here is pretty clean, if that report is true, and I’m perfectly fine with it. So, yes, I drink the tap water here, no Brita filter or anything.
Regarding the chlorine in the water. You know. This is a hurricane zone. And sometimes, during a storm like a hurricane, the water supply is compromised or cut off for whatever reasons. So residents are advised to keep gallon jugs of water on hand and be prepared to provide our own water for maybe up to three weeks or so. And when/if there’s a water contamination notice out there, there are two ways to purify water: 1. Boil it for a while. 2. Add some chlorine bleach. Just a little. Just enough to kill the bugs in it, but not enough to kill you. I am not terribly concerned about the other pollutants you mentioned because evidence of those would show up in the annual water quality report.
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### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2014, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water/690215/3 "2014-06-06T18:29:16Z")
We have well water. Every few years we have it tested. It is delicious. No chlorine.
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### Author:  [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2014, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water/690215/4 "2014-06-06T18:37:37Z")
I drink nothing but Cleveland Water tap water. I don’t like the taste of most bottled water.
I know I’ve tried water that’s gone through a home filter but I can’t for the life of me remember whether or not I could tell the difference.
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### Author:  [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2014, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water/690215/5 "2014-06-06T18:40:56Z")
I drink tap water but I have a big charcoal filter at home. All of the water goes through that first.
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2014, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water/690215/6 "2014-06-06T18:44:23Z")
I do.
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### Author:  [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2014, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water/690215/7 "2014-06-06T18:45:15Z")
I always drink unfiltered municipal tap water. It’s the best.
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### Author:  [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2014, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water/690215/8 "2014-06-06T18:48:08Z")
My water at home comes from a tap, which comes from a well. It’s deee-licious.
Water at work is bottled because we’re on an old industrial site with our own old water plant. There are plans to bring in municipal water.
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### Author:  [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2014, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water/690215/9 "2014-06-06T18:57:38Z")
I drink my city’s drinking water. My frugality and disdain of plastic waste won’t let me do the bottled water thing too often. And I make my living helping to protect drinking water (as well as “swimming” water, and “fishing” water). I don’t have 100% trust in everthing government does, but I do think we’re on top of the water quality thing enough for my personal comfort level.
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### Author:  [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2014, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water/690215/10 "2014-06-06T18:58:05Z")
To me, water from a water fountain always taste better than water from the kitchen sink.
Not sure why.
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### Author:  [@Red\_Stilettos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Stilettos)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2014, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water/690215/11 "2014-06-06T18:59:13Z")
I drink unfiltered tap water (Atlanta, GA). Unless you wanted to switch to something like Evian, most bottled waters have the same issues as tap water because they are harvested and treated the same way. The advantage is only psychological and there are huge downsides for your budget and the environment.
For what it’s worth, I study water quality for a living. Nothing has scared me off of a well-maintained municipal system yet.
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### Author:  [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2014, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water/690215/12 "2014-06-06T19:02:53Z")
I drink well water from my tap. In fact, I’ve got two varieties available on tap, softened and unsoftened. Been drinking from the same well snce 1957, episodic testing every few decades has never showed any problems.
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### Author:  [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2014, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water/690215/13 "2014-06-06T19:03:21Z")
Tap. No. No. Yes, but I have found it pretty irrelevant. Twin Cities, MN
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### Author:  [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2014, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water/690215/14 "2014-06-06T19:03:58Z")
I drink tap water, but I use a Brita filter pitcher. The water softener in my apartment building leaves the water tasting salty and the filter deals with it.
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### Author:  [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2014, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water/690215/15 "2014-06-06T19:04:36Z")
Yes, everywhere I’ve ever lived.
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### Author:  [@jayrey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayrey)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2014, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water/690215/16 "2014-06-06T19:04:59Z")
Salem, Oregon. I run my tap water through a PUR charcoal filter into a pitcher. The water straight from the tap has a strong chlorine taste to me but the filter removes it. The building I work in was built in 1914 and has terrible tap water. We have bottled water delivered throughout the building.
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### Author:  [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2014, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water/690215/17 "2014-06-06T19:17:53Z")
Best water ever. Colorado high country stream in about 1957.
Best water taste. Well near Sallisaw, OK.
Best City water. Tulsa, OK from 1944 to 1990.
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### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2014, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water/690215/18 "2014-06-06T19:20:17Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#):
>
> I drink nothing but Cleveland Water tap water…
Hey, me too! Cleveland water is quite good and even won a national award a few years ago. My son and I toured the local water treatment plant a few years ago - big place, very impressive. They do good work there.
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### Author:  [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2014, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water/690215/19 "2014-06-06T19:31:53Z")
I drink tap water. Never bothered with filters or any post-tap treatment. I have no worries about chemicals or microorganisms. Our municipal water comes from Cascade Mountains snowpack. I don’t drink “bottled” water because it’s expensive and the “bottles” are plastic, and I absolutely do not want to add plastic to landfills. I’m in Eugene Oregon.
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### Author:  [@Cinnamon\_Imp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cinnamon_Imp)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2014, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water/690215/20 "2014-06-06T19:32:35Z")
Glasgow tap water from [Loch Katrine](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loch_Katrine). Quite happy with it.
I once tried London tap water - :eek:
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