# Never drinking tap (public) water.. Bad?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-drinking-tap-public-water-bad/721715
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [June 5, 2015, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-drinking-tap-public-water-bad/721715 "2015-06-05T15:38:11Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2015, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-drinking-tap-public-water-bad/721715/1 "2015-06-05T15:38:11Z")
When I say “tap” water, I am referring to city water, or water that is supplied to your home through a local water authority. Not well water.
If you have a child and raise that child on nothing but bottled water, would they miss out on anything important that a child raised on tap water gets?
I seem to remember that tap water was infused with things that don’t come with regular H2O. Flouride seems to stick out. But regular teeth-brushing should keep your teeth in check.
If you had the ability to choose from day 1, would bottled water be better than tap water for a child over the course of their life?
---
### Author:  [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2015, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-drinking-tap-public-water-bad/721715/2 "2015-06-05T16:06:47Z")
> [@Stink Fish Pot](#):
>
> If you have a child and raise that child on nothing but bottled water, would they miss out on anything important that a child raised on tap water gets?
Fluoride, if that’s added or occurs naturally in you region, but you already mentioned that. Other than that the only important thing they’d miss out on is a sane and rational relationship to inexpensive and safe tap water.
> [@](#):
>
> If you had the ability to choose from day 1, would bottled water be better than tap water for a child over the course of their life?
No.
---
### Author:  [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2015, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-drinking-tap-public-water-bad/721715/3 "2015-06-05T16:08:23Z")
> [@Stink Fish Pot](#):
>
> If you have a child and raise that child on nothing but bottled water, would they miss out on anything important that a child raised on tap water gets?
They’d certainly miss out on whatever else you could have bought with the money you’ll have spent on bottled water, and on dental bills if you choose water low in fluoride.
It does depend on what your local water supply is like, of course, but I’ve lived reasonably healthily on London tap water for the last 67 years, and I see no reason why anyone would want to avoid it.
---
### Author:  [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2015, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-drinking-tap-public-water-bad/721715/4 "2015-06-05T16:11:14Z")
From time to time tap water goes bad (right now I am thinking of the situation where some toxic waste got leaked in a river which a huge number of people got drinking water out of several months ago). But probably the same thing could happen with the sources of the bottled water.
---
### Author:  [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2015, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-drinking-tap-public-water-bad/721715/5 "2015-06-05T16:14:18Z")
> [@Stink Fish Pot](#):
>
> If you had the ability to choose from day 1, would bottled water be better than tap water for a child over the course of their life?
No. In most areas of the US, there’s no benefit to drinking bottled water, and in fact bottled water is often just tap water. As said by others, in addition to missing out on the fluoride you’re simply pissing away money.
---
### Author:  [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2015, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-drinking-tap-public-water-bad/721715/6 "2015-06-05T16:35:18Z")
> [@Stink Fish Pot](#):
>
> I seem to remember that tap water was infused with things that don’t come with regular H2O. Flouride seems to stick out. But regular teeth-brushing should keep your teeth in check.
Maybe not. My parents both have terrible teeth- lots of crowns, fillings, bridges and so on. My sister and I have fillings, but nothing more. AFAIK, my sister and I haven’t been better about brushing our teeth than our parents were. We have had fluoridated water, which my parents didn’t when they were kids.
---
### Author:  [@araminty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/araminty)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2015, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-drinking-tap-public-water-bad/721715/7 "2015-06-05T16:45:57Z")
> [@naita](#):
>
> Other than that the only important thing they’d miss out on is a sane and rational relationship to inexpensive and safe tap water.
So much this.
---
### Author:  [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2015, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-drinking-tap-public-water-bad/721715/8 "2015-06-05T17:01:25Z")
Depending on where you live, bottled water may or may not be better than tap water. A lot of bottled water is basically tap water. All they do is draw the water out of an aquifer or some other local water source the same as your local municipality would, then they just shove it into plastic bottles and stick a label on it.
Where I live now though, the local water kept failing EPA inspections, so every year we would get a notice on our door saying that if you had a compromised immune system that you should boil the water before drinking it. It’s only been in the last few years that we haven’t received that yearly notice. So in our area, bottled water probably was a bit healthier to drink than the crap that came out of the local tap.
On the other hand, I’ve lived in areas where the local tap water was actually better and cleaner than the stuff you get in bottles. So it all depends.
> [@Stink Fish Pot](#):
>
> Flouride seems to stick out. But regular teeth-brushing should keep your teeth in check.
Only if you brush with a fluoride toothpaste. Fluoride, for reasons that aren’t completely understood, helps to remineralize the enamel in your teeth, so basically as teeny tiny cavities start to form in your teeth, fluoride makes those little holes fill in. Fluoride has its limits though, and once the hole gets big enough then no amount of fluoride is going to help fill it in.
