# Do you drink tap water? **URL:** \ **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:** 2
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2014, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water/690215/21 "2014-06-06T19:36:38Z")
I happily drink the local tap water. I live in New York City, which has perfectly good water. I’m not at all concerned about chlorine in the water, or flouride. I think that people who live in areas with good water available on tap, but who insist on drinking bottled water, are (a) stupid, and (b) if they have any pretenses to being concerned about the environment, hypocrites. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2014, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water/690215/22 "2014-06-06T19:37:16Z")
Portland, OR. Tap water, which is excellent, and yes I know about the guy peeing in the pool and the recent e-coli problem. They’re being required to cover the reservoirs, so that problem shouldn’t occur again. ---
**Author:** ![Krouget](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b38774/32.png) [@Krouget](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Krouget)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2014, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water/690215/23 "2014-06-06T19:37:42Z")
> [@sara20](#): > > 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. I drink tap, filtered, and bottled water (MD). Which type depends on where I’m physically located. At home I have filtered water, but that’s as much for me as it is for guests. At work, it’s whatever is coming from the fountain. And then there are the ice cubes I put in my drink, which come from the same water source, so it all doesn’t really matter. ---
**Author:** ![rsat3acr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@rsat3acr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsat3acr)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2014, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water/690215/24 "2014-06-06T19:48:16Z")
Drink all my water straight from the tap. Way too cheap to drink bottled water. IIRC my tap water is about 800 gallons for a dollar. Bottled is about four to eight dollars a gallon. Maybe less depending on how it is purchased. Gasoline here is $3.47(filled up this morning). Doesn’t make sense to me to pay more for bottled water than for gas. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2014, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water/690215/25 "2014-06-06T19:48:52Z")
I drink tap water. I have enough faith in my municipality’s treatment system to trust that it’s safe. If the weather’s warm, I get a glass of water from my refrigerator’s dispenser, as it comes out chilled. Everybody knows Evian spelled backwards is “naive.” 🙂 I live in Tucson, Arizona. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2014, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water/690215/26 "2014-06-06T19:51:09Z")
Tap from a Brita pitcher for the most part. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2014, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water/690215/27 "2014-06-06T19:52:03Z")
I drink tap water all the time. I drink bottled water more often than I’d like, just because my wife buys it constantly, and always makes me bring some with me any time I go outside. Granted, it DOES get very hot in Austin, but dehydration has never struck me as a real problem. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2014, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water/690215/28 "2014-06-06T20:22:22Z")
Tap water in Omaha Nebraska area. Usually through the filter in the fridge ice-maker circuit (water in the fridge door), usually because it’s chilled a bit. I don’t like running the faucet to get to the colder water farther up the line, and lukewarmish water doesn’t work well for me unless I’m very thirsty. No concerns about chemicals or pathogens. Mostly because the right chemicals (in trace amounts) plus good source filtration means no pathogens. Best water I ever routinely drank was on the premises of Fort Ritchie, Maryland, where post housing water supply was basically an artesian well on the flanks of South Mountain in the north Maryland/south Pennsylvania area. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2014, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water/690215/29 "2014-06-06T20:26:33Z")
No. We have bottled water. The tap water tastes awful. It may not have harmful pollutants, but …no. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2014, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water/690215/30 "2014-06-06T20:35:15Z")
I had a brother who was so deathly allergic to almost everything that he couldn’t even drink tap water, let alone brush his teeth with toothpaste. (He had to use baking soda.) He could only drink distilled bottled water, and only from glass bottles. When the bottled water companies began to eliminate glass bottles and move more to having only plastic bottles, it was a looming existential crisis for him. He solved the problem by dying first. (Due to complication of his allergies, of course.) ---
