# Is tap water really bad for your health? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 23, 2015, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tap-water-really-bad-for-your-health/738368 "2015-11-23T17:01:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**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:** [November 24, 2015, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tap-water-really-bad-for-your-health/738368/41 "2015-11-24T06:41:43Z")
This is just anecdotal evidence, but I’ve been drinking tap water for 58 years and I feel just fine. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2015, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tap-water-really-bad-for-your-health/738368/42 "2015-11-24T06:47:14Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Ok, then just buy one of those carafe filter things, like Brita. Hwaaaaaay cheaper than bottled and better for the environment. You don’t need to spend money on the filter things, just a carafe like **leahcim** said. Or even bottles: letting them dechlorinate will take longer than with a carafe but it works just the same. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2015, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tap-water-really-bad-for-your-health/738368/43 "2015-11-24T06:54:41Z")
I hear that some places are putting dihydrogen monoxide in our water supply. Disgusting! > [@purplehearingaid](#): > > My city put way too much chlorine in the water ! When I turn my water on > it’s like opening a bottle of bleach ! It taste so bad I had found my dog drinking my bottled water instead of his tap water . I know bottled water isn’t better for you but at least I can drink it. I know a few people that refuse to give their pets It sound like you work for your city water department the way you’re pushing tap water ! > tap water. > [@leahcim](#): > > Do note that chlorine is a gas. If you don’t like chlorine in your drinking water, all you have to do is leave it in an open container and the chlorine will escape within a few hours. Note that some places treat it in addition or substitution with chloramine(s), which does not break down in light. ---
**Author:** ![Richox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@Richox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richox)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2015, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tap-water-really-bad-for-your-health/738368/44 "2015-11-24T07:14:42Z")
Whilst it’s a little off topic and doesn’t specifically relate to Chlorine, -amine, Fluorine or Fluoride, I used to work at a facility where we desalinated our own water for process use. Some 50GL per annum. Anyway we Reserve Osmosis-ed the bejesus out of this water until it was pretty much just raw H20. Then we’d pump it some 30km to various parts of our plant. Go forward 18 months, and the 600mm dia steel pipe that never had anything but pure water in it started pissing out water everywhere. Pinholes all through it. Turns out removing all those lovely little minerals and chemicals turned that water into a monster for steel pipe - corroding the hell out of it very rapidly. Perhaps corrosion is not the right word, maybe ionization, leach agent, or something? Very expensive design flaw as it turned out! Anyway a similar thing happens to the human body if the water is too pure, it leaches all sorts of required minerals and chemicals out of your body. So all that branding by the water companies “pure” “distilled” “virginal” - if the water was really that pure, it’d kill you in short order. Maybe not one or two bottles, but if its all you drank for a few days, weeks? As I understand it, you’d be dead. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2015, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tap-water-really-bad-for-your-health/738368/45 "2015-11-24T14:34:51Z")
In her book Poisoning Our Children, Nancy Sokol Green (who supposedly suffers from multiple chemical sensitivities) tells the tale of going into a friend’s bathroom and suddenly have a “reaction” to the cleaning products in it. She told her friend, who pointed out there were no cleaning products in her bathroom. So Green decided she was having a reaction to the chlorinated water in the toilet! People believe what they want to believe. ---
**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:** [November 24, 2015, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tap-water-really-bad-for-your-health/738368/46 "2015-11-24T14:52:21Z")
> [@Richox](#): > > Anyway a similar thing happens to the human body if the water is too pure, it leaches all sorts of required minerals and chemicals out of your body. So all that branding by the water companies “pure” “distilled” “virginal” - if the water was really that pure, it’d kill you in short order. Maybe not one or two bottles, but if its all you drank for a few days, weeks? As I understand it, you’d be dead. We have a Doper who claims to have drunk mostly water these past few years, and the only water she drinks is the distilled variety. As I said, for years. Still alive last I knew. See… even if the water is 100% pure going into your body it won’t stay that way as soon as it hits your saliva, mucus, stomach, etc. Plus, you probably eat along with drinking at least some of the time. And the lining of your digestive track is constantly renewing itself, unlike the lining of those steel pipes you mention. So no, drinking 100% pure water will not be lethal to a human being assuming they still eat, which will replace anything “leached” out by the water through the normal kidney filtration process. ---