And despite what you read on the internet, fluoride in the concentrations that you find in water won’t hurt you, or your children.
---
### Author:  [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2015, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-drinking-tap-public-water-bad/721715/9 "2015-06-05T17:11:10Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#):
>
> Where I live now though, the local water kept failing EPA inspections, so every year we would get a notice on our door saying that if you had a compromised immune system that you should boil the water before drinking it. It’s only been in the last few years that we haven’t received that yearly notice. So in our area, bottled water probably was a bit healthier to drink than the crap that came out of the local tap.
Of course, it’s a different story if you’re in an area where there are problems with the tap water, or if the tap water in your house has things like lead in it. You can get your tap water tested for lead, possibly for free through your water company. It might be worth doing if you live in a house built before 1986 and have small children.
---
### Author:  [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2015, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-drinking-tap-public-water-bad/721715/10 "2015-06-05T17:20:21Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#):
>
> Depending on where you live, bottled water may or may not be better than tap water. A lot of bottled water is basically tap water. All they do is draw the water out of an aquifer or some other local water source the same as your local municipality would, then they just shove it into plastic bottles and stick a label on it.
Actually they filter it most of the time. Sometimes reverse osmosis, sometimes just thru charcoal, like your home Brita filter.
These are the top three brands in the USA:
Dasani:I_n designing DASANI to be the best tasting water, we start with the local water supply, which is then filtered by reverse osmosis to remove impurities. The purified water is then enhanced with a special blend of minerals for the pure, crisp, fresh taste that’s delightfully DASANI._
> **[DASANI® - Water Nutrition Facts & Ingredients | Coca-Cola US](https://www.coca-cola.com/us/en/brands/dasani)**
>
> All information about Dasani, the refreshingly clean taste water from the Coca-Cola Company. Full list of ingredients and nutrition facts from this product.
Nestle:
\*Nestlé® Pure Life® undergoes a 12-step Quality Process that includes reverse osmosis and/or distillation,… \*
[http://www.nestle-purelife.us/livepure](http://www.nestle-purelife.us/livepure)
> **[Aquafina - for happy bodies](https://www.aquafina.com/en-US/our-products.html)**
>
> Fresh and pure, Aquafina is the perfect companion for happy bodies everywhere.
---
### Author:  [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2015, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-drinking-tap-public-water-bad/721715/11 "2015-06-05T17:22:40Z")
> [@Anne\_Neville](#):
>
> Of course, it’s a different story if you’re in an area where there are problems with the tap water, or if the tap water in your house has things like lead in it. You can get your tap water tested for lead, possibly for free through your water company. It might be worth doing if you live in a house built before 1986 and have small children.
Just buy a Brita filer or equivalent, and use that. Much, much cheaper and no plastic bottle waste.
---
### Author:  [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2015, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-drinking-tap-public-water-bad/721715/12 "2015-06-05T17:37:16Z")
> [@DrDeth](#):
>
> Just buy a Brita filer or equivalent, and use that. Much, much cheaper and no plastic bottle waste.
I’d check that a Brita filter would actually get rid of the specific substance in your water that is causing the problem before doing this. There are other remediation steps you could take, too- if your tap water has lead, you could replace some of the pipes in your house (most lead in tap water in the US comes from old pipes in the house itself).
I certainly wouldn’t recommend drinking only bottled water if you don’t mind the taste of your tap water (I’ve lived in places with really bad-tasting tap water, in one case a Brita filter didn’t really get all of the taste out, either) and there is no specific problem with it that you know of.
---
### Author:  [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2015, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-drinking-tap-public-water-bad/721715/13 "2015-06-05T22:16:08Z")
> [@DrDeth](#):
>
> Actually they filter it most of the time. Sometimes reverse osmosis, sometimes just thru charcoal, like your home Brita filter.
>
> These are the top three brands in the USA:
>
> Dasani:I_n designing DASANI to be the best tasting water, we start with the local water supply, which is then filtered by reverse osmosis to remove impurities. The purified water is then enhanced with a special blend of minerals for the pure, crisp, fresh taste that’s delightfully DASANI._
> [DASANI® - Water Nutrition Facts & Ingredients | Coca-Cola US](http://www.dasani.com/dasani-water/)
>
> Nestle:
> \*Nestlé® Pure Life® undergoes a 12-step Quality Process that includes reverse osmosis and/or distillation,… \*
> [http://www.nestle-purelife.us/livepure](http://www.nestle-purelife.us/livepure)
>
> [http://www.aquafina.com/en-US/our-products.html](http://www.aquafina.com/en-US/our-products.html)
As a point of interest, around here at least (southern Ontario) Nestlé bottled water is actually spring water, from a specific natural spring somewhere in the area. It’s even called “Pure Life”, too. So I suppose it depends on what’s cheaper in any given area, filtering municipal water or getting it from a spring. I don’t normally buy it because I prefer a local store brand of spring water from a different source with a much lower mineral content, particularly sodium.