**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2014, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water/690215/31 "2014-06-06T20:41:21Z")
We have city water now. We drink out of the tap. It’s just fine. We don’t use any filters or anything either. The place we lived before here, however, had a well. We couldn’t drink the water that came out of it. We even bought our dog bottled water. Seriously. She wouldn’t drink what came out of the tap. Forgot - location - NW Suburbs of Chicago - Palatine - both places I mention above are there. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2014, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water/690215/32 "2014-06-06T20:41:57Z")
> [@sara20](#): > > Do you drink tap water or bottled water? Tap. Paying for bottles of water when you have perfectly potable water coming out of the tap is stupid. > [@](#): > > And are you concerned that tap water may have pesticide, fertilizer, rust, lead, copper, medications or other chemicals or harmful bacteria in it. We have a well. It is tested at least once a year, sometimes twice. No pesticides, no fertilizers, minimal amounts of toxins like lead, arsenic and the like which are everywhere, including bottled water, and we actually have _less_ bacteria in it than Chicago’s municipal water supplies. There are minerals in it, like iron (rust) and calcium so it’s a bit orange but it’s healthy. > [@](#): > > And do you think the chlorine they add to it tap water can effect your health. We have a well. No chlorine. As for adding chlorine to municipal water - no, I’m not concerned. If they didn’t, though, I’d be a hell of a lot more concerned with the effect of things like cholera and dysentery on my 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. Yep and yep - it takes the orange out of the water and makes it taste much better for drinking and cooking purposes. > [@](#): > > And please state what area you are in becasue some places (like NYC) have very good tap water and others do not. Northwest Indiana, just outside of Chicago. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2014, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water/690215/33 "2014-06-06T20:49:30Z")
San Diego, CA. I drink from the tap all the time. It’s just fine. ---
**Author:** ![DChord568](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@DChord568](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DChord568)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2014, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water/690215/34 "2014-06-06T20:49:50Z")
Tap water at home, water from a cooler (big plastic jugs brought in) at work, but only because it’s pleasantly cold in a way the tap water would not be. Generally speaking, municipal water is FAR more tightly regulated in terms of quality than bottled water is. If you have an issue with its taste (which, of course, is totally unrelated to its healthfulness), OK. But anyone who thinks bottled water is more healthful is seriously deluded. And the dirty little secret is that the source of bottled water is, in many cases…municipal water systems! Anyone remember the Penn and Teller bit from several years ago where they set up a “water boutique” restaurant, filled a bunch of different fancy bottles from the hose out back, and then had customers commenting on the differences in taste between them as if they were fine wines? Hilarious! ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2014, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water/690215/35 "2014-06-06T20:55:32Z")
Well water here, delicious. Haven’t had it tested but it is clear and cold. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2014, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water/690215/36 "2014-06-06T20:56:52Z")
NYC tap water, usually filtered, sometimes not (like when certain family members don’t refill the pitcher). ---
**Author:** ![Avarie537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/48db29/32.png) [@Avarie537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avarie537)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2014, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water/690215/37 "2014-06-06T21:18:36Z")
Indianapolis area tap water my whole life. I can smell when they change chlorine brands in the spring and fall but never an issue. I rarely buy bottled water, preferring carry my own refillable bottle if I know I’ll need a portable source. ---
**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2014, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water/690215/38 "2014-06-06T22:19:12Z")
I drink tap water, bottled water plus have a Britta filter jug. I drink a lot of water. SE Michigan. The water report from my municipality appears excellent. I’ll drink any tap water that doesn’t taste like chlorine or water softener/salt. I do not drink soda or iced tea or any of that, so when I’m out and about and unprepared and thirsty, I’ll buy bottled water (and yes, I feel silly about it when I do.) ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2014, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water/690215/39 "2014-06-06T22:28:03Z")
Yes. No concern. No need for filters here, it is just a waste of money. Stockholm. ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2014, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water/690215/40 "2014-06-06T22:46:24Z")
When I lived in NYC and had fabulous water I drank out of the tap all day long. The water around here at present in NJ has a weird taste. I find it only tolerable a few times a week after deeply chilling it and then using my SodaStream to add carbonation. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water/690215.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-drink-tap-water/690215.md?page=3)