**Author:** ![botsgotme](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@botsgotme](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/botsgotme)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2015, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tap-water-really-bad-for-your-health/738368/47 "2015-11-24T15:02:40Z")
It contains infinitesimal quantities of everything that is bad for you-therefore, it is GOOD for you!🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2015, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tap-water-really-bad-for-your-health/738368/48 "2015-11-24T15:15:32Z")
> [@Richox](#): > > Anyway a similar thing happens to the human body if the water is too pure, it leaches all sorts of required minerals and chemicals out of your body. So all that branding by the water companies “pure” “distilled” “virginal” - if the water was really that pure, it’d kill you in short order. Maybe not one or two bottles, but if its all you drank for a few days, weeks? As I understand it, you’d be dead. This is a common but mostly unfounded myth. There are some health impacts of drinking distilled or demineralized water, but they are fairly slow and subtle. [http://www.who.int/water\_sanitation\_health/dwq/nutrientschap12.pdf](http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/nutrientschap12.pdf) ---
**Author:** ![Barrett\_Bonden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5e9695/32.png) [@Barrett\_Bonden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barrett_Bonden)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2015, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tap-water-really-bad-for-your-health/738368/49 "2015-11-24T15:35:18Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > We have a Doper who claims to have drunk mostly water these past few years, and the only water she drinks is the distilled variety. As I said, for years. Still alive last I knew. > > See… even if the water is 100% pure going into your body it won’t stay that way as soon as it hits your saliva, mucus, stomach, etc. Plus, you probably eat along with drinking at least some of the time. And the lining of your digestive track is constantly renewing itself, unlike the lining of those steel pipes you mention. So no, drinking 100% pure water will not be lethal to a human being assuming they still eat, which will replace anything “leached” out by the water through the normal kidney filtration process. Technically, drinking pure water (literally pure, not merely distilled) [could kill you](http://www.isciencemag.co.uk/features/fact-of-the-day-1/). You would have to drink it in sufficient quantity to leach enough electrolytes to cause injury. I haven’t yet found anyone who commits to how much water that actually is. The guy in [this video clip](http://sploid.gizmodo.com/this-is-why-you-should-only-drink-water-with-impurities-1602896492) drank a shot of it and seems to be okay. 😃 People who drink distilled water aren’t drinking “pure water.” Pure water is expensive to make, hard to keep clean, and really doesn’t taste good. It’s generated and used for purposes like [cleaning semiconductors](http://www.fastcompany.com/1750612/dangerously-clean-water-used-make-your-iphone). ---
**Author:** ![Barrett\_Bonden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5e9695/32.png) [@Barrett\_Bonden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barrett_Bonden)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2015, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tap-water-really-bad-for-your-health/738368/50 "2015-11-24T15:58:59Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > And how trustworthy is Peter Gleick? > > Besides, My original point had nothing to do with the claimed benefits of bottled water. (I have lived for about 60 years in the Los Angeles area, whose water is notorious.) I was commenting, with some irritation, about how all things people like to drink are supposedly bad for us so we should only drink plain old tap water. We have had delivery for more than 20 years of Sparkletts, which, I can assure you, tastes far better than the water out of our kitchen (and bathroom) taps. Believe me, LA has been notorious for water issues since the [aqueduct was first conceived](http://www.amazon.com/Cadillac-Desert-American-Disappearing-Revised-ebook/dp/B001RTKIUA/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1448379883&sr=1-1&keywords=cadillac+desert). 😃 I don’t think anyone is trying to say that a diet of bottled water is bad for you in the way that, say, a diet of sugary soda would be bad for you. It’s healthy to drink a certain amount of water, and to some extent, it’s immaterial whether the water comes from your tap or from your delivery service. It should be noted that water utilities are regulated by the EPA under the Safe Drinking Water Act. Their treatment, testing, and reporting standards and requirements are MUCH higher, and enforced much more rigorously than the bottling industry. Bottled water is regulated under the FDA and to a lower standard of purity. Bottled water companies are working very hard to convince people that what they sell in their bottles is worth paying 300 to 2000 times more than your tap water. I think people convince themselves of silly things sometimes