I drink the stuff because I much prefer the taste to tap water. The absence of flouridation in spring water is indeed a concern, and may or may not be a concern in filtered water depending on how it’s filtered. At least I still get it in my coffee and from cooking with tap water. My understanding is that boiling water doesn’t remove the fluoride and in fact, to the extent that some of the water is lost as vapor, it actually concentrates the flouride salts.
---
### Author:  [@Deeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deeg)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2015, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-drinking-tap-public-water-bad/721715/14 "2015-06-05T22:42:21Z")
> [@naita](#):
>
> Fluoride, if that’s added or occurs naturally in you region, but you already mentioned that. Other than that the only important thing they’d miss out on is a sane and rational relationship to inexpensive and safe tap water.
On the plus side, perhaps the OP’s children will some day get a job picking up the water bottles that literally litter the ground!
---
### Author:  [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2015, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-drinking-tap-public-water-bad/721715/15 "2015-06-06T03:21:58Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#):
>
> Depending on where you live, bottled water may or may not be better than tap water. A lot of bottled water is basically tap water. All they do is draw the water out of an aquifer or some other local water source the same as your local municipality would, then they just shove it into plastic bottles and stick a label on it
Actually, much of the time they don’t even bother getting it out of the water source themselves. They just stick plastic bottles under the tap (that comes right from the local water supply, just like the tap in the house nest door). As noted, sometimes with a filter step that may or may not remove anything you’re particularly worried about.
It’s also worth noting that **engineer\_comp\_geek** ’s tap water was tested yearly at a minimum – it sometimes failed, yes, but it was tested regularly and rigorously and he was always notified. That’s more often and more strictly than water from bottling plants is usually tested.
---
### Author:  [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2015, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-drinking-tap-public-water-bad/721715/16 "2015-06-06T04:46:26Z")
In my little community, the municipal tap water is rather vile, and this is apparently a widely held sentiment around these parts. Bottled water is popular.
There are water vending machines in several places around town, in front of various markets and drugstores. They sell water for 30 cents a gallon, but you have to bring your own bottle. So we buy a few gallon bottles of water in the store for about $1.00 each, then thereafter re-use the empty bottles to buy water from the vending machine.
The front of the vending machine has a list of five or six separate treatments that the water goes through, so it is allegedly just as pure as pure can be //old-rolleyes, maybe//
---
### Author:  [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/actualliberalnotoneofthose)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2015, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-drinking-tap-public-water-bad/721715/17 "2015-06-06T05:45:18Z")
My children’s dentist has made comments about the quality of the water in my city and suggested that they should be drinking it. I don’t want to get into any kind of fluoride debate or anything.
As far as the cost of bottled water goes, one of the local grocery chains (Meijer) regularly sells 35 packs of 16.9 oz water bottles for 2.99. I think that’s a little under 65 cents per gallon.
---
### Author:  [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2015, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-drinking-tap-public-water-bad/721715/18 "2015-06-06T13:11:03Z")
There are two reasons a person will opt for bottled water instead of tap water:
1. They believe tap water will make them ill; they believe it contains “bad chemicals” or whatever.
2. They don’t like the flavor of their tap water.
If the person lives in the U.S., then #1 is irrational (unless your city or county tells you otherwise). If it’s simply due to not liking the flavor, it would be much cheaper to install a water filter vs. buying bottled water.
---
### Author:  [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2015, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-drinking-tap-public-water-bad/721715/19 "2015-06-06T13:44:19Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#):
>
> There are two reasons a person will opt for bottled water instead of tap water:
>
> 1. They believe tap water will make them ill; they believe it contains “bad chemicals” or whatever.
>
> 2. They don’t like the flavor of their tap water.
>
> If the person lives in the U.S., then #1 is irrational (unless your city or county tells you otherwise). If it’s simply due to not liking the flavor, it would be much cheaper to install a water filter vs. buying bottled water.
Also, if it’s #2, they might save a bunch of money by doing a double-blind taste test first. It’s very very very easy for us humans to convince ourselves that what we know is more expensive tastes better, but it often turns out not to be true if we don’t know which is which.
---
### Author:  [@HeXen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeXen)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2015, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-drinking-tap-public-water-bad/721715/20 "2015-06-06T13:46:27Z")
I’ve drank it all my life. I’ve had well water too, either way, when I’m thirsty I don’t care.
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-drinking-tap-public-water-bad/721715.md?page=2)