in their efforts to justify paying that markup. Relevant comic: [On-Demand Hyperloop-Style Water Delivery](http://xkcd.com/1599/) ---
**Author:** ![Snnipe\_70E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5a626/32.png) [@Snnipe\_70E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snnipe_70E)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2015, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tap-water-really-bad-for-your-health/738368/51 "2015-11-24T16:03:43Z")
Depends where you live and the water source. In San Jose California I advise people to chew the water before swallowing, the water has an excessive amount of minerals and is very hard. The North 1st street near the airport and in the downtown area I will not drink tap water. I do not know what is in the water but it eats up brass. A new valve is only good for about 2 years. After two years when the valve will not close properly. I have a RO filter in my house at the kitchen sink and that is the source of our drinking water. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2015, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tap-water-really-bad-for-your-health/738368/52 "2015-11-24T16:08:43Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > We have had delivery for more than 20 years of Sparkletts, which, I can assure you, tastes far better than the water out of our kitchen (and bathroom) taps. Taste and “good for you” are two very very very different things, as evidenced by the entirety of the food industry. ---
**Author:** ![Snnipe\_70E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5a626/32.png) [@Snnipe\_70E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snnipe_70E)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2015, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tap-water-really-bad-for-your-health/738368/53 "2015-11-24T16:20:41Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > We have a Doper who claims to have drunk mostly water these past few years, and the only water she drinks is the distilled variety. As I said, for years. Still alive last I knew. > > See… even if the water is 100% pure going into your body it won’t stay that way as soon as it hits your saliva, mucus, stomach, etc. Plus, you probably eat along with drinking at least some of the time. And the lining of your digestive track is constantly renewing itself, unlike the lining of those steel pipes you mention. So no, drinking 100% pure water will not be lethal to a human being assuming they still eat, which will replace anything “leached” out by the water through the normal kidney filtration process. Distilled water has low levels of minerals and is not pure in the true meaning. DI water is pure water and is not safe to drink. If it is pumped in metal pipes it will leach the metal from the pipes. If a person drinks it will leach minerals out of the body, from the saliva, mucus, stomach and the rest of the body. I have seen danger signs identifying DI water lines. ---
**Author:** ![Snnipe\_70E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5a626/32.png) [@Snnipe\_70E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snnipe_70E)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2015, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tap-water-really-bad-for-your-health/738368/54 "2015-11-24T16:27:04Z")
> [@Barrett\_Bonden](#): > > People who drink distilled water aren’t drinking “pure water.” Pure water is expensive to make, hard to keep clean, and really\*\* doesn’t taste good\*\*. It’s generated and used for purposes like [cleaning semiconductors](http://www.fastcompany.com/1750612/dangerously-clean-water-used-make-your-iphone). Flat, bland, no taste. But when I was a Midshipman we preferred the distilled water over the water that the water king purchased in Tahiti. Drink a little of that and spend a lot of time in the head. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2015, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tap-water-really-bad-for-your-health/738368/55 "2015-11-24T16:44:23Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > Taste and “good for you” are two very very very different things, as evidenced by the entirety of the food industry. Let me put it this way: I don’t believe that food and drink should be an ordeal. I am old enough to remember cod liver oil, which at the time parents told their kids was “good for you” despite its repulsive taste. I see meals as something one should be able to enjoy, not as a ritual or a duty. I would not want to live a long life with something like that to look forward to. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2015, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tap-water-really-bad-for-your-health/738368/56 "2015-11-24T18:29:02Z")
> [@Snnipe\_70E](#): > > Depends where you live and the water source. > > In San Jose California I advise people to chew the water before swallowing, the water has an excessive amount of minerals and is very hard. > > The North 1st street near the airport and in the downtown area I will not drink tap water. I do not know what is in the water but it eats up brass. A new valve is only good for about 2 years. After two years when the valve will not close properly. > > I have a RO filter in my house at the kitchen sink and that is the source of our drinking water. That’s where we used to live! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tap-water-really-bad-for-your-health/738368.md?page=2)